Maria again: &*$%.

[TheHermit]

FOR %*&$'s SAKE.
Cleaning out cages today, making digging boxes, so on and so forth. Had to take Maria out for a second while we were still trying to find Penny so I could clean Maria's cage and get to the grocery store. Penny and Maria have never fought so I figured if I left the room for a second, for ONE BLOODY SECOND, to get scissors, that Alex would be fine watching Maria.
NOPE. WHY WOULD IT BE FINE.
:rant:

Maria's shoulder is split open. And I mean the skin is severed in a clean line that's at least an inch long down the side of her shoulder. I can see her inner flesh while she's reaching around to clean the other side of her. She was puffed up and standing ready to fight for so long after we put Penny away that I didn't even see it until she finally turned away from me. The thing is a massive cut and here's the catch: ITS NOT BLEEDING. It's just a big ass gaping cut, but NO BLOOD. None. Nada. Not even a damn drop! At this point I'm not even sure if it was Penny that gave it to her, and I don't know HOW Penny would have done that in the first place, without severing another layer and causing bleeding, but it is what it is.
It's just... open.
I have no idea what to do.

I just left the vet yesterday with Maria!
So guys - does this need stitches?
[spoil:1pkjlv8f]

[/spoil:1pkjlv8f]
[spoil:1pkjlv8f]

[/spoil:1pkjlv8f]
And this is how hard it is to even see from most angles:
[spoil:1pkjlv8f]

[/spoil:1pkjlv8f]

 

[victoria]

It sounds like a gash, which are supposed to be pretty common from scuffles. Keep and eye in it and the wound clean, she should be fine.

Edit: Take a pic for more opinions, but this doesn't sound like something that needs a vet.

 

[TheHermit]

Pics added.
This poor girl is probably going to be a lone ranger for the rest of her life... she is so bipolar, especially with the other girls, I just can't trust her to be in the same cage as more than one. Maybe I can get a friend just for her sometime soon but even Penny, her previously decided friend, has been brutally rejected.

Edit: what can I clean this with? I have children's polysporin which has kept nasty bites from swelling up before, but as an actual cleaner... just paper towel with warm water? I'd be terrified to subject an open cut like that to any kind of soap :sad3: would sting an awful lot...

 

[victoria]

Just use some saline, I think there are instructions how to make a homemade isotonic saline solution in the reference section. Don't use polysporin, sometimes it can seal bacteria in and lead to abscesses and it's best she doesn't lick it off.

 

[mamarat]

I would just leave it be for now, make sure her cage is clean and it should heal on its own. Poor baby, poor you. See thread here
viewtopic.php?f=20&t=28348#p392416

 

[TheHermit]

Cage was just changed over. That link got a sigh of relief out of me lol... this is just the kind of day I'm having, I hate that Maria became a part of it.
My poor bub just needs some stability! One ruckus ends and a whole other begins for her, it's absurd.
I feel silly for panicking about it, but I usually panic about the rats anyway hehe... I'm horrible for freaking out and posting on here like it's the end of the world.

 

[lilspaz68]

better to post freaking out, then to panic and do something wrong (like use crazy glue to close it up...which I have heard of :shock: )

 

[TheHermit]

(like use crazy glue to close it up...which I have heard of :shock: )

I -... :shock: have little words for how weird that is.
And thanks kscanuck (gold star for me if I got that right) for the spoilers, didn't even occur to me that I should hide the nastiness :sick2:

 

[Aida]

Nah, I wouldn't worry about it. It looks bad, but they heal shockingly fast. :]

 

[lilspaz68]

HAHAHA the use of spoilers for such little things makes me laugh. It happens, and its a very typical skin slice that should heal on its own quickly.

TBH I wouldn't have put spoilers on these as people NEED to see normal (albeit scary) things like this and may never look under the spoiler, Then it happens to them and they have no reference and think their rat is severely injured.

 

[kscanuck785]

Im sorry...I'm VERY sensitive to graphic pics, and I know I'm not the only one :sick2:

I did not think people wouldn't know to click the spoiler, it's the same as a link. :?

 

[Joanne]

better to post freaking out, then to panic and do something wrong (like use crazy glue to close it up...which I have heard of :shock: )

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't crazy glue cyanoacrylate? So tissue glue is the same, is it not? Not so crazy!

Sorry to hear Maria got injured. I immediately thought of Einstein's thread that I've been following for the last week. It should give you some comfort. I'm glad she should heal up over the next few weeks on her own. Heart attack in the making though!

 

[TheHermit]

Heart attack in the making for sure, even Alex almost called a cab certain she'd need stitches.
That thread definitely gave me a lot of comfort. Einstein's seems bigger than Maria's too, so it's a relief to hear that even his big owie will heal in no time(though they act like it doesn't hurt... "its just a flesh wound!").

Hehe kscanuck, I don't think the third one needed a spoiler though

 

[hopefloats]

that was a good one. Poor thing. It will heal super fast that is the favorite spot for gashes on ratties. I got used to those, now you will be too. the first one freaks you out, the second one you look, then set them back down

it still amazes me it dont bleed.

 

[lilspaz68]

better to post freaking out, then to panic and do something wrong (like use crazy glue to close it up...which I have heard of :shock: )

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't crazy glue cyanoacrylate? So tissue glue is the same, is it not? Not so crazy!

Sorry to hear Maria got injured. I immediately thought of Einstein's thread that I've been following for the last week. It should give you some comfort. I'm glad she should heal up over the next few weeks on her own. Heart attack in the making though!

I think I should've explained this one better. Added a few words, I wouldn't use crazy glue for a little wound like this, it would heal naturally a LOT faster without the glue, which could stick around for a month. Its also the reason I don't like staples, as they impede healing more than glue or sutures, then you remove them and you have more healing to do.

 

[jorats]

I remember the first time every I've seen a gash like that, I nearly fainted, from fear and rushed the rat to the vet. That's where I learned that on rats, gashes like that is not too serious. You keep it clean and don't force it closed so it can drain and heal from the inside out. If it heals form the outside in, you can trap infection and cause a huge abscess.

 

[Kitsa]

I remember my first gash. It was on my hairless girl and since I had just got her it was the most horrifying thing in the world to me because it looked worse then it actually was.