Rat is getting bald spots all over face

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Mar 11, 2021
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Hi everyone,

My rat Bay Bay recently got surgery to have a tumor removed and had to wear a cone. The cone was short enough so she could eat and drink and she did fine the whole time. Yesterday she got her cone off since her incision is healed but now she will not stop itching her face. She now has bald spots all over her head and they were just bald spots last night but now they are turning red and starting to scab. I called my vets who are going to get back to me soon but I was wondering if anyone has had this problem or anything similar and if there is anything to help stop her itching. Maybe some kind of anti-itch cream or something. Pictures below of my poor baby's face. Other than her frequent itching and grooming of her face, she is still her crazy self, she is currently living with her sister since the two of them are inseparable and I don't believe it's her sister doing this since I am constantly seeing her itch her own face a ton. All of these bald spots formed within less than a 20 hour period. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!
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I wasn't sure if this is something that may just happen after a cone is taken off since she was not able to groom her face with the cone on, so maybe now that it's off she overdoing it? Totally a complete guess, I just want to make sure that she's not suffering.
 
does she have any scabs UNDER her fur? or just where the skin is exposed? check her neck, shoulders, chin, behind her ears etc for little scabs. If you find them you are probably dealing with mites and will nee cat or dog Revolution to cure them.
IF there's no scabs and these exposed ones are looking more like lesions then you might be looking at a bacterial skin infection called Pyoderma. You would need antibiotics and pain relief like Metacam (meloxicam) for that.

here is an article i created to show ectoparasites, there's some good pics of mite scabs in there to help you figure it out
http://lilspazrathospice.blogspot.com/2016/11/whats-on-my-rat-ectoparasites.html?m=1
 
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does she have any scabs UNDER her fur? or just where the skin is exposed? check her neck, shoulders, chin, behind her ears etc for little scabs. If you find them you are probably dealing with mites and will nee cat or dog Revolution to cure them.
IF there's no scabs and these exposed ones are looking more like lesions then you might be looking at a bacterial skin infection called Pyoderma. You would need antibiotics and pain relief like Metacam (meloxicam) for that.

here is an article I created to show ectoparasites, there's some good pics of mite scabs in there to help you figure it out
http://lilspazrathospice.blogspot.com/2016/11/whats-on-my-rat-ectoparasites.html?m=1
Hi! There are no scabs, and the bald spots are just on her head, the vet told me to monitor it until Monday since she just got her cone off, and may be over grooming. She's now back with her sister since they had to be separated and the bald spots appeared while she was separated so I didn't know if it was from her over-grooming form being bored by herself. The bald spots were originally just lost fur but are now turning into little scabs since she is over itching. I am going to set up a vet app asap if she doesn't stop in a couple days.
 
They look like her raw cuts are scabbing up now and there are no new cuts or bald spots forming, I'm hoping she was just itchy from the cone and over-grooming, but the scabs are definitely healing and nothing new is forming. Also maybe the cone rubbed a bit and caused some of the bald spots to form in the first place.
 
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