Really Bad Post Tumor Removal Abscess

[Dazzle87]

Ick, my poor baby.  Dazzle got a tumor removed a little over a week ago.  I was checking her over and noticed the area by her incision site looked swollen so I was like oh crap abscess, then I turned her over and see that it had already burst.  The abscess is huge too, and came on quick since I just noticed it today and I'm pretty observant with my rats.

If you are squeamish do not look at the pic.
Here's a picture:

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I'm very concerned by its size, and how it looks.  I've deal with abscesses before, but never this bad.  I'm going to call the vet in the morning, and try to come in sooner than I was already going to be (sutures are about ready to come out...), and I've already soaked and flushed, but I'm not sure if I should give her antibiotics.  I have a full dose of SMZ-TMP (bactrim, tribissen, etc it has lots of brand names), and am considering starting her on it, just because I don't want to wait, and it is in all likelihood what the vet will try her on anyway.  Not sure if I should do it or not.  To make matters worse, we're getting really bad snow, so it might be too bad for me to drive to the vet tomorrow too even if I can get in that soon So I'm really not sure what to do...

 

[crumbilina]

Can you call and talk to the vet and ask if you should give the antibiotics? I know my vet will answer questions such as this over the phone. I guess it depends on your relationship with your vet.

If not, maybe keep flushing until you can get a vet appointment.

Personally I am not comfortable giving an animal any meds until I speak with a vet about it. I guess it boils down to how sure you are about what it is (obviously it is an abscess) and the medication and dose.

ETA: Poor Dazzle! That looks nasty

 

[Dazzle87]

I know, I'm generally against self medicating for those reasons. I am sure about dosage and all that but yeah I'm still hesitant

My vet will do that, but she's not going to be in until tomorrow, right now there is just the emergency staff. They will only tell me on the phone if they think I should come in or not, but they will just tell me to come in in the morning. I mean maybe I should call anyway I just don't think they'll help, I'd have the best luck with my vet. But at worst I can get her advice in the morning.

Yeah I know I feel so bad for her, it has to hurt

 

[lilspaz68]

Do you have pain meds? How deep is the cavity? It's wide but doesn't look that big.

 

[Dazzle87]

I have ibuprofen and tramadol. I gave her the ibuprofen, so I'm not sure if I could or should give her the tramadol in addition.

It's not that deep, umm I can't think of a size comparison, I'd guess between and 1/8 and 1/4 inch? You can't see it too well in the pic, but the swelling goes up over her hip. So it still has a lot of draining to do too.

EDIT: I pulled out a ruler to "freshen" my memory, I'd say a little under 1/4 inch in the middle.

 

[crumbilina]

If you can talk to your vet in the morning, I would just wait. The potential harm that could happen when you aren't sure, just to get one more dose in... I don't think is worth it...

Can you keep a watch all night?

 

[Sharlees rattakisses]

Poor sweetie!!! :cuddle:

 

[jorats]

Oh boy. I'd definitely start the Bactrim which is a very good med for abscesses. But I do think the vet might want to see that. Not sure if perhaps that needs to be closed up a bit.

 

[Joanne]

Wow, poor girl. Now that the abscess has ruptured, I would think Ibuprofen should be enough pain relief. I think that you could give both if you wanted to, as Ibuprofen is an NSAID, and the Tramadol is an opiod, so they work differently. I think I'd wait to speak to the vet (re: antibiotics) as it's not too much longer, and the pus is now draining.

 

[Dazzle87]

Gah, so hard to know what to do with conflicting info lol. Thanks everyone for their advice though. Yeah I'm pretty sure this was originally for a UTI, but I knew it was good for abscesses too.

I do definitely want to get her to the vet to get looked at, but if the roads are really bad it just won't be safe to drive the 50 miles each way, so I may have to wait until Friday. Hopefully the roads get cleaned up quickly, this is getting pretty ridiculous this winter where I am! We've already had a few 2ft and 1 ft storms along with minor ones, we're having record accumulation

I think I'm going to try and find a compounding pharmacy near me just in case though, that she could call meds in to, as I could probably do five-10 miles to a pharmacy in bad weather.

Thanks Sharlees rattakisses :hugs:

Joanne, thanks. So long as she doesn't seem to be in pain I'll keep with the ibuprofen. It is good to know that ibuprofen and tramadol can be taken together or shortly after each other though.

 

[Dazzle87]

I have her on the smz tmp now, and she is seeing the vet Saturday, and it will most likely be lanced. She gave me a surgery drop off time frame. My poor girl . She hates going to the vet, wanted nothing to do with me for a full day after her tumor removal...

Eta haha the birthday cake icon for me is cute.

 

[Dazzle87]

Well, it looks a little better although I need a lot more to drain. The pus filled lump is still hard, so, I'm trying to do lots of warm compresses. I can't wait for this to be gone and healed!

[spoilersfoem1n]

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[mamarat]

Aww poor baby. Sending healing vibes.

 

[Joanne]

Awww, the poor girl! Hopefully the rest will drain soon.

 

[Dazzle87]

Thanks guys, I just feel so bad for her. Yeah as gross as it is I am glad for the draining. It's doing that a lot, as you can see a tiny bit in the pic and that was immediately after flushing and getting the guck out. Maybe it'll drain enough for the vet to not think it needs to be drained saturday.

 

[jorats]

It's not looking so bad now. Hopefully the meds will do the trick.

 

[Dazzle87]

Thanks, yup I got my fingers crossed!

 

[TheRatQueen]

How is she healing? I hope everything's going better

 

[Dazzle87]

My vet looked at it and just wanted to try antibiotics and flushes since it had already burst. It looks a million times better, there's just one chunk I'm trying to get broken up with the flushes. She said if we can't get it cleared up quickly then well try landing it. She also gave me the proper syringe for flushes which helped tons..I tried a ton of pharmacies and none had the curved kind for some reason.

Oh and she said it's not deep at all which is good.

Thank you for asking about my girl.

 

[TheRatQueen]

No problem! That's great! Those syringes sound like the kind they give humans for wisdom teeth holes. Well, good vibes coming your way!