No bedding, only clean fleece. Just removed and replaced all the extra fleece pads she was sitting on. Would that be OK? She is PICAing on cardboard, or still was last night. I don't want to worry about her eating the paper towels, too.
I was thinking about taking off the collar too, but most of the stitches are still there. This hole is pretty small, right now the pus is gone(where did it go...?), but I can see dark inside so I almost feel like it leads into the internal abyss of her body. In that case wouldn't flushing it with anything, even saline, be super dangerous? I'm having visions of pouring salt water into the inside of her body.... :rant3:
Anyways, I don't want her to rip out the rest and make it worse...
As for buddies, I let them together every now and then, and one of them ignores her and the other once messed with her incision which prompted squeaking. I'll put them back together tomorrow, but I'd prefer not to tonight for the night, because I won't be able to watch them.
I call fleece bedding, sorry! LOL it's all I use. Yes I'd change out the fleece often. If you have any white or light colored fleece that would be even better because you can see better where it is wet.
just keep it super super clean is what I mean.
Gah, I don't know about the flushing either, I have the same concerns as you. get her started on antibiotics asap, and call the vet first thing to find out what to do.
In fact you might want to write down some worst case scenario type questions, so that you'll be armed with ideas for what to do if something else comes up.
Know what I mean?
I always call our ER vets for advice if there's something like this going on and I can't reach my own vet. Even when they don't have specific rat related advice, a lot of times they can tell you what home care is safe to give and what you should run by your vet before you try.
and of course, sometimes they say they can't give any advice without seeing the animal, which is fair.
I don't feel comfortable giving advice on this one. I dont' mean to frighten you but I lost a boy who had a tumor removed from a similar area and a new urethra made. He lost his penis in the process. He got an infection and just couldn't over come it. I don't know how that compares to a female having a new urethra made. but with stuff concerning their plumbing, I worry.