Wound example pictures

I thought it might be a good idea to have a thread where we post pictures of wounds that have been specifically identified. This way others can compare and get a good idea of what they might be dealing with if they have an unidentified wound on their rat.

STERILE ABSCESS from a retained suture/suture reaction after a spay. <3 weeks post-op.

Good idea. I bet Shelagh can fill this bad boy up with everything. She does so much better at documenting it all than I do. Maybe make it a Sticky Jo?

Subscribed, hoping I'll find some images of healthy- or -not neuters so I can compare. Awesome thread idea!

OK the problem with neuter pics and my vet is that the incision is sooo tiny you cannot see it LOL I can dig out some not-so good neuter pics though, from different vets.

My vet




Wilbur after seeing The Butcher (these 2 poor boys were given too much gas anesthetic). I thought we were going to lose Wilbur





A bad neuter with a vet at the clinic (he's gone from the clinic now), you can see the swelling and the trauma of the tissues.



5 days later still swollen and bruised...I was very lucky he didn't abscess.



It took almost a month before he was all healed up.

Signs of pain after a spay is moving restlessly but more obviously sucking in the belly and/or twisting and stretching out awkwardly...its called the owwie stretch. These rats need pain meds ASAP.

This is Aura after her emergency spay, its usually not as extreme as this...within 20 mins after getting her metacam she never did this again.



After a neuter, they may press their belly and bits to the ground, stretch out on their side so nothing touches a surface, move restlessly and do owwie stretches like young Goliath does here

Blurry, sorry. Wolfie's neuter incision. I think the experts agreed it was high up. Neuter was the least of his worries thought when he suffered metacam toxicity and his kidneys shut down. Pulled through after days at the vet and the largest vet bill I've ever had to this day. Worth every penny though

Here's my guy 1 - week and one day after his neuter. Is this normal?

Can you get a pic of him more on his back? Is there any shrivelling at the ends? That would be normal.

Deer said:

Here's my guy 1 - week and one day after his neuter. Is this normal?

Click to expand...

Good thread!

I can't get a better picture of my guy's neuter, he absolutely PANICS if I try to hold him on his back I got my girl's spay stitches though 1 week and a day post op

Nice work by your vet It looks like he used internal dissolvable stitches and glue on the outside, not stitches that will need removing.

Deer said:

I can't get a better picture of my guy's neuter, he absolutely PANICS if I try to hold him on his back I got my girl's spay stitches though

1 week and a day post op

Click to expand...

Queen Mariel's spay:

another nice one Same type of closure I mentioned?

temblabamomo said:

Queen Mariel's spay:

Click to expand...

lilspaz68 said:

another nice one Same type of closure I mentioned?

Click to expand...

Yup. I don't even think she realized she'd been sliced open and had stuff removed. First and only spay I've had (she's my only girlie), smooth sailing.

Darby had some horrible black good cyst-y type tumours removed from her chest last month. The vet warned me she may have a 50 % chance of getting through the surgery and if there wasn't enough skin to close the incision on her chest that we would have to euthanize on the table. My vet did a fantastic job!

The day before the surgery it was going to rupture



After the removal



A few days ago I found the lumps were back and they felt very attached on her chest...I was sure her tumours were back, since they were not your normal mammary tumours at all, and most likely were malignant and aggressive. I was wrong thank the rat gods!

On July 1st you can see that its opening up, but there was no smell of infection which made me rule out anything but a tumour stretching open the tight skin/incision



July 3rd I saw it was open even more, and encouraged her to rear up in her cage...I saw something that made my heart jump with happiness



I was able to squeeze out a big ball of cheesy pus..this was barely half of it.



Then I flushed it a few times with saline, which I will do twice a day until it heals up...hopefully never to return!!

Nice......

AVULSION (basically a deep laceration) to shoulder/upper back during introductions gone wrong.

After using steristrips to close the wound


I should note that though I do not have a picture of it, I had to use a light body wrap to keep her from opening the wound up again. She doesn't/didn't mess with it but the stress and stretch of twisting her body around just pulled the strips apart if the wrap was not on.

Update 8/13/14
6 days later put in sutures.


6 more days later with sutures removed. I couldn't get her to sit still for this one. The wound has closed nicely and is almost healed.

Bumping this thread since it wasn't stickied.

*shudder* those wound pics really make me cringe Sheldon. Thank goodness you're knowledgeable in wound care; it looks good now considering how bad it was.

Little Mo's incision from his tumor removal. Surgery day, and 2weeks later: