Chewing wound open arg

[ashana]

Hey again... 2 posts in a week LOL

Ok so we did get Cutie's tumor removed earlier today, unfortunately we couldn't do the spay at the same time as the vet didn't want to keep her sedated that long which i can appreciate.
Anyway, the vet covered the wound with some bandage to prevent her from pulling at the glued skin however Cutie being the chewer that she is (she is our cage barberer) has decided to chew the bandage off and start chewing open her wound... flesh and all.

We have glued her wound closed again and put an elizabethan collar on her to prevent her from being able to continue with her chewing but i was wondering what else i could do. I do hate the collar and it freaks her out plus she has managed to get out of it twice. We will be heading to bed soon (night time here) and i was to safe guard her wound during the night... any ideas please?

Aimee & Cutie

 

[jorats]

If the collar is not working, I really don't know how you can stop a chewer from getting at her incision. Is she on metacam or other pain reliever? The excessive chewing could be a sign of pain.

 

[lilspaz68]

I also want to ask, is she on pain meds? Most rats won't chew on their wounds if they are not in discomfort.

 

[Debbie]

I would also suggest, if you are not already doing so, to get her on antibiotics (like Cefa/Baytril) right away. Once that incision is open, it's very suseptable to infection. And if she's gotten in and really opened it up, the vet will need to clean it well and stitch her back up. Antibiotics are really a must.

I'm with the others on pain meds. Metacam really does help them not to mess with their incisions.

I HATE the collars too....but sadly, they are a necessary evil. They do start to get used to the collar after the first day...but it really is hard on us to see them that way. just offer her soft foods that you can help her eat too.

 

[ashana]

She was on a strong medication (stronger than Metacam) called Tramadol. I think it was totally flipping her out... almost like tripping i guess. She was super jumpy on it.... once it was near time to give her another dose she mellowed out again.

She has been biting at blankets, whatever she could get to even straight after the surgery *shock*

She is a chewer but i never thought she would react that bad.

I have not only had to use the collar but i have had to use a crepe bandage to stop her being able to bend because even with the collar she was managing to get to some of the wound and chew it grrrr.

She is obsessed, i can be holding her, moving her head away and she will still push and shove to get at it more grrrr.

I love her dearly (who wouldn't) but she is pushing my creativity to the max here lol

 

[lilspaz68]

Tramadol is a synthetic opiate, some rats do not react well to opiates I have heard. You might want to ask your vet for metacam, since it should make her a bit dopey rather than hyper.

 

[ashana]

Cool, thank you