lilspaz68
Well-Known Member
As good rat owners should, we ask for advice, compare medical and behavioral stories etc.
When Chelle asked if I would look at little Azzie I said Sure! I wanted to meet her and Maya anyways. :cheeky:
Poor Azzie came into the rescue with a huge lump behind her ear, that was determined to be an abscess. Chelle's vet lanced it, cleaned it out, and put her on a course of 2 weeks of chlorpalm. Azzie seemed to be healing very well.
Then it recurred, with a bright neon green pus (seen sometimes and a very pretty colour). Chelle started working on it at home, and it seemed to be healing again..yay!!
So when I saw her, I could smell the infection behind her ear, but it wasn't horrible swollen. Azzie was a good girl and then when I was examining her I realized her ear didn't move right (her ear is pulled forward oddly already). When I stopped looking at her abscess/scabs and looked at the shell of her ear I got a shock. The ear was completely closed!!! I was taking Shasta the mouse to Dr Munn in the morning (drop off visit) so offered to take in Azzie as well.
So it turns out my vet has never seen this with a rat before, and we discussed treatment options. We decided to gas her down, open it up, clean it out, see what's going in deep inside and then culture the bacteria, and get a sensitivity test done on it to figure out the best antibiotic for her.
My vet actually took X-rays of her to see how involved it all was, and it seems the infection is deep deep inside, and the ear is closed with scar tissue (bite?) so the pus worked around the tissue and burst out the back of her ear... :sick2:
IF this doesn't resolve, Azzie *may* need a surgical procedure, where the scar tissue will be opened up and sutured open to create a new "ear canal". A zep I thought I heard?
and here you can see the catheter to show how deep it was
So I am now supposed to flush out the fistula twice a day, with a special wound flush (mild ab inside it) and a syringe and a special cannula to get inside the tiny hole. It's not fun for either of us as we found out this morning. She is on metacam and baytril for now, until we get the results of the ab culture/sensitivity back by the end of the week. This morning I found that she had scratched in front of her ear bloody so I trimmed the hind nail tips on that side to prevent further damage.
Azzie home after her procedure
Here is the wound flush and syringe/cannula
This morning after her flush
Everyone falls madly in love with this girl, as soon as you meet her. My vet was talking about how sweet and special she was even before getting into any of the medical stuff :giggle:
When Chelle asked if I would look at little Azzie I said Sure! I wanted to meet her and Maya anyways. :cheeky:
Poor Azzie came into the rescue with a huge lump behind her ear, that was determined to be an abscess. Chelle's vet lanced it, cleaned it out, and put her on a course of 2 weeks of chlorpalm. Azzie seemed to be healing very well.
Then it recurred, with a bright neon green pus (seen sometimes and a very pretty colour). Chelle started working on it at home, and it seemed to be healing again..yay!! So when I saw her, I could smell the infection behind her ear, but it wasn't horrible swollen. Azzie was a good girl and then when I was examining her I realized her ear didn't move right (her ear is pulled forward oddly already). When I stopped looking at her abscess/scabs and looked at the shell of her ear I got a shock. The ear was completely closed!!! I was taking Shasta the mouse to Dr Munn in the morning (drop off visit) so offered to take in Azzie as well.
So it turns out my vet has never seen this with a rat before, and we discussed treatment options. We decided to gas her down, open it up, clean it out, see what's going in deep inside and then culture the bacteria, and get a sensitivity test done on it to figure out the best antibiotic for her.
My vet actually took X-rays of her to see how involved it all was, and it seems the infection is deep deep inside, and the ear is closed with scar tissue (bite?) so the pus worked around the tissue and burst out the back of her ear... :sick2:
IF this doesn't resolve, Azzie *may* need a surgical procedure, where the scar tissue will be opened up and sutured open to create a new "ear canal". A zep I thought I heard?
and here you can see the catheter to show how deep it was
So I am now supposed to flush out the fistula twice a day, with a special wound flush (mild ab inside it) and a syringe and a special cannula to get inside the tiny hole. It's not fun for either of us as we found out this morning. She is on metacam and baytril for now, until we get the results of the ab culture/sensitivity back by the end of the week. This morning I found that she had scratched in front of her ear bloody so I trimmed the hind nail tips on that side to prevent further damage.
Azzie home after her procedure
Here is the wound flush and syringe/cannula
This morning after her flush
Everyone falls madly in love with this girl, as soon as you meet her. My vet was talking about how sweet and special she was even before getting into any of the medical stuff :giggle:
