Old rat more prone to infections? Senior gal with abscesses

[rhapsody]

*Sigh* Intros between my senior gal Missy and the rest of the gang has stalled on neutral territory. Very minor tussles keep popping up on familiar grounds - normally I'd let them work it out, but it appears that Missy's old immune system can't handle it.

She got some tiny scratches that I shrugged off, but they erupted into full-blown abscesses. She's got two medium-sized ones on her back, and a huge one behind her ear. I've had her on baytril and been putting warm compresses on the sites for the past couple weeks, but they are taking forever to heal. The only real progress was made last night - the scab on the huge behind-the-ear abscess came off and I was able to properly flush it with saline solution. The majority of the pus came off with the scab, but the ... cavity is still red and raw.

I'm completely at my wits end. I want Missy to be able to have snugglebuds in her "golden years" but not if the process is going to result in a bunch of abscesses. All my intros involved some sort of tussling as my kids sorted out their place on the totem pole. Is there a way I can boost her immune system?

 

[jorats]

You could try echinacea, or even the green mush.
How old is Missy, is she currently living alone?

 

[rhapsody]

Missy is really close to 2 years. She had two serious bouts of ear infections with her previous owner that left her with a head tilt. Not sure if that impacted her immune system.

And yes, she's regretfully living alone at the moment. She was put up for adoption with 3 of her cagemates - someone else was interested with that group, and the lady was supposed to adopt two and leave Missy and another for me. She ended up taking all three - I'm still a bit cheesed about that ...

Missy does get along well with my Jasper, but I can't remove him from the rest of my gang without triggering fighting between Rufus and Odin - he's the peacekeeper and runs interference between the two.

 

[jorats]

Which rat is not being nice to Missy?

 

[rhapsody]

Everybody but Jasper. And the dislike goes both ways - Missy starts about half the tussles.

 

[jorats]

Aww... poor thing. They are probably not a good match for her then. You might want to take a break, try again in a month. In the meantime put a stuffed toy in her cage so she can cuddle. Sometimes a week or a month makes a difference, they just aren't ready.

 

[rhapsody]

Well, keep your fingers crossed. Some lady returned an old senior hoarder rat boy because he wasn't what she really wanted (poor guy dropped half his weight while in her care). The rescue folks think he might be a good match for my old girl, so we'll try to do a meet and greet sometime in the next week or so.

 

[jorats]

Keeping fingers tightly crossed!

 

[mamarat]

Hope it works out!

 

[rhapsody]

Well, Missy's abscesses have finally cleared up entirely, AND I'm currently intro-ing her to a neutered gentleman. The senior rat I was hoping to bond her with turned out to be too senior - Missy is still a bit ... frisky (aka. too horny!) and the poor guy didn't know what to do with her. So the rescue folks gave me a year-old to work with. They've been in a neutral cage for two days, and so far, so good. Keeping my fingers crossed that this is going to work out!

 

[jorats]

lol she's lucky she has her pick of manrat.
If she's been in that cage with him for two days then I'd say its a done deal.

 

[Dazzle87]

Glad she's doing better!

And yes sounds like she found herself a boyfriend.

 

[mamarat]

Any pic of the couple?

 

[rhapsody]

Not yet! I'll get that up once I get home from work tonight.

 

[mamarat]

:joy: Can't wait! I love happy couples.