Swollen Face and Lump! Back from vet! (new picture)

[KTyne]

So, I checked on Bijoux this morning and it seems her swelling has gone down. She's still swollen but definitely not as much as yesterday/last night! She has no pus or anything that would make me suspect it's an abcess, so that's good I guess?
We have lots of different spiders here, not sure which ones are poisonous. I know we have wolf spiders, and daddy long legs (dunno what the actual name of those would be), hobo spiders, western black widows, house spiders, jumping spiders, along with others I don't know the names of.

*edited to add more spiders, lol.

 

[Ollie]

Oh gosh I hope your rattie gets better quick. That is horrible. I hate spiders!

 

[KTyne]

Thanks Ollie! :') Her personality hasn't change, and her swelling seems to be going down from what I can see, so that's good!
I never thought I'd have to deal with one of my rats getting a spider bite or something like that.

 

[Moon]

It wouldn't necessarily need to be poisonous to cause a reaction, I'm very allergic to spiders and swell up a lot with any bite.

Same! I have received bites from very tiny, unassuming brown house spiders that caused my fingers to swell up to multiple times their size, LOL

 

[KTyne]

That would suck Moon! Ugh, spiders...
I just checked on Bijoux again and her swelling has gone down a lot since yesterday! *does happy dance*
She is still a bit swollen but she still seems to have a bump on the top of her head, but it feels like skull, not squishy or anything?

 

[Moon]

I'm thinking if the swelling is not completely gone by tomorrow, you should go to the vet... glad it's gone down though!

 

[Ollie]

Yikes, I hope it's nothing serious.

 

[KTyne]

Alright, I'll definitely see into that, because I just checked her once again and most of the swelling seems to have gone down except for one area at the top of her head... that's what's worrying me. Maybe it was the bite site and is therefore taking longer to go down, but I don't want to take any risks. :|

 

[KTyne]

So I have Bijoux out with me right now and it seems like all or most of the swelling in her face has gone down, but she still has that bump on the top of her head, and her right eye is still squinty.
I'm worried it's an abcess or something worse so if it's still there tomorrow I'm going to ask my boyfriend to help me out with taking her to the vet (financially), and I'm sure he will.

I just took this of her and you can make out the bump in this picture.

And that's her right eye that is still all squinty. :|

 

[temblabamomo]

Her face def looks better, but I haven't a clue about that little bump. If you're still considering the spider bite theory, I'd wager it's possible. My bites will swell up regardless of whether the spider has any venom, after the swelling is gone there's usually a little scab or knot, depending on what bit me. I hope she keeps improving.

 

[KTyne]

I'm thinking that it's just the bite site that is taking longer to go down, but what's making me doubt that now is that it just feels like her skull there even though there IS a bump. It's weird. Can abcesses be hard? She has no scab and with her fur I can't tell if there are puncture wounds from a bite although her skin looked red and irritated in one spot.
I'm just confused. :|
She will go to the vet though if it doesn't improve after tonight.

 

[Joanne]

Very odd indeed. I would never have thought insect bite. I'd be curious to hear what the vet has to say. Is there an actual scab on that hard knob? Maybe the vet can do a fine needle aspiration and see if there's any pus in that hard spot.

 

[Nekopan]

Abscesses can most definitely be hard. And they can get large very rapidly.

 

[KTyne]

No pus, no scab, nothing but smooth skin and a lump.
So abscesses can pop up overnight basically?
Is there any medication I can ask for besides Metacam if it's an abscess? Antiobiotics or anything?
I want to be prepared.
Oh, and the actual lump doesn't seem to have grown at all so far atleast. I just noticed there was a lump there because the swelling went down overnight and today. I'm going to try to check her over to see if I can find any puncture marks or anything on her. It's hard though because her fur is so thick!

 

[Joanne]

Abscesses are the #1 thing you suspect when there is localized swelling that has come on quickly (assuming no trauma). It is an infection caused by bacteria. Getting an abcess to drain is the best course of action, and antibiotics are the drug of choice to help eliminate the bacteria.

 

[KTyne]

Alright, so I don't think she'd take too kindly to me doing hot compresses on her face, so how should I go about doing this?
What antibiotics should I ask for? I trust my vet but as I said before I've never had to treat my rat's so I'm not sure he'd know the proper medications/dosage.

 

[Dazzle87]

Calvamox and SMZ TMP and both good for skin infections. If it is a tooth/bone infection I'm pretty sure flagyl is usually the best option.

 

[KTyne]

Ok, thanks Dazzle!

 

[Dazzle87]

You're welcome.

And that should have said clavamox, not calvamox :emb:

 

[KTyne]

Lol, it's all good. Unfortunately I haven't been able to make an appointment for Bijoux yet but I'm going to try to see about getting her in tomorrow. Her condition hasn't change any so that's good.

*edit- I made an appointment for Bijoux to go into the vet tomorrow. I THINK the lump on her head has gotten smaller but I'm thinking it's just me getting used to seeing her like that. I'm also going to bring along my other two girls to keep Bijoux company as well as to see if the vet will give them a quick once over since Penelope atleast has started sneezing lately.