Pet Forum / Mammals / Rats / October 2004

Maggie had her surgery yesterday and is now a spayed woman.  She came
through just fine and everyone at the vets said she was a great rat.
(pride).  While she was under anesthetic the vet also took a small biopsy of
the growth under her right arm, which turned out to have a milky substance
in it, so he wasn't sure if it was a blocked milk duct or a tumor.  I should
know the results of the biopsy within a couple of weeks.  Maggie is back to
eating and drinking and eliminating just fine.

She's a little slowed down but resting well in a little recovery tank with
lots of comfy towels and tissues.  The vet said she would still smell like a
female to the boys for up to 30 days, so the introduction may go slower than
I expected after the 10 day recovery.

I didn't end up taking Jacques with me (even though everyone here
recommended I should) because I was just so afraid of him getting a relapse
of his respiratory illness.  It was only 30 degrees here yesterday (below
freezing) and he would have been in the car (with us going in and out of
it ) all day.  I decided to wait a day and see how he was doing.  His foot
is now the same temperature as the other (it had been warmer) and he's using
it more.  His energy is high and he romps and plays with Pierre, climbs the
walls of the cage.  There is still some swelling, but less so.  If it's not
healed up by tomorrow I will call the vet that's only 1 1/2 hours away and
take him there (as opposed to 4 hours).  I don't know why that closer vet
won't do rat operations but... who knows??  The one Maggie went to yesterday
was superb!

Thanks everyone for your recommendations and I will be getting more pics up
of everyone soon.  I was surprised to see that after Maggie's spay
yesterday, her insides were all displaced and so her sides looked VERY
concave.  It looked like she lost a ton of weight in 3 hours.  Hopefully she
will even back out soon.

Meghan