Update on Jenna

Question
Hi Sandra.  I wanted to give you an update on Jenna. If you remember, I was taking her in to the DR for surgery (a couple weeks ago) to remove 2 tumors.(this was to be her 4th surgery)  I always make sure she gets a check-up before surgery to make sure she is healthy enough.  When the DR looked at her underside, he saw a medium size tumor that looked attached to her lower stomach, not movable, he also said her lymp nodes were swollen.  I'm sad to day that the DR opted not to do surgery. He said now we need to make her comfortable and try to keep her from getting a secondary infection.  She is on Sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim.  She is on 0.15ml twice a day, for two weeks. Im supposed to call after the two weeks.  Could she be on this till the end?  Also, she does seem to be in some pain, but its hard to tell (I know rats dont show pain until it gets really bad) She is on Metacam 0.5ml strengh and taking 0.2ml. once a day.  Do you think giving her this till the end, would be the right thing to do?  The DR thought the cancer may have spread since its in her lymph-nodes.  I dont want her in pain these last weeks.  She doesnt seem drugged up..maybe sleeping a bit more.
For now, Im giving Jenna extra loving care and spoiling her.
I want to thank you, Sandra.  You have really helped me a lot with Jenna and becasue of you, she has lived almost 2 1/2 years.  You sent me to a good vet and you always gave me good information. Rat owners like me really appreciate people like you.  Thank you.

Deb

Answer
I am really sorry to hear about this.  I will say I totally agree with the vet to bow out on the surgery.  You do not want Jenna to spend the last months of her golden years trying to recover from more surgery and the older the get, the slower they heal. This area is a real pain to heal since their abdomen drags on the ground.  Imagine staples in that area and she is not able to life up her body far enough off the ground to keep from rubbing it.  Its all bad news.

Te wollen lymp nodes?  That could easily be from illness instead of cancer related. I dont want to give you false hope, but she may live longer than your thinking.

The trimeth is a good drug for secondary infections and yes she can live off of it for the duration of her life. As for metacam, this is only a fancy type of advil, used for inflammation and mild pain.  I would ask the vet to have mercy on your Jenna and give her Torbutrol/Torbugesic. This is a narcotic pain medication for moderate to severe pain.  She will NOT live in a fog and act all stoned, I promise.  It will make her comfortable. The vet should have no problem giving her this for the rest of her life, either.  So what if its a narcotic? So what if she feels better....thats the goal, right?  I would ask for it today. Call and ask. Discuss it with the vet. Tell him the metacam is actually MORE toxic to the rat, and there can be nephrotoxic side effects, in other words, can cause renal disease (kidney problems). To be honest, NSAIDS are the absolute more nephrotoxic drug out there, even worse then antibiotics like sulfa!!!!!!   She deserves better, she deserves to not hurt, not even a tiny bit.
In fact, check out this link, print the info and show the vet should he hesitate to change this drug.

http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&A=1752

Has the vet mentioned a biopsy or aspiration of the little lump at all?

You are doing the right thing  by not removing it, thouse, as I have said earlier, and the vet you have is a really excellant vet, so you can at least have faith he is doing the right thing by Jenna.


Thanks for writing, and please keep me posted. I want only the best for her, of course.