Question
My Sweet Flex
I live in Stockton, CA and I was wondering if you knew a rough estimate of how much an MRI or whatever testing can cost for a rat with possible Congestive Heart Failure or Heart Disease. I've tried several different antibiotics thinking I was fighting a respiratory illness and now (that nothing has worked) I think my sweet boy may have heart issues! He just turned 2 years old last month. Any thought...I know it always varies. Thanks for any help/answer you have to offer.
Kindest Regards,
Nikki S.
Answer
To be honest, all you need is a good vet with a good ear and willing to use medication to treat the heart disease. An MRI or CAT scan or even an ultrasound could cost anywhere from $500 to a few thousand dollars.
What we do usually is this:
Go over his entire health history and also the treatment used when he was sick.
How many times has he had a respiratory infection, what medications were used and how long were they given to him for?
Next, we would take x=rays to check out the lungs, look for lung scarring, fluid in the lugns, etc..and also check the size of the heart which will tell if the rat has cardiomyopathy, which is pretty common when rats have heart disease Blood work can be valuable also which can determine alot about the heart too.
Comparing symptoms also aids in a diagnosis as well as going over what medications the rat was given for the possible respiratory infection.
Once it is suspected he may have heart trouble (the vet may also hear a heart murmur as well as rapi
heart beat) he can prescribe a drug that can slow the heart rate down some and this will help oxygen sats too. The drug is enalapril and it is an absolutely safe drug to use, even if the heart is NOT diseased. It simply wont work, but it is so benign it wont hurt, either. Its used as a great diagnostic tool, so to speak, and should be tried on the rat for at least a few weeks to determine if it is going to help or not. By that time, lab results should be back and this can also help with some answers and other meds may need to be used such as digoxin. Have you gone over my Critter city site and the page on heart disease and lung disease? If not, you may find it to be pretty helpful just by reading the signs of heart disease VS lung disease since they can either mock either other or go hand in hand together, since sometimes lung disease can take a toll on the heart, or vice verse.
Here is the URL to my page.
http://www.freewebs.com/crittercity/heartlungkidneydisease.htm
I wanted to ask you these few things:
How often has he had respiratory infections and what was the mode of treatment?
Tell me how he acts.....does he wheeze? Tire easily? Are his extremeties blue, purple, white, or cold to the touch?
Any problems using his hind legs? Is he eating? Is he losing weight?
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