4 Weeks post neuter, sudden hole? Abcess? (Pics)

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MomRat

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Johnson City, TN
Quilt was neutered 4 weeks ago for agression. Has been doing marvelously, finally back in the same cage as his old cagemate, even cuddling! But this evening I flipped him over to check on his goolie area, which we've been keeping an eye on due to each "spot" being somewhat hard and almost scabbed, and one of them is suddenly a big hole... Our doc told us before surgery that she does a single slice down the middle, so there shouldn't even have been an opening to break open here. He really doesn't like getting flipped over, this is the best pic we could get:

3985361753_12f01d71a8.jpg


Dark area at the bottom is skin coloration, dark area on the left is apparently scabbiness? And of course, the hole on the left. I'm really wondering if they truly did the central incision like they said they would. We couldn't tell right after surgery because he was still bitey and sore.

We plan on calling the vet in the morning to find out what we should do, I really hate to stress him out with ANOTHER vet visit, he's really starting to hate the travel cage. Anyone have advice before then? Thanks!
 
Yeah that looks like a neuter abscess...btw just so you know neuter abscesses can affect/erupt well away from the incision. My vet also does the single middle incision as well.

Since there's no large swelling it looks like it has burst already. You can take care of it at home now. Softening any scab that forms and then flushing with a saline solution with a medicating syringe at least twice a day until the flesh is healing up to the surface. Do a search for "neuter abscess" in Health and there'll be more detail for you to decide if you want to do it yourself :)
 
So, would you guess that the other side that appears like a dark scab through the fur is also an abcess, but not yet opened? It's hard to the touch, like there is a marble in it. Should it be opened somehow? I'm gonna go read up on Neuter Abcesses now...
 
I was about to say that I see two abcesses...one on each side. I've had ot deal with 2 abcesses the last month, one on Percy *male* and one on Pumpkin *female*. Not a fun or pretty thing to deal with, but gotta be taken care of at least twice a day :sick2:
 
Well, a few dunks in warm water, some gentle prodding, and a great deal of green gooey pus later, we now have 1 open abscess, 1 closed but drained abscess, and 1 soggy unhappy rat. Would Neosporin be ok to put on these, or just leave them be?

For the record this was a single incision with no sutures. Perhaps we might be able to get some Baytril/antibiotics without having to bring him in?
 
One of my male rats picked at his neuter site constantly. I took him to the vet when I noticed yellow/green in the surgry hole. My vet told me, "its not infected if there is NO discharge and just to soak it twice a day in salt water" She also gave me surgical iodine (which you may be able to get at any drugstore) to put on it after soaking. It took a long time to heal perfectly as he would pick at it 24/7. I believe to-day it looks pretty good but only Vixxie can comment for sure.
ooooops, I just noticed you said "green gooey pus", I only had a green ugly plug :doh: SORRY :D
 
Poor Quilt... I wouldn't put any ointment on it to allow it to heal naturally. You don't want it promote healing and having it close the infection in.
You might be able to call your vet and see if he'll just let you pick up Baytril but the vet might want to confirm that it is indeed an abscess.
 
So, if we are getting discharge, do we absolutely need the baytril? I'm fine with the 2x daily saline soaks, he's not thrilled but we can do it, our vet is an HOUR drive away, which is a pain even if they'll let us pick up meds without bringing in Quilt. Will he heal without the antibiotic?
 
MomRat said:
So, if we are getting discharge, do we absolutely need the baytril? I'm fine with the 2x daily saline soaks, he's not thrilled but we can do it, our vet is an HOUR drive away, which is a pain even if they'll let us pick up meds without bringing in Quilt. Will he heal without the antibiotic?
Click to expand...

It should. :)
 
So, twice daily saline soaks(or butt baffs, as they are referred to in this household) have us down to a rat with two very small knots where his abscesses used to be. They were healing so quickly with the soaks we decided to hold off on the meds unless they started getting worse. The question is now, how do we know when they're completely better, and we can stop tormenting him with warm water? Will the knots go away completely, or should we expect some scarring? His hair is starting to grow back in and he wriggles like a beast when we try to get a good look at them, and this is our first experience with abscesses, so help from those with experience would indeed be... helpful!
 

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