Hoping someone can help - weight loss???

[crumbilina]

Noone is in chat, so I really hope someone sees this!

My rattie recently had a mammary tumor removed. It looks like she is picking at the stitches. Now, it looks like they are right open

I have been watching her very closely. Problem is that today was my final move day to Hamilton so I kinda wasnt able to watch over her as much and I guess she went to picking...

BAH! I'm stuck! I start a new job tomorrow and already things arent going well...

here is a pic

If there is anything I can do please let me know!

[spoiler:3tl7844o]

[/spoiler:3tl7844o]
There is no bleeding but I can see stitches, so I am going to give her a dose of metacam and hope that she stops picking for now, until I can figure something better to do.

UGH WHY tonight! First night alone and this

 

[handmeafish]

It does look like the tore her stitches open.
Is there any discharge? It doesn't look infected, but you should try to get her to the vet first thing in the morning.
I'd just leave it be, and try to get her to do the same.
It doesn't look infected to me, and I think if you mess with it to much you increase the risk of an infection. Hopefully they can just stitch it back up tomorrow in the morning.
One thing my surgeon had me do when something similar happened to me was put a piece of gause on it loosely and gently tape around it. I don't know how well that would work with a rat, with all the hair and everything. I don't think its shaved around enough to try to just tape to the exposed skin. My surgeon just wanted the open wound protected.
She also might try to eat what ever you put on her.

 

[crumbilina]

Thanks for the response!

There is no discharge... it is actually solid, almost like a scab?

I gave her some metacam in hopes that she would stop fiddling with it. I will call the vet first thing tomorrow, however, she will have to wait until later in the day to go in as I am starting a new job and really dont think i should call in on my first day saying that my rat ripped open her stitches. Hopefully it will be a short day (probable) and Ill take her right after

*sigh* I dunno... the stitches do look like they are out.

 

[handmeafish]

Its possible that its mostly healed underneath... thats whats kind of going on with me, (lol i have no rat experience here but plenty of surgery experience) The top layer kind of pulled open, and underneath was the new skin... its nasty looking, but it was plenty healthy and yeah kind of hard, very solid feeling. When I got to the surgeon he basically just said that I'll have a nasty scar, but that it would be ok.
I hope the metacam works.

 

[xxchelle]

Rats generally heal very fast but it does look pretty "wide" open, so I'd definitely get him to stitch her back up.

 

[victoria]

I've had rats rip their stitches before and the vets (happened more than once) told me to keep it clean (I squirted saline on it) and take her in if there were any signs of infection. Her's is much worse than any of mine though, so it may be different in your case. For now I would do my best to keep is clean, give her some pain meds, and get some antibiotics if the vet didn't already give you some. The latter will be really important in helping to prevent infection, whether your vet decides to stitch her back up or not. Depending on the location of the incision, you may be able to make a body wrap to keep her from picking at her stitches... I know Arlene had to do that with Noah recently, you can always PM her and find out how she did it.

 

[crumbilina]

Thanks everyone!

I think I have her to a point where she will leave it alone until morning... I will figure out what i need to proceed with at that point.

Body wraps would be good... but it is guarenteed that she will get out of them since I cant even hold onto her!

I really need to sleep now. I feel so... out of it.

Ill watch her over night, she can sleep in my room

 

[lilspaz68]

That looks like only the surface layer has opened up, so its not that bad at all. I would leave it myself, as long as the metacam stops her picking at it continuously. Call your vet and ask for advice but I don't see that as gaping open, just opened some.

I hope you are both sleeping right now, comfortably.

 

[jorats]

I've brought back rats to the vet with much worse and she would tell me to just keep it clean and it will close by itself which it did within 24 hours. I'd leave it alone unless it was obvious there was an infection like red and swelling.

 

[crumbilina]

Hi everyone!

Just an update.
Since I am rediculously paranoid I pulled some sort of miracle and got to the vet JUST to be sure she was ok. The vet said everything is fine and that it would heal and that I should just keep giving the pain meds when I see that she is picking. I said ok, but couldnt get any more Metacam *sigh*
Well wouldn't you know it. I get home late (cuz I am STILL moving - I hope this ends soon) and she has opened it and shes bleeding. So I fixed her up the best I could, gave her a nice dose of metacam and then sent her off to her food dish, then bed.
Since I am already almost out of metacam Chelle was able to give the the dose for liquid advil (already know the concentration). Ill give that tomorrow night when the metacam is gone.

Hopefully all goes well in the next couple of days. I still have to return to my old apartment and clean it tomorrow night so hopefully she will be ok. I'll be sure to dose her before I leave for Guelph. But I dont wanna take her with me this time. The poor thing must be stressed out! I dont know how many car rides she has been on since the surgery. I tried leaving her... but she is not to be trusted, even when medicated.

Anyway, I'm off to bed for the night. Sorry for the late update too, just finally got everyone and everything settled for the night. I have far too much unpacking to do... its saddening.

Thanks for everyones help too, im so happy that I have here to go to in times of what seems to be extreme panic!

 

[jorats]

Even with the bleeding, it will close and heal. Don't forget that NSAIDS can cause bleeding as well so not too much of that if your little girl is still bleeding.

 

[crumbilina]

*sigh*

I don't know what to do anymore.

Everytime I come home from somewhere she has opened it up more. Everytime I turn around it is worse. I feel so bad for letting this surgery go on. I'm worried sick. I don't think that she has eaten. She refused Cheerios... REFUSED!!!! This has NEVER happened in the 2 years and 1 month that I have had her. Usually her eyes pop out of her head, she snatches it and runs. I'm going to try fishy crackers - you know, those cheese ones. I know they are not good for her, but food is food in this situation. She wont eat baby food with ensure or anything.
*Fingers crossed for fish crackers*
Luckily she is still as feisty as she was a week ago, so her mood hasn't really changed, but no food has been touched...

Does anyone have advice at this point? Should I just watch her (the best I can)? Should I bring her from Hamilton to Guelph with me tomorrow to keep her nearby while I clean up my apartment? Should I keep flushing with saline solution? Give her advil (I'm out of metacam so no more of that anyway - even if I wasn't out I think that I would have stopped giving it to her for fear of it hurting her stomach)? Should I try to cover it so she doesn't continue to rip away at the stitches? I have bandages, self adhesive gauze, saline solution, childrens liquid advil and other "emergency" items on hand...

I'm sorry, Im just so lost, and I hate seeing that gaping wound on her side... it looks MIGHTY painful!

ANY help would be appreciated!

Last night Chelle gave me the correct dosage for childrens advil... But I had to get a different concentration, so if anyone advises to give advil, can they recommend a dose? She is 500gish (a bit over this) and the concentration is 100mg ibuprofen / 5mL oral suspension

Thanks so much!
I apologize for being all panicky, I have just never had to deal with this... all my animals so far have healed up nicely after surgery.

 

[lilspaz68]

I am sure the dose that Chelle gave to you was for infant ibu? at 40 mg/ml, yours is children's at 20 mg/ml so you only have to double what she told you as a dosage.

Can you take a pic of her side for us so we have an idea?

 

[crumbilina]

Yes, just give me a sec for her pic...

She ate the fishy cracker

And the dosage makes sense now... In times of panic, sometimes you forget to think...

 

[crumbilina]

here is the picture

[spoiler:3nxoapis]

[/spoiler:3nxoapis]

I hope I did that right...

 

[crumbilina]

It looks clean, I just flushed it with some saline when I got home about an hour ago. Then I tried to get her to eat and now I am here...

There is no redness or inflammation, I dont think there is any infection... I dunno. My brain tells me it is ok and just to watch it, make sure her cage is clean and make sure the wound itself is clean and go from there... But sometimes, my opinion doesnt matter to me

A second one never hurts.

It looked far worse when I got home and had grossness coming from it (cage dirt stuck to it). It looks better now, but still looks terrible

 

[MomRat]

This may have already been asked, but have you got her on fleece? Take out litter, paper shred, etc, so it is a very clean environment. Alternately, put down some white paper towel so you can tell if she is bleeding/discharging badly.

 

[lilspaz68]

It doesn't look too bad, you will smell infection sooner than you will see it so keep sniffing. Its going to suck having to change the fleece in her cage often, but I am sure you will be willing to do anything you can for your little girl. Now can we see her face? :heart:

 

[jorats]

It's looking nice and clean, it should start to close up real soon.

 

[crumbilina]

Today is looking much better. I gave her a bit of liquid advil this morning in hopes of taking the edge off and it doesnt look like she has touched it all day!
Mind you, it doesnt look as though she has touched her food either, but I'll see if she will take some baby cereal
She is on fleece... unfortunately since the move I have not been able to do laundry OR find where I put the extra blankets and I ran out last night, so dollarama here I come! I have taken out all paper and left her with white face cloths for blankets in her house so if she is bleeding I will be able to see it. Also, she still has her litter box. She wont poop anywhere else, so I figured I had better not stress her out too much more.

And of course you can see her lovely face:

This is a tad bit old (I dunno where my camera went in this mess that I have going here) When I find my camera will post updated ones.

Now I just need to get through tonight since she usually picks at it the most in the late afternoon/evening/night. I don't think that I will need to give her any more advil but I will have to flush that out. She smells like she normally smells so I am pretty happy about that.