prolapsed uterus

Question
QUESTION: Wednesday, February 17th 2010  12 pm.
Hello Dr. Conti-Todd,
My name is Alexandra and I have a one and a half yr. old female rat named Zooey. She is the best animal in the world so energetic and lovable but Monday February 15th I noticed a large lump located near her vagina. The next day I took to three different small animal vets but by small animal they meant guinea pigs and rabbits so I was turned away from all three. Although one vet office did recommended me to Dr. Jimmy Tragle. I called his office and he won't see her cause he is not taking on any new clients. I was so upset and angry. I don't want to wait long to get this fixed. I am looking for more vet offices in surrounding states but I was hoping you could tell me more about a prolapsed uterus and how much time I have.Thank you for your time and have a great day.
-Alexandra

ANSWER: Your little girl will need spayed and this needs to be done as soon as possible. PLEASE allow me to find the right vet for you.  A vet that advertises they are small animal vets do NOT mean they are exotic vets nor do vets that see exotics as well as dogs and cats mean they are exotic specialists either.  There are only 130 certified avian/exotic vets in the WORLD let alone in the United States.  There are vets that are general vets with a special interest in exotics. This means they have taken the extra steps to learn on their own time about other species aside from dogs and cats but again, it doesnt mean they know everything they need to know about rats.  You must be sure these vets have alot of experience with rats.  I admire the vets that turned you away rather than the others that have a big ego and see the rat only causing serious injury or even death to the rat due to lack of experience and knowledge.  That said, I need to know your location because your rat needs to be seen right away. She may have a tumor that is causing her uterus to prolapse.  However, how do you know that her uterus is prolapsed? Do you see it protruding from her vaginal opening? Is there discharge?  Is there any bleeding related to this?
She may have a mammary tumor in that area but of course I cannot get a visual on this and have no idea what it is without seeing her myself.  
Please let me know where your located so I can help find a vet that you can take her to see right away.  Also I must correct you about my title.  If you read my profile, it states that I am NOT a Vet and also states this on the instructions when contacting me that I am not a Veterinarian. I am a rat specialist that does consultations with rat owners on how to care for their pet rat and I educate rat owners on proper care of their rat as well as educate them on rat health care, proper nutrition and diet, husbandry, trust training, care of the elderly rat and of course how to recognize signs of rat illnesses so they can get their rat the proper medical care they need by a qualified Veterinarian. I missed my calling and should have gone to school to become a Veterinarian, this I know, but that time has come and gone. I do enjoy what I do now, however, and thats what matters, I suppose.

Please get back to me right away so we can get your girl in to see a good Vet.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I just typed into Google a description of what I saw and I kept getting a prolapsed uterus, I still was not sure but I thought that it was probable because I thought that a tumor wouldn't have grown that fast although a tumor was my first suspicion. But I did make an appointment for her for this Saturday the 20th. I contacted the Churchville Veterinary Clinic in Churchville MD 21028. They are a small animal and exotic pet veterinary clinic. They have a rat specialist; she was only working Saturday so I scheduled her appointment for then.

She has been acting completely normal and is happy. She is eating, sleeping, and playing normally. She does not appear to in pain. I have not seen any bleeding or discharge.

ANSWER: I hate to say this but this clinic is NOT an exotic animal clinic and not one Vet on staff is an exotic Vet, not even a special interest in exotics.  They are yet another clinic that will "see" rats but have not one ounce of expertise in one person on staff.

I have a few names of clinics in MD that, although the Vets are NOT certified in exotics (remember there are only 130 in the world with this title) but when the vet has a special interest in exotics and off this on their biography, they have taken their own time to learn about small mammals by going to workshops and seminars etc....   None of the vets at the place you have an appt. for have a special interest in exotics. When it says they see small animals this  only means dogs and cats and not horses and cows.  When they see exotics it says they have vets on staff the have an interest in exotic and small "mammal" medicine.  Huge difference here.  Your rat, if she has a true proplapse, needs spayed.  This is a delicate surgery and should be done ONLY by a vet that has extreme and I do mean extreme experience in rat surgery.

Not sure where your location is as per the place below in Abingdon, MD., but if your even an hour from this facility, Dr.Keith Gold is the vet to call for your rat. He has a strong interest in exotic companion mammals. I would see him if your close enough. Another vet there, Deborah Deans, D.V.M., also has a strong interest in exotics.  There are no facilities in your area (I was using the vets location that you plan on seeing as a starting point, assuming you must live in or around the area of the Veterinary practice.  The only certified avian/exotic Vet that I have listed in my database is in Westminster, MD at a clinic called "Feathers Scales and Tails" and there is a vet on staff that is a certified avian/exotic practitioner.

Anyhow, I cannot tell you what to do, but I do know that Dr.Gold at Chadwell Animal Hospital is very qualified in treating small exotic companion mammals, which is the category that rats fall under, believe it or not.  I still chuckle at the idea that they consider rats exotic, and often have people question this.  We all know that rats are common mammals, but the term "exotic" is used loosely in Veterinarian medicine to describe a companion animal that is not commonly found to be kept as a household pet, from pot bellied pigs to rats and hamsters and ferrets, there of course are more dog and cat owners in this world than a pot bellied pig or pet skunk owner  *yes, a skunk, and they are illegal to be kept as pets in many states but they do make awesome pets as long as their ever so popular defense mechanism is removed: The ever so pungent scent gland.  ew.  LOL  Let your pet skunk share a pillow with you only AFTER that gland is long gone.  lol!

ANyhow, here is the info for the vet I have in my database:


Dr. Keith Gold
Chadwell Animal Hospital
3004 Emmorton Road
 Abingdon MD 21009-2024
Phone:443-512-8338
Website: www.chadwellanimalhospital.com



Another good facility below:
Dr. Jeffrey Rhody
Lakeside Veterinary Center LLC
8693 Cherry Lane
Laurel MD 20707
Phone:  301-498-8387
Website: www.lakesidevc.com


I think that this place may be far from you. Its my second choice.
I cant of course tell you what to do as this is not my pet rat, but I am offering my advice of course and my personal opinion.  I have just seen way to many mistakes made by Vets that have minimal experience with rats but an ego so inflated they have the misconception that they can treat them anyhow, how hard can it be?  This attitude can be deadly to your rat, esp if the rat is going to need surgery.  From misdiagnosis to putting a rat to sleep for what the Vet thought was a brain tumor but was actually an inner ear infection, a vet that lacks experience with rats is like a lethal weapon to your rat. I can go on and on about the mistakes I have seen made over the past year because the Vet lacked experience.  One other example that still makes my blood boil is when someone wrote to me because their vet said her rat had brain damage and was mentally retarded and blind.  I asked what made the Vet draw this conclusion and was told that her rat, a white rat with pink eyes, would often stand in one place and sway her head from side to side.  This of course is a very common action seen often in rats, esp those with red or pink eyes.  It is called It is called parallax motion  and the rat does this  to judge  absolute distance in objects, esp before they make a jump from one place to another. Anyhow, once I told her the rat was NORMAL and sent her to U tube to view videos of other rats doing the head sway, she agreed that it was adorable (it is! I always laugh when my boys do it) and copied an article from my website, Sandyscrittercity.com about parallax motion and told her vet to please READ that article and in fact, please read many more articles about rat health because its obvious he is totally uneducated in rat health care and is only treating them to make the almighty dollar!

Please keep me posted as to what you do and let me know what the diagnosis is. Without seeing her, its too hard for me to say what it could be.  Is there a protrusion from her vaginal opening? Any discharge or bleeding at all?


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hello just to keep you updated. I took Zooey to Chadwell animal hospital Friday afternoon. They were a very facility with kind workers. They looked at her and said that she had a mammary tumor and that it had already surrounded her bladder and vulva areas. That meant that they would not be able to remove the entire tumor. The procedure they said they could do wold be a "debulking" procedure. She said she wold be happy to do if that was what we decided but she wanted to make it clear that there was no way they could remove the entire tumor and which would cause the tumor to grow back. she said that it could grow back within days even and that it would not be fair to do the surgery if there was a chance she would not have the time to properly heal. The procedure would not buy her time or make er feel any more comfortable so it would just be making it smaller for a few days. I felt helpless and horrible that we could not do anything for her. I think she noticed that I was sad and contemplating what to do because she said that if she was her rat she would not go ahead with surgery and just make her comfortable as possible and to put her down once she starts to not act like herself. She said it is not the wrong thing to do if we decide not to do durgery. I believe that surgery would not help her any and at this point in time she is still playing running on her wheel, eating, and does not appear to be in pain. It's gonna kill to do so but I think the best choice is to simply put her down when this changes. For the mean time I'm gonna continue to play with her everyday, make her feel super comfortable and keep a close on her. But I would like to thank you for all of your help. Thank you so much for getting back to me so promptly and for recommending the Chadwell Animal Hospital.

Answer
I am very sorry to hear that. She is still so young and could have another 2 years left to her life.....maybe longer.   I noticed  you referred to the Vet as a "she" rather than a male.  I am going to assume it wasnt Dr. Gold that saw your rat?  Please make the follow up private so we can have our privacy.  I am curious to know what Vet you  did see there.  The other vets are not as "seasoned" in exotic mammal medicine as Dr.Gold and although he is not a certified exotic specialist, he has alot of knowledge when it comes to small mammals.  There are a few other Vets there that have a special interest in rat health care but are not as experienced, at least not that I am aware of as per the credentials I have on them. I am not saying the other vet doesnt know what she is doing, but 95% of the time, mammary tumors are encapsulated and are non invasive, never spreading to other organs such as they say hers is doing. Can I ask you what kind of tests they did to determine the location and placement of this tumor. Did they do a CAT scan or ultrasound or even an X-ray?

I am not saying you should have the surgery and that your wrong for not doing it. I have told many people that in my opinion, I would not have the surgery if it wasnt going to help much, esp due to the risk of anesthesia etc.... but if it was operable and could prolong her life alot longer, I would do it in a heart beat.  AGain please let me know what vet you saw. I am curious as to who you saw and why they did not schedule  you to see Dr.Gold, who is the best choice for amall mammals!