lump burst and brown smelly liquid came out of it

[Jack Sparrow]

I noticed that Captain Jack Sparrow had a small lump on his tummy close to his back legs. I found out yesterday and that is something new.

I took Jack out today and his lump burst. There was some brown smelly liquid coming out. I squeezed it more to push the liquid out then I put some polysporin on it.

I wonder if I should do something else to make sure Jack doesn't get sick. Was that an infection and should I try to have some baytril for Jack?

At the moment, he is alone in a small cage on paper towels and I wonder if I should leave him there or if I should put him back with Barbossa. I don't want any bedding to go in it.

Jack wants to lick and wash this area but I am concerned he is going to pull the hole bigger. Should he avoid doit that and if so, how do I make sure he is not going to try to touch that area?

 

[mamarat2]

Sounds like an abscess, lovely things aren't they.

Best thing to do is warm compress the area as much as he will let you. A few times a day (i shoot for twice a day with my schedule) for a few minutes at a time. Cotton balls or gauze and some warm water work nicely. I'd say it should be fine to put him back in with his friends as long as they are on clean bedding, definitely want to keep it clean though. Him licking it is not a problem, they want to clean it out.

Best to put him on baytril while it continues to heal or some other antibiotic your vet might recommend for abscesses. Putting any type of antibiotic ointment on it is not the best idea, because you want the wound to heal from the inside out and the neosporin type stuff causes it to heal up too quickly.

Hope this much helps for now!

 

[lilspaz68]

Sounds like an abscess. I wouldn't use polysporin again as you want an abscess to heal from the inside out. If the cavity heals over then you have most likely trapped the remaining infection inside and the abscess will recur.

Get a needleless medicating syringe and flush it out with a saline solution 2-3 times a day. If a scab forms you will want to soften it until you can flush out the hole again. Let Jack take care of it himself, he can do a better job than we can.

Keep this up until the cavity is healing from the bottom and its only a surface scab left over.

I also bed my rats on fleece so that nothing can get inside the cavity while its healing.

 

[Jack Sparrow]

Thank you for the advice. The cavity seems to be empty for the moment. I tried to push on it again and nothing came out. I am going to have Jack on his own for tonight with good food and pablum. I am glad that thing burst tonight because we never know if they are a tumor. Jack is only 14 months old and having a tumor that young would be upsetting.

 

[jorats]

Sounds like an abscess to me... much better than a tumour, that's for sure.