Yay, I'm so happy Peanut is doing better!!! 

Just going with what the vet said about the duration of the steroid.  Perhaps that's only as often as they will administer it?
Mom just told me she used to get steroid injections into her knee which lasted 6 weeks each time.  I'll trust my vet that this one's going to last the 3... and hopefully it does!  Peanut's like a new ratty, almost!

Peanut's still doing great.  She's running around dribbling (marking) on everything again, and is even able to groom her face with both her front and back feet.  She can stand, run (walk quickly? lol), and even munched on a lab block while I held it for her.  She's still getting her Ensure Plus as a staple, however.  I'm soaking a lab block as a test for her for later.

The last two or three days, Peanut's balance has been bad-off again.  She's leaning far to the right and is having extreme difficulty standing/walking.  We added prednisone twice a day to see if it helps, but it hasn't.

Despite that, she was eating vigorously and just fine until this morning.  She wants to eat... but she's unable to move her mouth/tongue/swallow or something like she was doing up until now.

Took her to the vet's to get 5cc's of fluids and learned how to restrain her to do so in case I need to give her fluids this weekend.

She could have developed diabetes from the tumor. It is not a sugar diabetes... I forget the exact issues it causes, but, if that's the case, the fluids could be more important than just for hydration!  Aha... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diabetes_insipidus

I'm giving her a break to rest right now and will try feeding again soon to see if the fluids made any difference.

I'm so sorry to hear Peanut is having such rough time again. 

Like I said before, any chance the vet can either show you how to give her the steroid injections or try giving it to her orally?  Sounds like it helped for a few days.

Looks like the injection she got Monday was a form of prednisone. 

I have a question... what would make Peanut's incisor fall out?  I just found her top right incisor.  There's nothing left where it was... just a hole (healed over).  No blood anywhere where she's been (her carrier... covers/hammocks/cubes). 

I've been giving her oral prednisone again on the vet's advice, but it has made no difference that I can tell.  I gave her more SQ fluids this afternoon.  She's eating with more ease today than she was yesterday.

But why in the world would her tooth fall out?  It doesn't appear to have been knocked out or broken... it just looks like it fell right out.  It looks like a healthy color... maybe a little blood staining around the "top" where I assume it was connected.

She'll be going in Monday, if possible, to get her remaining teeth trimmed... at least her bottom right which is long.  It seems ridiculous to have to get it trimmed once a week, but it really is growing fast and not being worked down at all.

Hope she's feeling better soon, keep her comfortable.

As for the tooth, could be when it was trimmed it also got cracked up near the gumline and the person trimming the teeth did not see it.  Could very well be from her previous tooth trim.

Your welcome.  Just make sure that if you are continuing to get her teeth trimmed while she is still with you the person doing it is doing it right.  I acn't express that enough.  Trimming teeth when its not needed can really screw them up and further more it can be really painful to the rat.  You know how your cracked teeth feel like when you've broken a tooth ot have a bad cavity, same thing with a rat if the crack is too far up into the gumline and it cracks above the root.

Personally I would keep on eye on her teeth and if they are looking ok and the cracked one is growing in at the right angle still, I WOULD NOT TRIM HER TEETH AGAIN  Its more stress than she needs right now.

If you are going to ask for experienced rat peoples' opinions and not listen to those giving you good information, whats the point in asking.

That being said.  I hope Peanut it comfortable.  Kisses to the little girl.

Jen

She's back up and walking/running again.  It must be the fluids.

Going to alternate giving her something like smart water or gatoraid.. something with electrolytes, etc, instead of sticking her every day.  Alternate that with her ensure

See how that goes!  Hopefully it works.  I don't want to have to stick her once a day!

I thought coconut milk was a laxative?

I got Peanut some Smart Water, but she wasn't interested in drinking it from a dropper.  Or pedialyte.  Picky stinker.

The vet said the idea was a good one, but it would take a lot of the water/pedialyte/sports drink to have any real benefit.  She said to do it if Peanut would cooperate, but it doesn't look like that's the case.  She'll be getting sub-q fluids once a day as needed.  I'm pretty sure she needs it every day, because when I skipped a day, she lost her ability to balance/walk again.

Peanut has had wet poop since yesterday.  Nothing has changed in her diet... if you can call it that.  Any ideas??

The vet agrees that Peanut will need her teeth clipped every week if they continue to grow as fast as they gave been for the past few weeks.  Of course, only if they are too long or growing in odd directions.

I don't think she needs fluids to stay alive;  I think she needs fluids to function properly (ie: moving, standing, grooming). 

Peanut eats lots of Ensure on a daily basis through an eyedropper, but the Ensure doesn't seem to contain the electrolytes she needs.  I've offered her water and pedialyte in the dropper, but she wasn't interested in either.

The vet gave me some high fiber Critical Care stuff for herbivores this morning.  It was the only thing she had on hand that she thought might help with the wet poop.

We've been giving her 5cc's of sub-q at a time.

GOOD NEWS!

Peanut did NOT lose ANY weight last week!!  She managed this even with not wanting to eat hardly anything for two days.

The vet called in some Bromocriptine for Peanut to be compounded.  We are going to try and see if this will shrink the tumor.  We're also considering oral melatonin.

Hope the bromocriptine works!! I don't know how likely it is... it only works on the one type of pituitary tumor.  I hope that's what Peanut has.