Red lump near genital area.

Littlefizz · Jun 22, 2011

Hi, I'm not sure whats going on with my Suki. She is pretty much trying to die on me every month or so now. She was 700 grams (I know much to large) Then out of no where she went right down to the 450 gram area within a month, her blood had urine in it and I thought I was going to lose her for sure. I got her on doxy and bayril for a respiratory infection, mixing it with ensure and making sure she ate a lot of that everyday, she now weighs 550grams so they weight loss isn't a problem anymore. The vets not sure why her urine had traces of blood in it but that was a while ago so she seems to have gotten over that. Now her respiratory is getting bad again and shes got this weird sore right beside her genitals. It doesn't look like an abscess, mind you I've never really dealt with those on my rats before. But its not really swollen in that area like an abscess it looked scaby yesterday and now it looks kind of oozy, I'm going to try to get a picture of it on here. Its just a little red lump, the size of a pea, it doesn't seem to be bothering her too much. I'm going to get her to the vets asap obviously but I can't really afford it atm. I have things I can try to use to treat it for the time being I just want some advice on if I should be using it. I have betadine solution, from a rat who had a really bad injury recently, would that be okay to apply to the wound until I can get her to the vet?

Littlefizz · Jun 22, 2011

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/840/img252h.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/263/img251hm.jpg/

victoria · Jun 22, 2011

One of my rats has something similar and it turned out to be an abscess. You can try doing a warm compress with a saline solution to see if it will come to a head and then you can flush it until the infection is gone and it can heal.

It's a good idea to avoid giving Baytril and Doxy at the same time as foods high in calcium (among other minerals) like Ensure. The molecules (in the Doxy, mostly) bond with the calcium molecules and can reduce the effectiveness. Obviously you can't eliminate all calcium but it's best to give foods like baby cereal or Ensure (same rule for probiotics) two hours or more before/after to eliminate an undesirable interaction.

Rat Guide said:
Doxycycline has a decreased effect when given with antiacids that contain aluminum, calcium, zinc, or magnesium, or with iron containing preparations (example: multivitamins).

http://ratguide.com/meds/antimicrobial_ ... ycline.php

Littlefizz · Jun 22, 2011

Awesome thanks, if it does end up being an abscess should I have my vet look at it or should it be easy enough to deal with myself?

I heard mixing the meds with the dairy might make it less effective but if I don't mix it with that she pretty much spits out all the medicine :s. She used to take it with avocado but stopped doing that, if I give it to her mixed with only the banana syrup she holds it in her mouth and wipes it all out on the blanket/ my hand. I've really run out of things to mix it with that she will take.

victoria · Jun 22, 2011

Some abscesses you are able to treat at home with compresses and flushing but others need antibiotics. If it comes to a head (scabs) with compresses and is fairly small and shallow, then you should be able to treat it at home.

For the meds, you may just have to force feed them. Lilspaz68 posted a video tutorial on how to give meds with a syringe recently if you want to take a look.