YokaiRatRAR
Active Member
A big wibbly wobbly lump right on Oracle's jaw. I didn't realize it, its firm, moves around under the skin if you push from the side but squishes if you push from the top. I don't have a working camera.
But i found an image that looks nearly identical to what Oracle's got on her cheek, labeled "rat abscess."
All the vets in my area don't have payment plans. I don't have a credit card or a good credit score to get one. I'm taking her to see the humane society tomorrow if I can't find someone who'll offer an alternative. They have a petfood pantry, surely they have someone who can advocate for a disabled pet owner who's freaking out over her darling dear being sick.
There has to be some kind of home remedy. Abscesses are bacterial infections right? The thing is all the remedies I know for skin infections, cuts, scrapes, ect, are all for humans. I know use baking soda and water for poison ivy, and that a teaspoon of baking soda in 8 oz water will cure heartburn. I know cinnamon made into a paste will clean a cut, that peroxide will sterilize things but can cause burns and that lemon juice will relieve aforementioned discomfort. I know ginger reduces swelling "from your kisser to your butt, and in the elbows neck and knees." That sunlight can help improve the effects of an anti depressant and that iodine is in salt because Americans won't eat seaweed to get it. I know a quarter teaspoon of nutmeg in your morning coffee helps reduce gingivitis and ginger ale soothes throat pain caused by asthma.
But none of this, not a one, is applicable to rats. All to humans. I'm stuck. Any one of the usual remedies I'd go for could either cause Oracle to become immensely ill or kill her.
Meanwhile calling my dad for advice and comfort yielded a dose of reality instead that sent my anxiety issues into a tailspin, if the Humane society can't help me and she doesn't recover on her own she may have to be put down and I don't want that!
Then there's the guilt trip. You see Oracle, when I bought her at the petshop, was pregnant. Finn and feather, where I got her refuses to seperate by gender because some of the baby rats go to feed their snakes. Their mice don't breed as readily as their rats do, I hear. They've actually bred a female rex with a missing eye before. And another rat, one I rescue bought from there because he had open sores on his wrists, is currently occupying my rest cage.
Two weeks into the litter's life, Oracle stopped feeding them. All i had on hand to try them with was condensed milk mixed with water. I sang the last one to his final sleep. Oracle has been 'depressed' ever since. Or at least thats how I interpreted her lethargy. "oh its hormonal, by rat standards she's achieved her life's purpose by having a litter so she's not as vigorous" or "that Fin and feather, its trauma I bet you. I'd lay money on it. Look where they house their litters, the /reptile/ room." After all, you can't diagnose a bad mood, not in an animal who can't tell you why they're constantly tired and listless. What would the vet say if I brought her in "oh she's just depressed, sorry there's no prozac for rats, feed her this that costs 20 bucks a month blah blah blah."
But now I have /something./ And I swear if this was going on the entire year and a half I've had her as a pet I'm going to be on the WAR PATH against the Fin and Feather. Some public shaming is in order. The little male I'm trying to rehome, Petey? You know why I bought him when I knew I couldn't keep him? Because the clerk at Fin and feather wouldn't put him in the quarantine tank not a food below his cage when he had open sores on his wrists. They don't care one lick about their rats and if Oracle's sickness is a result of that and went on for a year without being detected I won't rest until some public shaming has been done!
But i found an image that looks nearly identical to what Oracle's got on her cheek, labeled "rat abscess."
All the vets in my area don't have payment plans. I don't have a credit card or a good credit score to get one. I'm taking her to see the humane society tomorrow if I can't find someone who'll offer an alternative. They have a petfood pantry, surely they have someone who can advocate for a disabled pet owner who's freaking out over her darling dear being sick.
There has to be some kind of home remedy. Abscesses are bacterial infections right? The thing is all the remedies I know for skin infections, cuts, scrapes, ect, are all for humans. I know use baking soda and water for poison ivy, and that a teaspoon of baking soda in 8 oz water will cure heartburn. I know cinnamon made into a paste will clean a cut, that peroxide will sterilize things but can cause burns and that lemon juice will relieve aforementioned discomfort. I know ginger reduces swelling "from your kisser to your butt, and in the elbows neck and knees." That sunlight can help improve the effects of an anti depressant and that iodine is in salt because Americans won't eat seaweed to get it. I know a quarter teaspoon of nutmeg in your morning coffee helps reduce gingivitis and ginger ale soothes throat pain caused by asthma.
But none of this, not a one, is applicable to rats. All to humans. I'm stuck. Any one of the usual remedies I'd go for could either cause Oracle to become immensely ill or kill her.
Meanwhile calling my dad for advice and comfort yielded a dose of reality instead that sent my anxiety issues into a tailspin, if the Humane society can't help me and she doesn't recover on her own she may have to be put down and I don't want that!
Then there's the guilt trip. You see Oracle, when I bought her at the petshop, was pregnant. Finn and feather, where I got her refuses to seperate by gender because some of the baby rats go to feed their snakes. Their mice don't breed as readily as their rats do, I hear. They've actually bred a female rex with a missing eye before. And another rat, one I rescue bought from there because he had open sores on his wrists, is currently occupying my rest cage.
Two weeks into the litter's life, Oracle stopped feeding them. All i had on hand to try them with was condensed milk mixed with water. I sang the last one to his final sleep. Oracle has been 'depressed' ever since. Or at least thats how I interpreted her lethargy. "oh its hormonal, by rat standards she's achieved her life's purpose by having a litter so she's not as vigorous" or "that Fin and feather, its trauma I bet you. I'd lay money on it. Look where they house their litters, the /reptile/ room." After all, you can't diagnose a bad mood, not in an animal who can't tell you why they're constantly tired and listless. What would the vet say if I brought her in "oh she's just depressed, sorry there's no prozac for rats, feed her this that costs 20 bucks a month blah blah blah."
But now I have /something./ And I swear if this was going on the entire year and a half I've had her as a pet I'm going to be on the WAR PATH against the Fin and Feather. Some public shaming is in order. The little male I'm trying to rehome, Petey? You know why I bought him when I knew I couldn't keep him? Because the clerk at Fin and feather wouldn't put him in the quarantine tank not a food below his cage when he had open sores on his wrists. They don't care one lick about their rats and if Oracle's sickness is a result of that and went on for a year without being detected I won't rest until some public shaming has been done!