Rat-O being adorable

Question

Incision closed with s   QUESTION: Hi Sandra.

Rat-O is now happily home with his brothers!  I am ecstatic and oh so very relieved.

Dr. Dielo sutured Rat-O up internally and as you know they kept him overnight.  After examining him in the morning, Dr. Dielo was concerned that Rat-O moving his front leg was putting a strain on the stitches, so she added some staples for good measure. She also prescribed some meds for him, which from past experiences will not be easy to give him.  He hates it and puts up such a fuss.  I do not want to upset him by forcing a syringe into his mouth.  Would it be okay to put a little blob of jelly on a plate, mix in the liquid meds and see if he will lick it up?  Does mixing the medicine with other things make it less effective?  Any suggestions would be much appreciated!  Thank you Sandra!

-Natalie

ANSWER: Meds from the tetracycline family should not be taken with dairy products.  What did she give him to take?   You can use jelly, a  bit of syrup, even melted ice cream it yogurt...anything to get him to take it is ok with me!!  Just do NOT use peanut butter since this  can cause a potential choking hazard if it its too thick and can block of the rats airway.  

I have a favor to ask if you dont mind also...I used Rat-o as one one of my feature rats on my tumor page to my site. I should have asked before I did it but sometimes when I am in the mood to type and work on my site, I just do it and ask later, which is bad on my part, so I am sorry for doing first, asking later. But here I am...and if you please dont mind, do I have your permission to post the photos of Rat-0 before his tumor surgery and also the photo you sent now?  If you have been to my website and checked out the tumor page, I have alot of photos and stories from readers.  Since Rat-o did not have a typical mammary tumor due to the fact it was draining (in the photo it almost looked like cherry pie filling, is that gross of me to even compare to or what?! LOL!)  It makes the rat owner believe it is an abscess rather than a tumor, but all along it was a tumor that abscessed and was draining. Like I said before (Or at least I think I told you) a lady wrote to me about her college age daughters rat that kept going back to the vet again and again while he picked apart this abscess. It got so out of hand the bacteria was slowly starting to back up and the vet feared the bacteria was going to get in the blood stream and kill her.  I took one look at that photo and knew she needed to get away from that quack of a vet before the rat died.  What she had was NOT an abscess but a large tumor that had abscessed. I gave her the name of a great clinic too and  the vet that took her almost flipped out because what I said was true. The other vet could have killed this little girl! So long story short, even  though its not up to us and we pay the vet for their knowledge, sadly we as rat owners should educate ourselves about several common ailments so we know what is going on when the Vet doesnt.
That said, the photo of Rat-o is a great example of how a tumor can look when its infected.

Anyhow, back to Rat-o! He should be just fine. These tumors are not really invasive and more superficial (think wart!) so even if he should pop a stitch or two, its not like you will be seeing his internal organs hanging out!  Ew. Good way to change my mind about breakfast! ;0

Anyhow, check out my website and the page on tumors and if it is ok with you, I have Rat o up along with his story and I even gave credit to his surgeon, Dr. Dielo!   If you do not want me to use the photos etc...please let me know and I will remove them at once. Here is the URL!

http://www.freewebs.com/crittercity/allabouttumors.htm

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QUESTION: Hi Sandra.

Of course you can use Rat-O on your website!  If Rat-O's story can help educate other rat lovers in any way that would be fantastic.  And I do agree with you that Rat-O's draining tumor in the before picture resembled cherry pie filling, lol.  Dr. Dielo gave Rat-O meloxicam, which I mixed with strawberry jelly this morning, much to Rat-O's delight :#

He is doing wonderful!  I need to make an appointment in 12 to 14 days for staple removal, and the results of the biopsy on the tumor are still pending #here's to hoping it is just a mammary tumor and nothing more serious).

I'll keep you posted, thanks for all of you help!!

-Natalie

ANSWER: thank you so much for letting me use the photos.  Oh, also, do you have one of the handsome little guy of him just.....posing and being cute, minus the tumor and stuff?  

Also, please let me know the biopsy results.  I am thinking more of it being benign mammary tissue if anything.  I doubt  he will grow any more after this....males rarely do.

I am glad  you have a great vet to go to also.  There are few out there as you know so when I can find one for someone I am on top of the world about it. Its all good!

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Rat-O!   QUESTION: Hi Sandra.

Do I have a picture of Rat-O just posing and being cute?  Only hundreds of them LOL! I attached one to this message.  

I will absolutely let you know the pathology results as soon as I get them.  Once again I wanted to thank you for all of your help, I really can not thank you enough.  You're awesome :)

-Natalie

Answer
Thanks.  He is so cute.  I love the blue they have in their eyes!  So funny!

I already put his picture up. Check out my tumor page on Critter city if you havent seen the write up I did about him yet. Once I know the pathology report I will also write the outcome as well.  
I am up late taking pictures of my very nocturnal baby rats so I can update their page on my site too that is dedicated to them.  they are wild beyond belief, but tame in the same respect if that makes sense.