Leia's Surgery

Hello again readers,

We would like to give you all a heads up, there will be some graphic images.

One day we noticed Leia had developed a lump, she also became quite unwell. We took Leia to the vets, they said they were happy to remove the lump, however Leia had a respiratory infection that needed to be dealt with first.
After a week of being on antibiotics, Leia's respiratory infection cleared up. She was taken back to the vets for a check up and re-examination. The vets gave us the go ahead, and we booked Leia in for surgery right away.

The surgery was successful, but whilst Leia was under anesthetic, the vets discovered two more lumps, which were also removed. The final thing, they found another small mass that was unable to be removed due to how it was attached, and it was likely to be the start of something sinister. 

As you can see, the 'main' mass that was removed was pretty sizable. 

Leia's openings were glued, as there was a major risk that she would remove any stitches, which could make a huge mess. She was glued between her two front legs, and near her back left leg. 

She was sent home with anitbiotics and painkillers, and had to be kept alone in a hospital cage temporarily whilst she healed. Leia had a lot of floor space, however we didn't want her to fall and hurt herself even more whilst climbing any bars, and with Leia being a manx rat, she hasn't got very good balance anyway.

The recovery process for Leia was... not great.

I can honestly say, she's been the most difficult patient we've had! Leia opened the back wound 3 times. We tried bandaging Leia, and no matter which way she was bandaged/restricted, she found a way to get out and mess with it.

Unfortunately, Leia caught an infection. She was rushed into the vets to have the back wound flushed. After that, the opening had to heal from the inside, outwards. She was also given flamazine cream alongside her antibiotics and painkillers. 

For over a week, Leia was handled with gloves on, and only by me under strict conditions.

Eventually, we began to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Leia was healing up wonderfully. She also had regular check ups at our veterinary surgery to make sure she was going in the right direction. 

Finally, after almost an entire month, Leia completely healed up! Hoorah! Towards the end, we have to say, Leia handled everything very well. She was an absolute star at taking all of her medication, and was very brave throughout an extremely stressful time for her.

Once we got the go-ahead from our vet, we began reintroducing Leia and Shmi. The introductions went really well, the girls were over the moon to see each other again. Within a matter of hours, they were back cuddling each other. It was as if they were never apart.

After a short introduction process, We were happy for them to live together full time again, and we prepared the girl's cage.

We are so thrilled to see that Leia made a full recovery.

At present, Leia is happy and in good health. We haven't seen her deteriorating, or any masses returning.

We would also like to give a massive thank you once again to our veterinary team. If it wasn't for them putting up with both us and Leia being so demanding, none of this would not have been possible. 

You can keep up with Leia and Shmi on our Instagram.