neuter

[serenade]

Hey, all.  Got another question for ya.  I just had my Bubba boy neutered yesterday, and I was wondering what would be normal behavior, movements, eating habits, etc.  right after surgery?  Anything I should watch out for, other than checking to make sure he doesn't mess with his stitches?

[Louise]

How do you stop him if he wants to mess with his stitches?  Just curious, Mr. Higgins may have to go for surgery and if he wants to mess with his stitches I'm not sure what I should do about it.

Hope Bubba's doing ok

[JulesDoug]

Just a thought ... not mine though, someone put peanut butter on their rattie post sugery so he spent all that time cleaning than picking!! Dont know if it works for all ratties I just remember reading it. Remember that peanut butter can be a choking hazard.

[kmw]

I'll try to kill two bird with one stone here....

After a neuter - expect the rat to "slow" down.  They had surgery, are probably sore, and may not be very active for a day or two after the surgery.  They should still eat and drink, however.  If the rat looks like he's "sucking in" his sides, that indicates pain.  Children's tylenol can be given at a dose of 90-140 mg acetaminophen/lb of rat.  I'd err on the side of caution and go for the lower end of the dose.  

Not eating and drinking is NOT normal, nor is redness or swelling - this may indicate an infection or abscess.  Antibiotics may be necessary.

To keep a rat from messing with stitches depends on the location of the stitches and the dedication of the rat  You can try a fake bandage on a fairly easy to reach body part like the tail.  Or make a rat coat out of a child's sock.  Cut off the toe/foot area, and cut holes for the legs.  If you have a fat rat, you may need to use a bigger sock.  Christy has a great picture of her rat Pearl in a sock coat  

[jp]

You want to watch the area for an abscess.  Because of it's location and the fact that it may drag on the ground a bit.  Pee pees can drip on there too.  Just make sure it's clean.  Most rats leave their surgery sites alone.  I'm not sure how you would cover a that area.  I've never had a problem with my boys bothering it after a neuter.  I did have one boy that seemed to keep looking for his testicles.  They were rather large!

[serenade]

How do you stop him if he wants to mess with his stitches?  Just curious, Mr. Higgins may have to go for surgery and if he wants to mess with his stitches I'm not sure what I should do about it.

Hope Bubba's doing ok

I don't know.  I work during the day so who knows what or how he's doing.  My poor baby...I feel so bad!  

[serenade]

Just a thought ... not mine though, someone put peanut butter on their rattie post sugery so he spent all that time cleaning than picking!! Dont know if it works for all ratties I just remember reading it. Remember that peanut butter can be a choking hazard.

That's a good idea, wonder if it works.  I read about it being a choking hazard too.  Doesn't matter anyway, my son ate all the peanut butter the other day!  

[serenade]

I'll try to kill two bird with one stone here....

After a neuter - expect the rat to "slow" down.  They had surgery, are probably sore, and may not be very active for a day or two after the surgery.  They should still eat and drink, however.  If the rat looks like he's "sucking in" his sides, that indicates pain.  Children's tylenol can be given at a dose of 90-140 mg acetaminophen/lb of rat.  I'd err on the side of caution and go for the lower end of the dose.  

Oh, wow!  Thanks for the info!  I was wodering about that!  About him sucking in his sides!  My poor baby!  I just happened to have some left-over pain meds from my girl rattie when she injured her tail, so I gave him the last of that last night.  I figured it should be fine, if anything it wouldn't have been enough med for his big ol' fattie self.  lol  So, the children's tylenol....you said 90-140 mg per pound?  So if he's less than a pound, how much should I give him?  (sorry, I'm TERRIBLE with numbers/math!) And is that the liquid or tablets?  

[serenade]

You want to watch the area for an abscess.  Because of it's location and the fact that it may drag on the ground a bit.  Pee pees can drip on there too.  Just make sure it's clean.  Most rats leave their surgery sites alone.  I'm not sure how you would cover a that area.  I've never had a problem with my boys bothering it after a neuter.  I did have one boy that seemed to keep looking for his testicles.  They were rather large!

I changed all the blankets in his cage, took out all the litter in his litter box, put in strips of paper towel instead, figured it would be softer and I wouldn't have to worry about dust from the Carefresh or aspen that I use.  I moved his water bottle and food dish close to his 'bed.'  Put lots of soft blankies in his bed too.   He seemed a little more alert this morning.  I don't know about his dried food, but I did get him to eat a tiny bit of baby food and cottage cheese off a spoon last night.  He took a couple of nibbles of avocado.  We'll see how he did once I get home this evening.  I'm afraid to handle him though...what's the best way to pick him up and hold him.  I don't want to hurt him, but I know I have to make sure everything is looking okay.  I just left a msg at the vet's office, so hopefully they will call me soon.

[Louise]

Did the vet say how long the recovery would take?  I feel sorry for you and Bubba, it must be uncomfortable for him and a worry for you.  Rats!  How did we get ourselves mixed up with them??

[kmw]

So, the children's tylenol....you said 90-140 mg per pound?  So if he's less than a pound, how much should I give him?  (sorry, I'm TERRIBLE with numbers/math!) And is that the liquid or tablets?  

90-140 mg of acetaminophen (which is the active ingredient) per pound of rat.  I think 1/2 of a teaspoon contains 80 mg of acetaminophen  (you'd want to double check the bottle).  If your rat weighs 1/2 pound, you'd want to give 45-70 mg of acetaminophen (which is 1/2 the dose for a 1 pound rat).  This means you would want to give between 1/4 and 1/2 tsp of the liquid Tylenol (the dose would be between 40-80 mg).  Do you have an idea of how much your rat weighs?  Is it in grams or pounds?  

[serenade]

90-140 mg of acetaminophen (which is the active ingredient) per pound of rat.  I think 1/2 of a teaspoon contains 80 mg of acetaminophen  (you'd want to double check the bottle).  If your rat weighs 1/2 pound, you'd want to give 45-70 mg of acetaminophen (which is 1/2 the dose for a 1 pound rat).  This means you would want to give between 1/4 and 1/2 tsp of the liquid Tylenol (the dose would be between 40-80 mg).  Do you have an idea of how much your rat weighs?  Is it in grams or pounds?  

I would think he is less than a pound, maybe 1/2...I really don't know.  I don't even know if they weighed him yesterday.  Hmm...  I will find out before I give him anything.  Gosh, I sure hope he's doing okay.  I should have brought him to work with me...darn darn darn.  I just figured he could use the rest.  I just feel so bad for the poor little guy.  

[serenade]

Did the vet say how long the recovery would take?  I feel sorry for you and Bubba, it must be uncomfortable for him and a worry for you.  Rats!  How did we get ourselves mixed up with them??

I just got off the phone with the doctor, and he said that if he's not acting 'normal' within 3 days, to bring him in.  He told me not to hesitate to call if I have any worries sooner.  I was worried about this little spazm thing that Bubba had last night.  I don't think I mentioned that in my original msg!  Anyway, he was kinda lying on his side and his back right leg looked contorted, like he was stretching with a kind of twist...weird, then his tail and hind end (where his, er, uh, nuggets once were) starting going up...his tail was almost straight up in the air!  It bent down at the middle...very odd!  Freaked me out...he was just looking at me when this happened to him.  I felt so bad!  Here I am trying to 'rescue' this guy, give him a good home and I castrate the poor fella and cause his butt to tweak out!    HOWEVER...when I got up this morning, he peeked at me over his bed/box, I noticed LITTLE poops (I know what it's like to push after a baby!) not the norm for him, but still....and he had taken all the paper towels out of his litter box and moved them to his bed.  So, to me that was good!  Means he's moving around at least!    I will keep you guys posted.  Thanks for the quick responses and your concern.  

[serenade]

90-140 mg of acetaminophen (which is the active ingredient) per pound of rat.  I think 1/2 of a teaspoon contains 80 mg of acetaminophen  (you'd want to double check the bottle).  If your rat weighs 1/2 pound, you'd want to give 45-70 mg of acetaminophen (which is 1/2 the dose for a 1 pound rat).  This means you would want to give between 1/4 and 1/2 tsp of the liquid Tylenol (the dose would be between 40-80 mg).  Do you have an idea of how much your rat weighs?  Is it in grams or pounds?  

The doctor just told me that 50-75mg should be fine, if that doesn't work, to call him and they would give him something via injection.  My poor guy!  So many injections.  He was getting 2 a day for like 2 weeks for a bacterial infection on his skin just a couple of weeks ago.

[Jodi]

One bit of advice on dosing liquid pain relievers: Make sure you check the packaging for the product strength per measure. Although my own kids are teenagers now, I remember seeing a story on one of those t.v. news magazine shows not so long ago about kids who died from overdoses of acetaminophen and/or ibuprofen! Apparently, the infant drops are often much more concentrated than are the children's elixirs. So be sure to check the strengths/dosage amounts very carefully.