Scrambles is having a lot of trouble.  I bought her in August of 07 at about a month or two old, so she would be 16-17 months old.

She has peed blood for 8 or so months now.  We have checked her urine and blood for anything strange and haven't found anything.  Her kidney levels are good and nothing shows up on an x-ray.  It gets better and worse.

Two weekends ago she had a bad relapse of blood, but pulled through it ok.  She started to have squeaky breathing, so I took her to the vet yesterday and she is now on baytril (5 mg/lbs).

Ever since she was young her left eye has bulged out more than her right eye.  It has never caused her problems in the past, so I never investigated it more.  Every single one of my rats has quirky health problems, genetics isn't something we get the good dice roll for up here in Alaska.  I noticed yesterday that the left eye was bulged out more than usual, but dismissed it to her being sick.  I just came home today and my boyfriend was freaking out.  He was standing in the rat room and heard Scrambles start screaming behind him.  She was writhing and scratching at her left eye for maybe five seconds.  There is a possibility that he brushed Scrambles while walking by, but he definitely did not do anything to cause her pain like this.  When he picked her up she seemed to do better.  This was 5-10 mins ago.  She is still in obvious discomfort from the eye, and it is still very bulged out, but not as bad as while she was screaming.

There are two SDA outbreaks currently in Alaska, but they are 350 and 500 miles away from me.  I have not brought in new rats for 8 months, and always leave at least three hours between home and the pet store.  No other rats are showing signs.  Her squeaky breathing has gone down with the last day and a half of baytril.

I don't have a vet to go to.  The e vet will see rats, but doesn't know a whole lot about them.  My good vet is out of town until January.  I have another vet who was seeing them, but has asked me to find another vet because she is not comfortable with them.  I have another vet I can go to if I want Baytril prescribed, but isn't able to do anything beyond that.  I have a vet an hour drive from here, but I don't know if they are any good (they say they can treat rats, but from experience that doesn't mean anything).  I have a HUGE semester project due tomorrow night that my passing a class hinges on.  I can go to the inexpedience vet who prescribes baytril if I know EXACTLY whats going on.

I need help.  Please, I can't loose this girl.  She's very, very special to me.  She was my second rat, and the whole reason I feel in love with rats.  She is my boogler, and my adventurer.  She can outsmart me when she decides to get her her way (which is always).  I have never met another animal anything like her.  Every day is something new and amazing with her.

Please

Pink

Please let us know how it goes, I hope that she gets some treatment, or at least some pain meds.  Good luck with her, and everything turns out well.

Her eye is all swollen now.  Should I be concerned about anything like fluid buildup behind the eye?  The poor girl feels horrible   At least I have lots a metacam for her.

Is there anything I need to think about?  For tonight she is in a super pet exotic with all shelves removed and a box.  She has towels and rags to snuggle with, and I've given her baby cereal, ensure, some food, and her baytril (she's sick too).  Tomorrow I hope to add a friend I know won't pick at her, but she seems miserable tonight.  I may add a hot water bottle wrapped in a towel, but that won't last long.

Pink

Oh poor Scrambles!  I've gotten so attached to her, through you, since you love her so much and talk about her so much.  I wish that I had some advice for you about that eye =/ at least know that I'm sending my love her way and yours.

She's only been on baytril for a day and a half now, and has slightly improved.  I'm adding doxy this morning (its so nice to to have a varied supply of antibiotics on hand).

She's still a bit puffy this morning, but no more than I would expect from any invasive surgery.  She seems miserable, I brought her into the bathroom for my shower this morning, hoping the moist air would help.  When she is asleep she doesn't squeak as she breaths, but when she is awake she sounds horrible.  She kept me up a lot of the night (kept her next to my bed).  I put her onto the bottom half of the FN this morning and am thinking about adding one of the boys tonight, so she has someone to snuggle with.  I'm fairly certain they would leave her sutures alone, but I know a lot of my girls wouldn't.  The other 8 are just going to have to deal with being trapped in half of a FN.  Its clean, they'll be ok.

Does anyone else have experience with a one eyed rat?

Pink

Morgans' eye ruptured a few months back and we had it removed.  After the first surgery to remove the eye, the incision got infected and they went in to take the sutures out and left most of the wound open to drain and heal.

Unfortunately the second time around to clean the incision out when they put her under, she developed pneumonia.  Had she not developed the pneumonia she would have been fine, but we think her immune system was having issues at that point and the anestithia aggravated it.  She was euthanized.

She too was also on baytril which once the incision was clean was helping in that area.

Hope Scrambles heals quickly!

I hope she gets better soon, please keep us updated.

Maybe just take a warm damp washcloth and very gently wipe off crusties.  Sometimes it does take a couple days for them to really get on the mend.  Is she eating or drinking on her own?  Dehydration often contributes to the miserablness, and it can happen very quickly, if they're not feeling well.  You might want to take her back in to the vet for subcutaneous fluids.

She's really not doing good.  She's lethargic, loosing bladder control, has blood coming out of her left ear and it just sitting here.  She doesn't do that.  I keep calling the vet office, but their always busy.  I'm thinking of just taking her there, I feel like I'm loosing her.

I'm so scared.

Pink

They are at the vet right now =/ hopefully we'll all get some good news on Scrambles soon..

I will be praying and sending healing vibes to Scrambles!!

Its ultimately your choice and decision to help her, as in humane euthanasia by the vet.  Sadly sometimes this is the last true gift we can give them.

Hugs for both of you.
Jen

I got on as soon as I could, I had to get off the computer.
Is she in any obvious pain? If she is... leaving, you want to make her as comfortable as possible. When Penny was in pain from a foot injury, I gave her some childrens' ibuprofen and she calmed down quite a bit.
Also, how old is she? If she is nearing the end of her life span, I know it is hard, but you might have to let her leave if her condition worsens... Poor Scrambles!!! I am praying and sending good vibes for her