I'm about crushed!

a rat with megacolon is pretty unmistakable--even if the symptoms have just started to show. does her tail seem thin compared to other rats her age? are her poops normal size/consistency? is her anal area dry and clean or is there any wetness, dried feces or anything there other than soft, dry fur? are her sides/belly bloated at all, do they feel hard instead of soft and kind of squishy? if you can get some photos of her, looking down from above and with her stretched upward, holding her under her armpits that may help us to determine more.

again, i'm so sorry that you are having to go through with this and i completely understand wanting to get all the answers beforehand so you can make an educated decision. i can't imagine that a vet would wrongly diagnose megacolon, unless they were just....well, not good. i know that you want what is best for your little girl, so hopefully we'll be able to determine what that is soon!

if your vet has been wrong with your snakes... then why would you keep going to them? or was it a minor 'wrong' with your snakes???

sorry joe, the way i read your post wasn't supportive for a family going thru the loss of a 3 year old beloved pet. my bad.

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Originally Posted by GA_Ball_Pythons

Sorry to hear your about your story, having to make such a choice for a beloved pet is always hard and if now you have doubt it will be even harder, so maybe what you should do is go to another vet and ask for a second opinion, so will know for sure. It won't make your choice easier if you have to make the decision to have her put down, it but you will then know for sure it was the right choice and won't wonder "What If"

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I agree :)

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Originally Posted by recycling goddess

if your vet has been wrong with your snakes... then why would you keep going to them? or was it a minor 'wrong' with your snakes???

sorry joe, the way i read your post wasn't supportive for a family going thru the loss of a 3 year old beloved pet. my bad.

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No problem :) .Myself being a parent i can picture the broken hearts they have dealing with this and just wondered if the vet was the reason for waiting so long.I understand if it is the family wanting to have a little more "special" time also.It really hurts to lose a pet :( .

does her tail seem thin compared to other rats her age?
No - Today I was working around a bunch rats her age/size/weight.
are her poops normal size/consistency?
I do believe they are the right size...
consistency - now that I see that she covers them all up i'll have to go with yeah this rats poops a good bit.

is her anal area dry and clean
Yes & yes
or is there any wetness, dried feces or anything there other than soft, dry fur?
Nope all looks normal there
are her sides/belly bloated at all
she does have a round tummy, but it doesn't really look like bloat to me

, do they feel hard instead of soft and kind of squishy?
The last time I picked her up - they were not hard. That was a few days ago before I knew she had ring worm and well that I had gotten it.



" can't imagine that a vet would wrongly diagnose megacolon, unless they were just....well, not good."
I liked my vet and he has seen past rats and has operated on them that I have kept as pets over the years. As for the snake + vet comment - He kept telling me that Baytil would kick the RI that my snake(s) had. Yeah that worked great - NOT and finally the 3rd time I asked him to do a culture and he did not. After that Pete called him up and pretty much laid him out and well he did one and bingo the RI's went right away with a different med. So now he is in question with me and my snakes. Also he will be in question with me and this rat after this post.

Okay here are the pictures - I was NOT about to touch her so I tried to get a few pictures of her in different poses.

http://primevalbeauty.com/cc22.jpg
http://primevalbeauty.com/cc23.jpg
http://primevalbeauty.com/cc24.jpg
http://primevalbeauty.com/cc25.jpg
http://primevalbeauty.com/cc26.jpg
http://primevalbeauty.com/cc27.jpg

I am not a expert on that megacolon stuff but she looks like a normal rat to my eyes.I guess i will google that megacolon for more info :) .Here is a good luck vibe that she turns out not having it.Its pretty bad when someone has to call your vet before they would run a culture:mad: .Allison did he even act like he heard you when you asked him to do a culture? If so i would have left right then and never look back.

dang that is one insanely cute little girl!

i honestly can't see anything in the photos that would lead me to believe she has megacolon. of course i could well be wrong, not being able to see her in person and feel her sides and check her over, or it could just be just now starting to become evident and it's just hard to see that from the pics.

i think it may be time for a second opinion from another vet. unless there is something i'm missing i'd not immediately pick her out as having megacolon...

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Originally Posted by joepythons

its pretty bad when someone has to call your vet before they would run a culture:mad: .Allison did he even act like he heard you when you asked him to do a culture? If so i would have left right then and never look back.

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I have to agree!
I dropped all 3 of them off at 8am one day and asked him to run a culture on it when he looked at them because I was not able to make it there during their "office hours" so when I told him that he was all like "yeah, i'll do that and we'll nip this in the bud, etc". At 8pm that night when I picked them up - he had given me more Baytrl that I straight up told him twice already that was NOT working! I was MAD MAD MAD, infact so mad I called my friend up and just went off about it to him. Little did I know that he called Pete and well Pete called up and had some word with him about it all and demaded that my snakes get it done and that he gives me the results on paper so Pete can have a look at it. After all that was said and done.... RI junk is gone!

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Originally Posted by mlededee

dang that is one insanely cute little girl!

i honestly can't see anything in the photos that would lead me to believe she has megacolon. of course i could well be wrong, not being able to see her in person and feel her sides and check her over, or it could just be just now starting to become evident and it's just hard to see that from the pics.

i think it may be time for a second opinion from another vet. unless there is something i'm missing i'd not immediately pick her out as having megacolon...

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Thanks!
Does MC just "creep up" and show up like over night or is it a long bad process of it showing up?! Once again I know nothing about MC - I think I'll get to googling that right after I type this peroid ;)

.

http://ratguide.com/health/digestive/megacolon.php

This is an invaluable site that I use sometimes to help my vets best treat my rats. Sometimes they vets just can't know every little detail if they don't see that type of animal day in and day out.

There are 2 types of MC, early and late onset. Early onset starts before the rat is weaned and typically happens very fast. It causes bloating and gas build-up, green, runny VERY pungent diarrhea or no feces at all.

Late onset can occur after the rat is weaned and on solid food. It can rear its ugly head soon after weaning, or the rat can live for a good year if put on a special diet. Feces can become impacted in the colon and rectum, causing alot of pain and discomfort. Bloating does occur but can be relieved using laxatives and other medications that help the intestines work better.

She doesn't look like she has MC, but without feeling her and looking at her feces, no one can say for sure. Her abdomen on the left side does look partially distended, but not noticeably so. Could also be how she's standing. Hold her up to your ear and listen to her gut sounds. Like listening to a horse's gut sounds when they have colic.

Try and clean her cage(using something such as aspen, as that wheat bedding has been dusty IME), and count how many bowel movements she has in a 12 hour period or so. Note the consistency and odor(if anything other than poop-smell).

How is she eating and what is she eating? And yes, cat food is NOT a good thing for rats to eat too much of. Too much protein can cause alot of problems. A high quality dog food such as wellness senior, wysong, Nutro ultra senior, anything like that with less than 18% protein, can be used moderately in their mix. I make up a 50-60lb batch everytime I make it(lasts me 3-4 months with 24 rats), and I use about 1/3-1/2 of an 8lb bag of Wellness Senior. Occassionally I may give a can of science diet kitten cat food, but that is to my older girls who need the calories and have choking issues when on their regular mix.

Good luck with her.