Skin has bluish tinge around abscess. Normal???

susie90 · Dec 15, 2011

My rat, Alfie, recently developed a lump underneath his skin and it was hard and almost felt like bone at first. It got bigger quickly and I didnt think it was a tumor becuase I have had rats before and I know what they feel like. Well when it was first spotted there was a small scab on top of the lump (which is not the size of a marble) and the scab has grown significantly. It is probably almost the same size of the lump and it was rough and dark in color. Now the scab is starting to lift off of the skin and you can slightly see the wound underneath. I don't know if there is pus since the scab may have been opened since last night and it could have drained or it still has one more layer of skin to go through. But the dark scab looking thing is still attached and has his fur in it. I just need to know if it is an abscess so I can treat it. The picture makes it kind of hard to see it cause he has dark fur!

Please help me soon and I am planning on taking him to the vet as soon as I can but that will be a few days.

****update**** I was using warm compress on Alfie's abscess and it is very loosely on and it pretty much halfway off. I feel like there is some blood in the wound and I then noticed that his skin was slightly blue around the abscess so I stopped messing around with it. Why is his skin becoming bluish?

Kitsa · Dec 15, 2011

susie90 said:
My rat, Alfie, recently developed a lump underneath his skin and it was hard and almost felt like bone at first. It got bigger quickly and I didnt think it was a tumor becuase I have had rats before and I know what they feel like. Well when it was first spotted there was a small scab on top of the lump (which is not the size of a marble) and the scab has grown significantly. It is probably almost the same size of the lump and it was rough and dark in color. Now the scab is starting to lift off of the skin and you can slightly see the wound underneath. I don't know if there is pus since the scab may have been opened since last night and it could have drained or it still has one more layer of skin to go through. But the dark scab looking thing is still attached and has his fur in it. I just need to know if it is an abscess so I can treat it. The picture makes it kind of hard to see it cause he has dark fur!

Please help me soon and I am planning on taking him to the vet as soon as I can but that will be a few days.

I just got done dealing with my very first abscess and that sounds about right.

If everyone agree's its an abscess then go ahead and get rid of the scab to see if there is pus and if there is drain it.

Sharlees rattakisses · Dec 15, 2011

It's okay sweetheart it's just an abscess. :cuddle:

thefriggintribe · Dec 15, 2011

Looks like an abscess to me. If you can trim the fur around the wound and flush with warm saline, it will help.

susie90 · Dec 15, 2011

Ok cool. It just didn't look normal because of how big the scab got. I'll go ahead and take care of it.

One last question, can use saline wound wash that is also antibacterial? My boyfriend picked up the saline wash and accidentally got one with antibacterial.