Abcess: Yet More 1/11/10

[lilratsy43]

Poor little Rhys. If anything can go wrong to him it will. So ever since he had his neuter he has had on-going abcesses. Most of the time they are rather small and they take care of themselves but today I came home from work to find blood everywhere....

This abcess is HUGE! He also seems to have yet another smaller one lower down....

Here's his wittle face...poor boy

Here's his overgrown tooth...

Boy he has gotten rather skinny lately, I think its partly due to his teeth...I have to get some more ensure. You can see the blood here...

And here's the abcess...I am putting in a spoiler so you can look if you want...
[spoiler:31d4l7yb]

[/spoiler:31d4l7yb]

What do you guys think? Just an abcess or something more? He has an appt on Wed to have his tooth trimmed so they can look at his abcess then, but I would like to here what you guys think....

 

[Tarah]

:O the poor boy... he's skin and bone...

How long have you known about his teeth problem?

 

[Maple]

That looks so painful. Poor guy, when it rains, it pours. Hope he feels better soon.

 

[lilratsy43]

His teeth have been getting trimmed every few weeks since August I think. I have giving him baby cereal but that doesn't seem to be helping with the weight gain...Thats why I have to get some ensure.

 

[LA]

That white tooth is that a bottom tooth or is it an extra tooth?

 

[lilratsy43]

Its his bottom tooth. I think his teeth were just spread when I took the pic, so you can't see the other one.

 

[SQ]

He looks like his teeth need to be trimmed much more frequently.

Boy he has gotten rather skinny lately, I think its partly due to his teeth...

I would suggest baby cereal mixed up with soy infant formula, good quality lab blocks made into mush with a few drops of olive oil added and daily vegs like peas.
You need to monitor how much he is eating and make sure he is getting enough ... not easy in a communal cage I know.

He really needs to go to a knowledgeable vet asap.
Tomorrow if they have an opening rather than Wednesday.

Edit:

So ever since he had his neuter he has had on-going abcesses. Most of the time they are rather small and they take care of themselves

with abscesses there are things you can do such as antibiotics, keeping the abcesses cleaned out so they heal properly, and vet care.
This would be especially important if they keep reoccurring. I'm not so sure that is an abscess ...
I am very glad he is going to see a vet.

 

[lilangel]

I am wondering if you let the abscess "take care of its self" then would it not come back the way it has been? Since your not cleaning them out and doing soaks?

See with my two girls(rip) they got a couple abscess and when they did i always soaked them in warm water till it was time to come out then once popped i would start on saline soaks till gone.

Poor guy all healing vibes his way :heart:

 

[lilratsy43]

His teeth are trimmed every two weeks. He had an appt this morning but there was no way for me to get there as my dad had my car because his is in the shop. My vet suggested removing all of his teeth but after discussing it here and talking with my vet I think that will be too much for him.

As for the abcess it is very hard to soak it because he is hairless, I get really nervous putting him in water when it is soo cold out and my room is rather chilly. He has lots of blankets in his cage to curl up in, but I still worry about him getting cold. Also both of my vets have seen his abcesses, mostly they suggest Baytril they normally do not do anything for them. One of the vets will pop it (or what ever they do) but that is not the vet I am seeing on Wednesday unfortunately.

He eats and eats and eats. He has no problem eating blocks even with the teeth. Due to the weather, most of the eating he does gets used up as energy to keep him warm. He lives alone as he does not know how to interact with other rats and everytime I do intros he gets injured. My other boys almost immediately go after him and it takes days for him to heal from the scratches and bites, and because of his health I decided to stop trying intros because they seem to stress him and cause him pain every single time.

I am doing everything I can to get him better...

 

[SQ]

Sorry, no offense intended.
He looks like he is in very bad shape .... and he may look worse to me because I am not very familiar with hairless rats.
Hope you and your vet are able to have him feeling better soon.

 

[lilangel]

Aw yeah if too cold then i guess it is hard, here it is winter but my home is warm, i have to have it warm for the rats :giggle: but my rats are all in thee dinning room and living room not in my room where i do keep it cooler as i hate being to warm also.

Maybe once popped or open the abscess then you can do saline with a syringe and push the saline around his abscess? that might work have a towel under him and once done wrap him up for extra warmth before putting him back. Just a suggestion

I am wondering what else meds can help too for abscesses since like you said it gets pretty chilly. Try asking for Clacamox:
From rat health guide:
Bactericidal, slightly more broad-spectrum antibiotic than amoxicillin. Good to prevent infection after surgery or injury, for urinary tract infections, or secondary infections. Does not attack mycoplasma directly, but in cases of multi-factorial infection, may kill off the secondary infection allowing the immune system to get the mycoplasma infection back in check. Works well in combination with Gentocin. Especially good for treating skin and soft tissue infections such as abscesses. Tasty and easy to give. Inexpensive. Prescription needed.

 

[lilratsy43]

Well I gave the soaking a try anyways. I made the water super warm but not too warm. And now he's bundled up in two blankets, to make sure he is super warm. The lower bump was an abcess, icky stuff came out easily and immediately. The bigger one, is like a hard but squishy bump. I really don't think its a mass as he had one like this before but it also doesn't look like an abcess.

I know you guys did not mean to offend, I just didn't want to be viewed as negectful because that is very far from the truth...I worry about poor little Rhys everyday. Sometimes I just don't know what else I can do....I do agree that I need to up his calorie intake, I am going to get more ensure tomorrow and some more soft tasty goodies....

 

[lilspaz68]

That bigger one looks more like a hematoma...how long has it been there, and how old is Rhys? It would bleed like that since its blood trapped inside not pus etc...
Keep up the soaks, and keep flushing the open abscess.

Nakies look terrible when they lose weight, and since their metabolism is much higher it seems to be a lot harder to keep weight on or put it back on. I fought a losing battle with Lisbet towards the end.

Beyond the abscesses and weight loss, is he happy and alert and active?

Ensure, baby cereal, olive oil, pick up Ferretvite or something similar.

 

[jorats]

Your sweetie has ongoing issues, he's definitely way too skinny and some infection is causing that. I'd get him on meds asap. I'd ask for Bactrim to start and if it doesn't help with the abscesses within a week then I'd ask for Baytril. If you can feed him high fat foods add olive oil to his baby cereal.

 

[LA]

You can try something stronger like doxy with the baytril. That might kick it. You can also do compresses instead of a soak. I do that for Erin as they are on he face.

 

[lilratsy43]

Lilspaz a hematoma is what the vet said it was last time! Thanks for reminding me. I posted about it right after it happened last time...At the time my vet said there was really nothing we could do about it...I will have to find my old post about it, but eventually it popped and it was nasty. It was in the same spot, does that mean he is continously bleeding internally? I am regreting neutering him ever single time this happens....

He is 22 months, a lot older then I ever thought he would be. He has had issues since the day I got him. He had his eye removed at 2 months, had a URI, UTI, multiple abcesses (one in his eye cavity after the removal), nearly died afterhis neuter (lots of resp issues), this will be his 2nd hemotoma, and his misaligned teeth....

Dispite all of this he is a very happy boy! He sleeps a bit more then most but loves to come out of his cage a run around. Nothing gets him down, he is a very funny boy, soo good about begin held...I guess you would have to be if all that happened to you...

 

[lilratsy43]

Ok so I found the old post:
viewtopic.php?f=20&t=11449&hilit=rhys
Basically the same thing thats happening now....

As of today he is looking much better. The bump has already gone down some from yesterday and the abcess looks great. I will be doing another soaking tonight, and he already got a bunch of goodies earlier today (pedi-sure, baby cereal, and chicken baby food)...I am definately going to add olive oil tomorrow. I could not get him into the vet today, so he still has an appt for tomorrow, hopefully I can get him some meds...

 

[lj]

:hugs: So sorry you have to go through this. Those darn nakkies and their darn problems.

 

[lilratsy43]

So Rhys's hematoma and abcess are clearing up beautifully. The vet gave me Sulfa Ped., its what that vet always gives as meds. And the added food to his diet seems to be helping with the weight gain a bit.

But of course now he has something going on with his eye socket. Its all poofy. I am not sure if it is yet another abcess or a tumor and if it is a tumor, surgery for this boy is out of the question. He is just too thin and after his bad reaction to his neuter I am really scared to have him put under again.

Finally here is a video just to show he is still alert and active. I just don't know how much more the two of us can take!!!! (this was last week before the eye got poofy...)

 

[Cigar]

I just opened an abscess on Osiris in the EXACT same spot this evening. Poor little beasts, rats don't deserve all this trouble! I hope this mass/swelling around your nakie boy's eye goes away on its own. He's being a trooper!