Fancy Rats Archive forum: 2002 - 2011

We are aiming for tomorrow at 12 noon. there will be a post here with details around that time. tabi This is - a) very exciting and - b) totally unacceptable ... I shall be at work tomorrow and noon is uber busy cos it's peak 'turnaround' time on my unit so no chance of a break. Will have to wait u...

Put them in the carrier and leave them there overnight. I'd agree. If there are no actual major fights, just scuffles, stand-offs and squealing then I tend to be a bit cold hearted and just leave them to it :lol: It's sometimes stressful as an owner to watch beloved rats or new babies being stresse...

Hi there, Just wanted to say that my boy Melchior has had a similar thing. I noticed an abdominal lump on him about 8months ago and they did an aspirate test at the vets which revealed that it was a fatty lump. Those kind of tests arent one hundred per cent accurate but apparently abdominal masses ...

That sounds like a good plan, even if you can't predict the outcome right now :luck: Thanks. I wouldn't like to lose him under anaesthetic and think we should have held off. At least now I know it's there I can monitor it and we can gauge how slow/quickly it is growing and will easily spot if it st...

Vet thinks most likely scenario is a mass/tumour attached to spleen or intestine. I mentioned Reuben's poo has looked a bit different lately (jeez my life is glamorous :roll: ) so we think intestinal is most likely. He said in that case needling it carries a high risk of nicking the bowel and causin...

So glad your girlies are recovering well

It seems fatty lumps run in this line, would the vet be able to tell the difference between fat, tumour and abcsess on x ray?

Thanks for all the replies, I much prefer honesty than beating around the bush. Have an appointment with a fab vet at 5pm.

Thanks. No recent surgery and no wounds. It really is very internal and almost perfectly central in the abdomen. Can get vet appointment tomorrow afternoon but earliest I could take him for surgery would be Monday unless I left him overnight on Thursday for op on Friday. Hmmm, will have to discuss w...

He is surprisingly OK, if Will hadn't felt it I would be none the wiser! He hasn't lost any weight and shows no signs of pain or feeling unwell. One of the newer boys is trying to dominate him a lot today which is unusual so whether he can sense that Reuben might be a bit weak or vulnerable I don't ...

I have found a mass in Reuben's abdomen :( It's quite deep, you have to really poke about to find it. Can anyone tell me about likely sources of abdomen tumours and prognosis etc? He is 18 months old but I would be confident about choosing surgery for him. It is about the size of a small walnut but ...

Phew, I shall stop worrying too much then!

Just wondering whether it is normal for an OAP rat to be a bit fluffed up without any underlying illness? Could it just be old age? George has a definite fluffiness to him most of the time these days but seems otherwise well apart from general old age. He's around 28 months old and has had respy iss...

I don't know about this, so just putting it out there, but would it be worth her having an injection of vitamin K before any procedure (I don't know how long before for it to take effect) Charlie had vit K before his nick test and it made no difference. I'm sure the problem is related to another pa...

I (inspired by rattypetrolhead :wink: ) have just bought a couple if deep rectangular plastic potting tray thingies. They're about 35cm long and 15cm wide and 15cm deep. I have cable tied one on to the cage bars and then slotted the other one inside that and filled it with substrate with a bit of fo...