# Desperately Need Help Treating Megacolon



## iheartsquirrels4 (Dec 13, 2013)

I need more info than the rat guide website provides, and that is the only good site for caring for my rattie that has this. Does anyone have any personal experience with this disease? When is it time to give enemas? How often should I bathe her? How long should her food be cooked? Please, any advice at all is extremely appreciated. 


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## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

Message finnebon, she is a member on this site. She is currently treating two MC babies who just turned 5 months old.


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## Finnebon (Jul 15, 2013)

Hi there, yes please message me and I will help you as best as I can! I have 2 megacolon babies right now that I'm treating.

Let me ask a couple questions first: How old is your rat? How do you know it has megacolon? Do you have any vet near you that sees rats that you can take her to (you will need medication, especially once she gets older)? You will also need to buy a curve tip syringe to do enemas which you can buy online (file the tip down so it is smooth and won't scratch the sensitive area on the rat. File it and rub it lightly on the pink of your lip to test how sharp it still is before you use it on your rat. Your lip should be able to tell easily if there is any sharpness). What treatments have you been trying already? Gently feel her colon in her lower abdomen using your thumb and forefinger, you may need to shift some organs around to feel where it is, it is somewhat near the spine on the lower end, just be very gentle until you can identify the colon easily. Can you feel poops in there? How full? How firm? How often will you be able to be around your rat? How many hours per day and night (including sleeping) will you be away from your rat at one time?


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## iheartsquirrels4 (Dec 13, 2013)

Finnebon said:


> Hi there, yes please message me and I will help you as best as I can! I have 2 megacolon babies right now that I'm treating.
> 
> Let me ask a couple questions first: How old is your rat? How do you know it has megacolon? Do you have any vet near you that sees rats that you can take her to (you will need medication, especially once she gets older)? You will also need to buy a curve tip syringe to do enemas which you can buy online (file the tip down so it is smooth and won't scratch the sensitive area on the rat. File it and rub it lightly on the pink of your lip to test how sharp it still is before you use it on your rat. Your lip should be able to tell easily if there is any sharpness). What treatments have you been trying already? Gently feel her colon in her lower abdomen using your thumb and forefinger, you may need to shift some organs around to feel where it is, it is somewhat near the spine on the lower end, just be very gentle until you can identify the colon easily. Can you feel poops in there? How full? How firm? How often will you be able to be around your rat? How many hours per day and night (including sleeping) will you be away from your rat at one time?


My rat is about five months I would say. The problems didn't start occurring until she was two months, so I know that it is late onset. I know it's megacolon because she literally has all the symptoms. She is bloated but I can feel her spine (like majorly. Underweight majorly) so I know she has lost weight (healthy weight anyway from loss of nutrients) , she has periods of extreme constipation and then diarrhea, she hasn't thrived well. She will sit and sleep while all the other rats run around and play. The biggest problem is that my dad won't take her to the vet. I've tried everything, but he doesn't believe it will help. He said he will only take her to the vet to euthanize her, but I was hoping to prolong her life and let her enjoy what she could before that.  

So far I haven't been sure what to do at all. I separated her immediately as soon as I realized she wasn't getting better. Then I did research and started her on Woody's megacolon diet. She has been doing better since then, but still not great. 

I'm not sure about the poops in there. I have been afraid that if I squeeze her it might hurt her so I didn't do it. 

I can be around my rat often. I go to school six hours a day and sleep six. The other twelve I am in my house with my pets except for weekends when I might be gone an additional few hours. 


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## Finnebon (Jul 15, 2013)

Poor baby. It's terrible that your parents don't care about a life enough to get treatment for a pet that is ill unless it is the euthanizer her.. You could sorta "trick" your dad into letting you take her to the vet though. Say that you think she might need to be euthanized so he will take you to the vet and the vet will look at the rat. The vet can determine whether or not the rat has to be put to sleep and if your rat is too ill, she may suggest pts, but if they think it's treatable, then the vet will say that, and your father can't really argue with that. You can explain to your vet what you've researched and the treatments you've read about that have worked and how you want to help her and the vet may take that into consideration and say that you could try treating her to keep her alive. 
But most importantly, if your girl doesn't seem happy, it probably would honestly be best to have her put to sleep. The only reason why I keep doing treatments for my 2 rats is because they are still cheerful, playful and just as active and happy as my healthy rats. If they seemed to be in pain or unhappy, I would have them put to sleep because it would be unkind to make them stay alive if they were miserable or in pain. You need to consider their quality of life as the number one factor for if you should keep trying to help them or not. 
Have you tried talking to him seriously about how important the rat is to you and how you want to help her and how you love her? If your dad still refuses, is there any way you can get to the vet yourself? Ask your parents or other family members, or even friend's parents if there are any household chores of jobs you can help them with for some money. Explain to them that you have a sick pet and your dad won't let you take her to the vet unless it is to have her put down so you need to try to raise money yourself to get her treated. If nothing else, you'll at least get their sympathy and they may be able to find some things for you to do to give you some money to save for a vet visit and medication.

How are you able to get her to poop when she is having the extreme constipation? My rats don't fluctuate between diarrhea and constipation. They are pretty much always stuck in the constipation and their medication helps them move it just slightly enough so that I can manually help them push it out the rest of the way. I check them every hour or two and help them get the poop out each time if they have any. If I wake up during the night, which is often, I get up and check them. If I don't check them often enough to help them, they will get more filled up and will need an enema. My boy Charlie hasn't been doing well the last week or two and hasnt' been able to move the poop enough for me to help him easily, so I've had to give him an enema almost everyday and increased his medication and changed the frequency from once every 12 hours to now once every 8 hours and I'm hoping it's helping.

For the underweightness, have you given her babyfood? Try to avoid fiber if you can. My staple for my 2 babies is rice powdered baby food mixed with whole fat soy milk (be careful, it goes bad kind of quick so you will probably only use less than half of a carton before it goes bad and you have to throw it out). I will also mix in stage 2 baby food, about 1 or 2 tablespoons, and I mix in some oil of some kind too (olive oil, vegetable oil, sesame oil etc.). Sometimes I'll dilute it a little with water, and make the consistency to be about the same as the babyfood. Also give her lettuce like iceberg or romaine because it is full of water and may help her poop. Also you can give her watery fruits like melon. Papaya is supposedly very good for tummies so that is a good option too. Veggies should always be cooked well so they're a bit mushy, and try to avoid fiber as much as possible. Something that I always recommend to anyone with a skinny rat is Nutri-Cal. It's very tasty and they usually all love it. It's an oily, nutrient dense goop that comes in a tube and you can give it to her maybe 3 times a day, a glob about the size of your thumbnail or a bit bigger, until she starts to put on weight again. You can buy it in almost any pets store, and is usually less than $10. You can also order it online from dr Foster and Smith website and it's cheaper, but you should probably buy one tube in a store for now so she can start eating it as soon as possible.

If you're gentle about feeling her tummy, it will be ok. Rats do this thing called "owwie stretches" that they will do when they are having abdominal pain and discomfort. You should google for pictures of owwies so you know what they look like. They will usually suck in their sides and twist and it doesn't look very nice, so that will be a good indication of if she's uncomfortable.


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## iheartsquirrels4 (Dec 13, 2013)

Unfortunately my poor baby passed away last night.  we buried her this morning. I guess I realized too late that she was so sick. 


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## Finnebon (Jul 15, 2013)

I'm so sorry you couldn't get her the treatment she needs. It's so sad that you had people literally stopping you from helping your rat.. I will unfortunately have to get my one boy put to sleep this week too, but he had a good fight. I'm sorry your girl couldn't fight for as long. I hope she just was able to pass away quickly so she wasn't in too much pain. Poor girl, megacolon and irresponsible and ignorant breeders suck.. Such sweet rats that don't deserve the problems they're stuck with.


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## iheartsquirrels4 (Dec 13, 2013)

I know. . People don't understand that just because it is a rat doesn't mean it is loved any less than a pet like a dog or a cat. They deserve the same treatment and love. 


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