Abcess or Help!! Im paranoid

[anita1216]

My daughter was taking some of the older men out for couch time last night and noticed Urn had a huge lump on his belly. I looked him over carefuly and then took a closer look at the lump, it has a black top and is very soft when I palpitate it.

I know its an abcess, I have seen dozens of the nasty things

The paranoia comes into play because this is Urn, the rat who has never been sick, not one day in his life!!! Urn the pancake master, king of squishy siamese goodness. Yeah, he had an abcess on his hip a year ago or so, the vet cleaned it up and he had a hole that a quarter fit into nicely (I know, it was pretty gross).

I am struggling between dealing with this myself or running him to the vet. I do this with all the boys, run to the vet when they look at me the wrong way

Urn is a double Fraggle, a double nephew to the now deceased Wembley and Fergus. He is almost 2. Anyone that knows me, knows how important Urn is to me, how much I love all of my boys. How I have racked up vet bills for the smallest things, how I go to any length to insure health and happiness

So, do I run to the vet like the brain is screaming? Or for once try to work this out on my own and be sick with worry?

 

[lilspaz68]

Abscesses in that location, already sounding ready to pop should be easy to take care of at home. You might want to "learn" on him, just in case there's a time you cannot make it to the vet for a slightly more difficult one.

Do you know how to treat at home?

With the location he's a great candidate for a sitz bath in a sink (I prefer the bathroom sink myself)....nice warm water (warmer than for us as their body temp is higher). Let him sit in there with his paws on your hand for comfort and "support". I find they work much better than compresses...faster, and less time involved.

I will show you the sequence with beni's neuter abscess pics so you can see how oogly it can be but how it heals just fine

Tucker shows the black mark that usually develops, roughens and becomes a scab where the abscess will burst.

Beni my tamest Wildling (RIP) after his soak, pre-burst

Beni was surprisingly good about his sitz baths

Burstage (that yellow is a fatty layer, and I will tell you, it made me panic initially :wink2: )

Then you start the lovely flushing 2-3 times a day with a saline solution, and I think I used betadine with him as well after the saline flush. Softening any scabs that form so its open again.

3 days later, almost healed

 

[jorats]

I agree, do him at home, it will probably be less stressful for him too.

 

[Moon]

If he's that big a squish, I wonder if the abscess was caused by irritation to the belly due to him dragging it around... especially if he's older and less hoppity. If that's the case you will have to be extra careful that he stay clean and not drag it through dirty bedding and the like.

 

[anita1216]

If he's that big a squish, I wonder if the abscess was caused by irritation to the belly due to him dragging it around... especially if he's older and less hoppity. If that's the case you will have to be extra careful that he stay clean and not drag it through dirty bedding and the like.

Urn at his peak was 800+ grams. He is just over 600 now and he seems lightweight to me. I have been changing the bedding daily because of this. I also wipe all the older boys down daily, to help with grooming.

I gave him a sitz bath tonight, he said to tell you lilspaz "tanks for suggesting mom do that" as he struggled to give me a friendly nip :gaah:

We will get there. Thanks for the reassurance