Woody

I feel like I should put in a note about Woody, since he and his owner have helped me so much by sharing their story. Woody's story is strictly scientific, so to say. They didn't add any notes  about his funny quirks or anything, it's just simply saying what they did in regards to his megacolon. It has been extremely helpful. Through trial and error, they discovered the best diet for him and for megacolon. At the time of Woody's diagnosis, it seems that a high fibre diet was thought to be best for megacolon rats. Through their perseverance, they discovered that this is not so and developed and shared a new, better diet for megacolon rats. I am so grateful to them, as this diet has really improved Harry's quality of life. Follow the link above to find Woody's Megacolon Diet.

One thing I wonder about that diet is the lettuce. I have always had rabbits in my home. Our first one died tragically after ingesting chicken wire, the second one was given to my mom for her birthday but I took care of her (I think we gave Barbie to my mom too soon after Puddles' death. I don't think mom was ready for another rabbit. Anywho.) and lived to be around 13 years old despite my poor care. Our third rabbit is when my mom became interested in rabbits again. She was the cutest little thing, a harlequin holland lop. We got her from a breeder, because we didn't want to support a mill or BYB that supplies pet stores. My mom read everything about rabbits and she's become quite the expert on diet. You can point out any vegetable in a store and my mom can tell you if the rabbit can have it or not and, if not, why it's bad for them. One thing rabbits can't have is gassy vegetables. Now, our current bunny, a white and orange holland lop, is not allowed to have lettuce, because it's gassy. The way I understand it is you want to avoid gassy vegetables for megacolon rats too. Suki, our rabbit, gets parsley almost every night (sometimes substituted for other, rabbit friendly vegetables) and I'm wondering if that would be alright for the rats. I know they like it, as I used to give it to them quite a bit. I don't think I have any readers yet, but if you are reading this, any ideas? I'm thinking of calling my vet, but when she told me to switch his diet, she said she would need a couple of days to research what would be good for them. Which is fair enough, megacolon rats aren't exactly common. So I have a feeling that if I call out of the blue, she won't be able to give me an answer.

I'll just add a little update on Harry here, rather than writing a whole new blog post. Harry's poops have softened up and he is pooping 100% on his own right now :) This makes me feel really happy and hopeful, even though I know that megacolon rats will go back and forth between being constipated from having hard, dry poops and having diarrhea. Although, though his stool (do you like my new word? So much more dignified than poop) is softer than normal, I don't know if I would call it diarrhea yet. Or maybe I'm just being hopeful. I can't stop myself from thinking that this past week was just one bad bout of constipation. I know it's not. But I'm an optimist.