A few weeks ago 2 girls, Nala and Aries were surrendered to the NZ Rat Rescue.  Their owner no longer wanted them, mainly because they were getting old, and one came with an abscess, which their owner didn't want to deal with.  They'd been rehomed with their previous owner about 7 months ago too, so the poor girls really haven't known a lot of stability.  I had planned to keep the girls with me until Nala's abscess cleared up, before they headed up to the rescue, but sucker that I am (and my boyfriend), we  decided it was unfair to move them yet again, so they're now permanent residents.  Nala is the girl that came with the abscess.  It did start to improve on antibiotics, but didn't get completely better.  Then recently, it started to spread, and it became apparent it was probably an abscessed tumor. 

The location of the tumor was quite low down on her stomach, very close to her urethra.  It felt quite connected to important bits too.  When my vet saw her Tuesday, she had no choice but to operate, even if the location was iffy.  The operation went ok, but the tumor and infection had spread further than we'd hoped.  The infection had spread right through to her vagina and urethra, and the vet wasn't sure she'd be able to urinate properly.

I took her home that night, and monitored her very carefully.  Unfortunately it became clear that while she could urinate, it was coming out of the stitches, not out of her urethra.  She went in for more surgery the next day.  It was a really tricky surgery (over 2 hours long), and the vet basically had to rebuild the urethra out of what was left, and put in a catheter to help her pee.  The prognosis is pretty guarded.  My vet has never performed this kind of surgery on dogs or cats, let alone something as small as a rat.  It's not practical to keep the catheter in long term, so we're hoping it can be removed Monday (was supposed to be removed today, but it was though best to wait a bit longer).

Poor Nala is pretty miserable.  I've had to separate her from her cagemate Aries, so I can monitor her closely, and she's in a vet wrap, to make sure she doesn't pull out the catheter.  I have to clean it a few times a day, which I know hurts her.  She can't understand why I keep causing her pain.   Her friend Aries isn't too happy too.  She's all alone, with no one to obsessively groom.  We also just discovered an abscess/tumor in Aries in *exactly* the same spot as Nala, which is upsetting. 

Despite all this, Nala is incredibly forgiving, and is still very loving.  Please send her good vibes.  If she's unable to urinate by herself after the catheter is removed, we'll have to help her leave.  Here's some photos of the lovely patient.

Sweet licky girl


Her bald head is courtesy of Aries, who likes to groom Nala a bit too much. 






In her body wrap.  You can see the catheter and the edge of her stitches between her back legs.  Because it hurts her when I hold her upright, I didn't want to do that to get a proper photo.

Oh poor girly-- best wishes to a swift successful recovery <3

Good wishes with Nala, good on you for looking after her.  Poor girl

What a darling little girl.  Poor baby.  I do hope the same thing doesn't happen to her sister.  Wishing them, and you, lots of luck. 

My prayers are going out to Nala and to Aries.  Get well so you can enjoy the spoiled life a rat deserves, little one!

I'm so glad to hear that Nala is feeling a bit better today!     I have all my fingers crossed for you that the surgery was successful! 

Deb

Yay for happy Nala!  *sends healing surgery works vibes*

*sends healing* I hope the surgery went well, take care Nala!

Ooh, what a pretty girl.  Get well, little one.

What sweeties!  The pictures of them together just melts my heart!

I hope everything goes well and they both start feeling better soon.

Awwww..  Many healing thoughts going out to the girls.  And a huge THANK YOU for being you, and taking such incredible care of these girls!  *hugs*

Woops, just realised I haven't posted a proper update on Nala.   I am thrilled to post that Nala is now completely healed, and now has a new fully functionally urethra!  The swelling and scabbiness has completely gone. 

Here's a photo.  The slightly pink area is where she now urinates from.  This photo was taken about a week ago, and the redness has now completely gone. 


Unfortunately Nala has developed a mammary tumor, so we'll be going in to the vet tomorrow to discuss surgery.  I am really hesitant to put Nala through more surgery, but she's only 2 years and 3 months old.  She's got a bit of life left in her, so I'm torn as to whether to operate.  I am leaning towards operating, but this would be her final surgery.  If more tumors appeared, I don't think I'd want to put her through any more.

As for Aries, about 2 1/2 weeks ago she had an emergency spay to remove a really inflamed and infected uterus.  She recovered well from that, but her abscess came back, and it became clear it was an abscessed tumor, just like Nala.  In exactly the same spot too. What were the odds.   It had spread right through to her urethra as well.  When pressure was put on the abscess, pus came out of her urethra. 

My vet operated on it last week, and she found the tumor hadn't spread as far as Nala's tumor.  Fortunately, there have been no complications.  The surgery area is now almost completely healed, she's urinating ok, and there's no more pus.  Hopefully no more surgery for Aries.

Anyway, here are some pics of the lovely girls, taken today.  I'm making a greeting card for my vet to thank her for all she's done, so wanted to use a nice photo of the girls on the front of the card.  My vet has been awesome through all of this.  She hasn't charged me a cent for all of Nala's surgeries, consults and medicine.  This includes two surgeries (one on her day off, that was 2 1/2 hours long).  Daily consecutive consults for 10 days, including weekends, and antibiotics, etc.  We'll also be giving her a nice bottle of wine, and choccies as a thank you. 

This is the photo I'll be using on the card


Baldy head, Nala.


Tandem cleaning


Posing is tiring work.

Great job taking care of these girls, sound like your vet is amazing!!!!! :occasion14:cheers to her.