SoupChef
Member
Hi!
I feel like the WORST owner for this but today when I was taking Stew out of the cage he shares with his brother Chili, I felt a hard spot on his abdomen that I immediately inspected. Just to the side of his penis, he had a scab-combined-with-a-cavity like wound that made me IMMEDIATELY burst into tears and then call my vet tech trained mom. We're fairly confident he has a preputial abscess that must have ruptured of its own accord and perhaps is healing rather messily, but my vet can't get him in until NEXT Wednesday (Apr 21!). I gave it a long, hot compress this evening to help clear away any debris and give me a better look at it - pictures attached of what it looked like most of the way through the soak. He's still eating and drinking BUT he was a little lethargic and had the classic unwell rat sign of his ears not being as hot and pink as usuall without a lot of warm cuddles to get him there. For now the best I can think to do for him is to change the cage blankets daily as well as a daily hot compress, but I have a few things I'm wondering about.
Most of what I've found on the internet about these abscesses is about how to lance them (hot compress, hope it comes to a head, have lots of towels on hand), but none really talk about what to do if you find it and it's already a gaping, dirty wound! Advice for how to support him with this would be much appreciated. Specifically,
1. His wound is a pink flesh cavern with what seems like a necrotic tissue pocket within it - grey tissue (I believe this colour is in part dead tissue and in part because they were on Yesterdays News litter for 2 days while prospective tenants toured my apartment, so paper dust in the wound) that has what appears to be a pus-sac within it (that's just my best guess, but I see yellow as well). SO since so many of these instructionals talk about soaking and then lifting the scab, should I be attempted to soften the grey tissue and then use tweezers to gently loosen it? I am SO hesitant to poke around in his wound that I would love for someone with experience to tell me what's right, there!
2. Should I be using any kind of product to support his healing right now? In the past when any of my rats have gotten into scuffles that resulted in deep wounds I've used antibiotic ointments like Polysporin to help healing along, but I know with abscesses the last thing you want is for the skin to heal and seal the infected pocket in....cream or no cream?
And just any other advice would be so appreciated! He's an amazingly good natured little guy who is too sweet to give me any indications of pain and I feel just awful that I didn't notice the bump the abscess likely represented before its rupture!
Sorry the pictures are rough - as you all know I'm sure, one-handed rat immobilization is tough
The dry photo naturally is pre-soak and the one where the wound appears more open and his fur is wet is mid-soak. The happy stew picture is just because I'd hate for you to only see him as an abscess!
I feel like the WORST owner for this but today when I was taking Stew out of the cage he shares with his brother Chili, I felt a hard spot on his abdomen that I immediately inspected. Just to the side of his penis, he had a scab-combined-with-a-cavity like wound that made me IMMEDIATELY burst into tears and then call my vet tech trained mom. We're fairly confident he has a preputial abscess that must have ruptured of its own accord and perhaps is healing rather messily, but my vet can't get him in until NEXT Wednesday (Apr 21!). I gave it a long, hot compress this evening to help clear away any debris and give me a better look at it - pictures attached of what it looked like most of the way through the soak. He's still eating and drinking BUT he was a little lethargic and had the classic unwell rat sign of his ears not being as hot and pink as usuall without a lot of warm cuddles to get him there. For now the best I can think to do for him is to change the cage blankets daily as well as a daily hot compress, but I have a few things I'm wondering about.
Most of what I've found on the internet about these abscesses is about how to lance them (hot compress, hope it comes to a head, have lots of towels on hand), but none really talk about what to do if you find it and it's already a gaping, dirty wound! Advice for how to support him with this would be much appreciated. Specifically,
1. His wound is a pink flesh cavern with what seems like a necrotic tissue pocket within it - grey tissue (I believe this colour is in part dead tissue and in part because they were on Yesterdays News litter for 2 days while prospective tenants toured my apartment, so paper dust in the wound) that has what appears to be a pus-sac within it (that's just my best guess, but I see yellow as well). SO since so many of these instructionals talk about soaking and then lifting the scab, should I be attempted to soften the grey tissue and then use tweezers to gently loosen it? I am SO hesitant to poke around in his wound that I would love for someone with experience to tell me what's right, there!
2. Should I be using any kind of product to support his healing right now? In the past when any of my rats have gotten into scuffles that resulted in deep wounds I've used antibiotic ointments like Polysporin to help healing along, but I know with abscesses the last thing you want is for the skin to heal and seal the infected pocket in....cream or no cream?
And just any other advice would be so appreciated! He's an amazingly good natured little guy who is too sweet to give me any indications of pain and I feel just awful that I didn't notice the bump the abscess likely represented before its rupture!
Sorry the pictures are rough - as you all know I'm sure, one-handed rat immobilization is tough
The dry photo naturally is pre-soak and the one where the wound appears more open and his fur is wet is mid-soak. The happy stew picture is just because I'd hate for you to only see him as an abscess!
)
