Rattery Home  |   The Boys  |   The Girls  |   The Litters  |   Memorials Policies and Contract  |   The Setup The FlyingDuster Rattery "Cassia" It's a long story, though has a happy ending! *warning* there is a graphic photo down furthur that while isn't 'gory', it isn't entierly pleasent! This is the story as I told it, it has been much longer than 10 days now!! I'll note now she is totally healed and in fine health now!!! "Ten days ago (Saturday) I got a call from the local SPCA (same as the RSPCA/ASPCA) saying they'd had a very pregnant rat dumped with them, and that they couldn't keep her while she had bubs, so could I take her and raise her bubs? You already know the answer to that one hu? I think it was about three days after I got her that she put on 10g, and still hadn't popped. The vet nurse where she was dumped thought she'd pop that day. So did the staff at the SPCA. So did I! She was sooo huge, but nope, she wasn't ready. She was happy to haul that belly up the side of the cage and try to popcorn (not very succesfully!) around her new big cage. She wasn't ready to have any bubs yet!! I weighed her every morning and night (and often during the day too!) after she gained that 10g, she gained another 4g. Then another 3. Hmmm. Now I know I haven't had many litters, but *surely* I know enough to know that the weight gain is supposed to go UP as those bubs grow... Ok, so by Wednesday I'm wondering, by Thursday I'm concerned, and I make a vet appointment for Friday evening, 'just in case' she doesn't pop, and before the weekend comes. I know the vet can't do alot, but I felt better making an appointment anyway. Friday comes along, no weight gain that day at all, but me being paranoid thinks she could be nesting a little. I go to work, and come home; still nothing. Ok, so she doesn't seem to be going backwards at all, she's still very happy and chirpy, bouncing about, eating and toileting normally. But we'll go to the vets anyway, or else I know I'll worry all weekend!! The vet checked her and agreed she looked very pregnant, and that she really should be birthing any day now. And that maybe something is odd, but we can't be sure, and she's ok for now so wait and see. We spotted lice though, so gave her some ivermectin and he sent us on our way again. So the next day, Sunday, I went in to pick her up. Turns out it was two girls and a boy, all dumped in filthy cages at a vet clinic, and the SPCA were called in to collect them from there. The boy and other girl were fine and in ok health etc. The girl in question though had a huge swollen belly, she was ready to pop any day now! The SPCA promised they'd take her and the bubs back again when they were old enough if I couldn't keep them/find them homes, it's just they couldn't put the time into them that they'd need while little. Fair enough, and it would mean I get to have bubs around again! Yay! 343g, but very boney and skinny apart from the belly. That huge belly was sucking her nutrition out of her wee body, at first thought she might be young, but after knowing her a few days I don't think so any more. Home again, and I find that ivermectin is best NOT given to a pregnant mum! It goes through the milk in high enough levels to kill eepers in their first day or two. Great, so now when she has her bubs, I've just gone and probably killed them. Sh*t! I am feeling so horrible, I want to crawl away into a hole, how could I not have checked and known that!?? There's a chance it could be ok, but not really. I'm gonna kill them! *sob* Saturday comes, I'm feeling horrible, I check on her constantly, I try not to disturb her too much, and I keep an eye on her weight. I don't sleep, I'm waiting to go into the rat room and hear eeping. I'm waiting to find some already dead and to watch the rest die too. I still want to crawl away. Sunday and another whole gram of weight gain. I'm deciding now that whatever is inside her isn't growing. A total of 17g has been gained in 7 days. Any other skinny rat has put on that much (and more!) after a week of a good diet. She's so fat, she can't be in the early stages of pregnancy, she has to be pretty advanced, and she has to be gaining more than that if the bubs are alive and growing. Were her bubs already dead? Did she have something else in there?? I make a desicion; to operate on monday morning. I'm crying and feeling horrible, if there's bubs in there, and they're alive, they're unlikely to survive a ceaser. If I wasn't going to kill them with the ivermectin, I was going to kill them by deciding to open her up. I decide she needs a name. If she doesn't survive, she needs a name. "Cassia". I *had* to put Cassia first, ahead of any babies she might have inside her. But I did not want to risk killing her babies!! I did not want to have to make any desicion at all, but how much longer should I wait? Rats crash so fast because of their fast metabolism. If there's something wrong, and I wait, will I be too late? It really doesn't seem to me like there's live bubs in her anymore, but I can't be sure. I have to decide to wait and see and risk loosing Cassia if something is wrong, or operate and risk loosing live bubs cos I didn't wait. I DON'T WANT TO DO THIS! But I do. I decide she has to be first. I do NOT condon culling of bubs or anything like that. I don't want to kill bubs. But Cassia is already here, she has to be first, bubs are only a bonus if Cassia is here. Another sleepless night. Monday morning, I call my vet, he is fine with my desicion and I have her at the vets within 20 mins. I give him instructions to spay her while he's in there, whatever he finds, and to CALL ME as soon as possible!! A nerve wreaking morning at home. I didn't have any work on that day, nothing to really distract myself. I'm feeling sick, am I killing her bubs right now?? A phone call! My vet is saying she's just waking up now, and is fine! Thank goodness she is ok! The verdict though? A HUGE pyometra!!!! She went in to the vets that morning weighing in at 361g. She came home at 210g. If you do the math, that makes the removed bit 151g. The 'removed bit' is her infection/pus filled uterus, that was so huge it was ready to burst. Literally. Another day or two and it would have, and she wouldn't be here to tell the tale. She's tiny and soooooooo skinny, her skin is hanging over her bones, but she's alive and moving about and fine!!! That 'sausage' there, IS her uterus. THAT somehow fit inside her! Imagine how tight that would have been in her! Oh thank god for an awesome vet and gut instinct! It's Tuesday now, she's put on 25g overnight and isn't as boney as in that pic above, and is now just a generic 'skinny'. She hasn't worried her surgury site (which is fairly large to get that thing out!) at all and it's healing well. She came bouncing out of her nest tonight *demanding* I give her belly kisses and dinner right NOW! hehe. She's such a sweety, she isn't going back to the SPCA, I have too much emotional investment in her, and she's one of those 'special' ones that will never leave. Welcome home Cassia. email me [Updated - 21 July 2007]