baby stuck in birth canal

i just got home from being out of town for several days and discovered one of my female breeders with what appears to be an unborn baby stuck in her birth canal. i've never actually seen this before, but from the looks of it that's what it appears to be. she doesn't seem to be in pain or bothered by my touching the area. the babies that have been born appear to be at least a day old if not two, have milkbands and appear to be in good condition.

i'm guessing that since the other babies are already nursing and appear over a day old that the unborn baby (babies?) is not going anywhere without removal by a vet. is there anything i can or should do for mom in the mean time?

wow! this is a tough one! i hope someone with experience can help you, but my only help would be vet, i wouldn't know what else to do

oh wow, i've never heard of that before... can you get ahold of the baby with tweezers or something? as i'm assuming that the baby is dead.

upon further inspection and research i'm not sure that the baby is actually in the birth canal. mom is not having contractions, no bleeding and there are no baby feet or other parts visible. i can move the mass around inside of her a good bit and it doesn't seem to bother mom at all when i do so. it kind of feels like the baby is breech--butt facing downward toward the birth canal. it looks like she has a big tumor or something. in the meantime she continues to feed and clean her litter.

i would leave her alone if she's eating and feeding her pups. once they are weaned, if she still has the lump then i would contact a vet. but as long as she's doing well... i would leave her with her pups as they need her to survive.

Is it uterine prolapse???? If it is, and open to the outside, or if it's a BABY stuck/dead, you're going to be dealing with infection if it's not taken care of. I'd be for taking her to the vet, to make sure what "it" actually is.

Do you have another mom that could foster the babies? Sounds like a trip to the vet is very needful. :(

my guess is it is a prolapse. I hope you're able to figure it out ok...

Justin

there is nothing open to the outside and her vaginal area looks normal. no discharge, discoloration or anything, just this large pup sized bulge in the area where her uterus is.

i thought there had to be bits hanging out for a prolapse?

i'm thinking (although i could be wrong of course) that perhaps it's just her uterus. it takes us awhile to bring ours back to size after birthing... i would think the little massage you gave her (by checking it out) helped.

i do think it is her uterus and/or something in it, but it's not normal by any means. there is a defined, hard mass that looks like a large tumor, feels kind of like a baby and is about the size of one. i have an appt. to see the vet tomorrow morning, so we'll find out for sure what's going on.

so far i'm keeping the babies with her, but have been checking them often to make sure she is still nursing and caring for them. i do have several other moms with older litters right now, so if necessary i can do some juggling and foster them out.

oh that's good to hear. keep us posted

If you can mix up a very strong sugar solution(mix sugar into hot water until no more will dissolve). Make a paste out of it and let her sit in it or smear it on the exposed part. You don't want that part drying out and dying, it could cause septicemia very quickly and she could die. I would also start her on some antibiotics if you can. It may or may not affect the babies...

The sugar removes fluid, so it will reduce the inflammation and the uterus should be able to be pushed back inside and her vagina stitched shut(internal stitches are best as rats are rats, LoL).

Get the vet to tell you if it's a vaginal prolapse or a uterine prolapse. I know in cattle, vaginal prolapses are genetic but uterine prolapses just happen.

but becky... it's not hanging out... she feels it inside. at least that's what i'm getting from her posts

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mlededee

there is nothing open to the outside and her vaginal area looks normal. no discharge, discoloration or anything, just this large pup sized bulge in the area where her uterus is.

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that's correct--there is nothing prolapsed or outside of her. the bulge is completely on the inside. massaging and pressing the mass toward the birth canal does not appear to make it progress toward being expelled.

blitz went to the vet this morning and i was all prepared for a major procedure. turns out she has an inflamed mammary gland. the vet prescribed cefadroxil twice per day along with hot compresses. she is still nursing fine and all the babies have milkbands so he said as long as she continues to nurse and the babies are getting enough milk everything should be just fine. i'm quite relieved! :)

Awww! Good news, Emily!! :hug:


(psssssst....how do you put a hot compress on a rat's belly???)

:P

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JLC

(psssssst....how do you put a hot compress on a rat's belly???)

:P

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yes, well that remains to be seen. luckily she is quite calm and will sit still for oh...5 seconds at a time (which is a LOOOONG time when you are a rat!). :)

hahahaha that is long!

and in this heat... asking her to sit on something hot is ... well... i'll keepthat opinion to myself LOL

in humans... the best way to deal with this is to nurse nurse nurse and it clears itself in almost all cases.

so feed those babies mama! :hug:

well, so far she is feeding the babies great, even from the teat with the inflamed gland, so hopefully she'll be all cleared up in no time. :P

ohhhh yaaaaaaa

the women at the vet's office were so funny when the vet said it was an inflamed mammary gland. they were all--hey, let her stand in a hot shower! ooooh, hot tub! etc, etc. :P

hahahaha i can see her with her little shower cap on... :giggle: babies outside the tub crying for their mama. (come on mothers... you all know this is how it is when you have babies... you can't EVEN shower without them wanting you LOL)

Soooo glad to hear that it's "only" inflammation. We've had that scare too, but Stripe's and Creamy's were def. in the underline.


Must be SUCH a relief to know there isn't any retained "anything" or any sort of prolapse. Yaaaaaaaaay!:sunny:

quick question: the vet said that the cefa-drops would not affect the nursing babies, but are they still safe to feed to my snakes? blitz is on 10 days worth of drops and the earliest and of the babies will be feed off is probably about 2 weeks from now (if it is safe to do so).