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The past weeks have not been kind to my poor rat, 'Lil Bit. It started with a scratch to his face, I think caused by a cage mate walking on top of his head in the hammock zone of the cage. I don't think it was caused during play or rough and tumble, because I've never seen this trio argue like my others have. He's not the alpha, or the beta, and has never seemed inclined to want to be. Anyway, I kind of put it out of my head, as it wasn't his first scratch, and it also did not look deep. Or infected. He is a hairless rat, and for better or for worse that means he has accumulated a nasty patchwork of scars and scratches that I think all rats get but few show through their fur. It all seemed very par for the course? Then I noticed one morning that the porphyrin near his left eye had accumulated in a weird way. I went to work, and when I came home, it clearly hadn't dispersed and was significantly worse. There was a white spec in his eye too which was new and seemed bad. I set an appointment at the vet for the next day. They gave him a once over and put some sort of fancy goop in his eye to see if it would show damage under black light. Sure enough, perforated cornea and the start of an infection. They gave me some antibiotic eye drops and set a follow-up appointment 7 days later. I think all my previous experience giving my ratties their medicine, usually in their food, under prepared me for how God drat hard it is to put eye drops in the eyes of a rat who does not want to have eye drops put in his eyes. It was easy to do at first. But he learned and feared. And then I had to bribe with food. And then the little rear end in a top hat learned that trick and would fight the process. Then I started distracting him. Then I resorted to oven mitts. It was an odyssey. I'm also beating myself up a bit because I occasionally poked him in the damage eye with the dropper not zero times during his struggles. In my head that made things worse. And then his eye started swelling up badly, so I brought him back in. They put the magic black light goo into his eye again and it turned out his middle lens had fallen out of place and sank to the back of his eye. This accounted for the swelling. They sent me home with something Optixcare Eye Lube, which is wonderfully named, and a date this week for enucleation this Thursday. Monday, while playing with him, I noticed that a pair of abscesses had formed. One near his genitals and another on his leg. Tiny little openings, one bleeding a bit. Not eye related. They look like cysts that opened. I called the vet again, and the receptionist told me to mention it when I dropped him off the night before his surgery. That day was today. They told me that they would be doing some tests to see if it's cancerous before proceeding with his eye surgery. Which really, really kinda pissed me off. Maybe I'm being unfair? I want to give them the benefit of the doubt and pretend that they just really want my little ratty to live, and to discuss options for the cancer after dealing with his eye. But if it's cancer, and he has two big tumors, I figure it might be best to just focus on quality of life instead of subjecting him to a big operation anyway? I also get the feeling that the vet really just wanted my money and figured hey, eye operation first, this guy has deep pockets. I am probably just distraught and unfair. Makes me glad I live in a place where human healthcare is free though, let me tell you that. Now I am waiting for a phone call tomorrow to see what's what. I hope it's just normal cysts. Praying in fact. I don't want him to die.  A glamour shot as a precious baby.  Sleepy.  Grooming the alpha rat, Eclipse.  Maybe my favourite picture, him saying hello. So here's to 'Lil Bit, my precious little rat. Edit: Fixed my pictures. pesty13480 fucked around with this message at 04:44 on Nov 17, 2016 |
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Nov 17, 2016 04:36
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| # ¿ Apr 27, 2024 05:31 |
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Two bits of good news. Growths weren't cancerous, and he woke up from his eye surgery and is, according to the veterinarian, eating and being relatively normal. If I am lucky, I get to bring him home tomorrow.
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Nov 18, 2016 01:51
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He's home now, and a little worse for the wear. I am a very thankful person right now. Two weeks until the stitching comes out! 
pesty13480 fucked around with this message at 18:12 on Nov 19, 2016 |
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Nov 19, 2016 18:06
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That sucks. I wonder if they sometimes accidentally scratch their own eye while grooming? I accidentally poke myself in the eye all the time, because I am an idiot, so it's possible that your little friend did the same thing. Are they getting any better?
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Apr 28, 2017 02:30
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I am very sorry to read that. Poor little Damo. I am glad that you were there for her in the end.
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May 26, 2017 18:34
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| # ¿ Apr 27, 2024 05:31 |
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Animal-Mother posted:Slightly warm cream cheese mixed into mac and cheese flavored baby food was the magic trick for my rats when they didn't want to take their meds. While not good for rats at all, I've had tremendous success mixing medicine into melted ice cream as a last ditch effort.
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Oct 24, 2020 04:20
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