waiting is hard

[ratcreature]

I couldn't sleep at all last night because I'd been worrying about Linus. Then I brought him to the vet so that I was on their doorstep right at opening time at 8 a.m. Turns out the huge, putrid smelling wound above his groin is an abscess that opened, and actually the vet says he has a second abscess still in its capsule next to that. So Linus had to stay with the vet to get the open abscess cleaned and the closed removed in an operation under anesthesia. If all goes well I will be able to get him back late this afternoon. And then he'll need antibiotics, and of course wound checks over the holidays.

I feel horrible and guilty that I didn't even notice any swelling earlier. The only explanation I can come up with is that they must have been somewhat hidden with his ample belly fat so that I didn't notice when I was just petting him -- Linus is unfortunately a truly fat rat, weighing over 700g, and more so now that Leo is loosing his appetite and the not-so-little glutton can get his paws on more of their rat chow, and it's not like I can easily ration Linus' available food, while Leo is need to keep up his weight -- and I haven't done a really careful check where you palpate for tumors and such recently. I mean, in Noah I noticed his pimple blocked gland just from petting and holding when it was less than pea sized and the vet could barely find it without me pointing it out, so I can't explain how I missed two such big abscesses, except that maybe stroking and scritching was insufficient in that location and I would have needed to poke him in the belly or something.

Though he would have needed an operation even if I had noticed earlier, but it might have been smaller. Well, nothing to be done now but hope for the best. But I'd be grateful if you could spare Linus some good thoughts and wish him luck, so that he'll get through the operation and anesthesia okay.

Also, it seems that vet costs will somewhat tax my finances right now, between one rat being chronically ill with twice weekly vet visits (not that I'm not glad that Leo's holding on, but it's not cheap to bring your rat to the vet all the time, even though they don't charge that much for just the injection), and another now needing an operation plus wound aftercare visits during the holidays, which have the more expensive emergency rates.

Sigh. I hope at some point I'll find the energy to post about something besides my rats' health problems again. :/

Comments

[lilacsigil]

Poor fat rat! I hope he is big and tough under pressure and comes through everything with no problems.

(Seriously, that's a big rat! I had a cat barely double that size!)

[ratcreature]

I hope he comes through well too.

I think he's the heaviest rat I've ever had. I've never given him unhealthy food or anything, but I suppose he's gotten lazy with age, eats a bit more than his share, and it's hard to control food in a group. And admittedly, even though many say it's overall healthier to feed them little, I never really given any of my rat groups scarce rations, just not so much that they'll get ridiculously picky and only eat choice bits and leave all the non-favorite food, and I give them plenty space to run and climb if they want. And well, up to now Linus is the only of my current group who hadn't needed the vet for anything, while Leo has real trouble and Noah also has needed antibiotics for myco already.

[shadowvalkyrie]

*sends hugs and good thoughts*