Frank's progress: so the little dude is definitely slowing down now - age catching up. You can see at the start here he is not holding his own crunchy at all. Instead he is using my fingers to keep it in place to eat. When rats begin to have difficulty holding food it is important you keep a close close eye on them to ensure they don't lose weight. Once they start losing weight it is a real struggle to get them to put it on and maintain. This is standard progression that we have seen with pituitary tumours in our rats. There are some treatments that can be employed but we have never had any success in controlling pt growth at all. We will get him some steroids and anti inflammatories from the vet at his next check up which will make him comfortable when he declines further. Steroids are the only thing I have ever seen have any effect on a rat with a pt. it doesn't cure it but it relieves the symptoms temporarily for some. Frank is doing just fine as he is - he's not going anywhere fast and we will be looking after him real well throughout it all. #rats101 #ratcare #ratsofinstagram #petrats #rethinkrats












