Sores All Over Body Within About 3 Days- Diagnosed

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And now for the name of Whinny's biopsy diagnosis........
:cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer:
Drum roll please


Moderate, chronic, necrotising and fibrosing, eosinophillic granulamatous dermatitis!!!

:woohoonaner:
:congrats!: :cheering:
:giggle:

According to my vet, this basically translates to long-going scarred and dead areas of tissue that have cells in them that indicate a hypersensitivity/allergy.

Ta-da!
 
It really is a relief! You know that nothing you were doing caused this or that it's genetic or that she will die.
Now to get her properly treated...probably long term I would imagine.
 
Yes probably long term, I'm quite sure now that Layla is contributing to her healing time. I'm going to have to strictly separate them unfortunately. I let them together for just a couple of hours this evening and we've gone two days backwards with the appearance of Whinny's wounds :(
 
It's been two weeks today that Whinny has been on pred twice daily with not a lot of improvement. I went back to the vet last night and we've doubled her dose. I'm starting to get really worried now though because she isn't getting better and she has lost a bit of weight, not enough to really concern the vet yet (Whinny was on the pudgy side) but the pred isn't helping with the itching much as her 'itch response' was quite high last night. So hopefully the increase will make a difference but I worry about what it's doing to her.
Also, as I understand it, if she's allergic to something and I remove it, then I should see an improvement within a week or so. I've taken the nuts away and from today I have stopped adding vinegar to the pre-wash in their laundry, I've cut out all extra food except for lab blocks, vet petfarm pellets and fresh veg and a bit of fruit. I have even just removed the coffee table from their room which Whinny loves to sleep in the drawer.
Could she be allergic to wood? What else could it be? Could it be me? Can rats be allergic to humans? My worst fear is that I will never fix this. I had a horrible life-like dream last night that she had died. It was awful and I woke up almost sobbing :(
 
I have never heard of an animal that's allergic to humans - I don't think we're too allergenic (unless wearing stinky perfume!).
I'm sorry I have nothing to suggest for you. Keep trying though. Sometimes we never find the solution - my Baby Boy had a lesion on his belly for almost two years. I tried everything including surgical removal, and nothing worked. Only when he got a pituitary tumour, did it heal ---> it was self-mutilation all along!
The main thing is quality of life for her. As long as you can keep her happy, keep on truckin'...
 
Did the metacam help with the itching better than the prednisone? You've given it 2 weeks to perform its work and it seems to not be as good? Have you tried any anti-histamines like Benadryl or something prescription from your vet?
 
Yes, the metacam did seem to do a good job but I think the pred was at the lowest dose possible because when I didn't give her the morning dose one day I came home that night and it was moist and inflamed again. We've now increased it to 3.5mg/ml so I'm hoping that will make a difference. I just got off the phone to my vet again and she says that as it's an allergy we should definitely see an improvement on the pred within 5 days.
The vet did mention the anti-histamines and Benedryl but she also said the pred will affect the histamines in the body and should reduce the allergic reaction - now I just have to find out what is causing it :(
 
Hi again,

So things are still not looking the best. Whinny has been on pred for about 3 weeks at least and still not a great deal of improvement. I've changed her bedding, her litter, I've changed my face cream, removed my metal bracelet, changed the laundry liquid AND she's been separated from the other two girls and is in a different room and she's been on pellets and fresh veg only and still she is only drying out just a tiny bit - SO, now I've been told that perhaps it could be mites after all. I don't understand how with the results of the biopsy it wasn't mites but now it still could be. It really does look like mite scabs from what I've seen on this forum. It's possible that she is allergic to them and getting this bad response. So I need to dose for 3 weeks with Revo - and what else should I do?
I'm thinking of buying a new single story cage, washing with vinegar and putting carefresh as bedding rather than the fabric I'm using. It's horrible having her all by herself, she's really sad - and itchy.
Here are pics from Monday 5th August.











Have any of you had a rat allergic to mites? And what did you do and how do you control it?
 
Poor her and poor you.

Have you considered trying something like aloe vera, calomile lotion (is that what it's called? the pink stuff you put on when you get the Chicken Pox.) or witch hazel? I don't know if they'd interact with her meds though, maybe ask the vet first.
 
owie!
If she is reacting to the mites, and you eliminate the mites, then she should be fine. I know of cats and dogs that have an allergic reaction to fleas. Same thing I guess...
 
Thanks Victoria, I don't think any lotions will help. I did try aloe vera at the start but it did nothing.

Just wondering what is the best way to kill mites in the environment? I was going to pressure clean their cages this weekend. Should I use vinegar or bleach? And can mites live on their own without a host? ie could they be living in the cat scratch house (made of carpeted wood), what about the carpets on the floor and I also have wooden ladders and had a wooden coffee table in their room which I have since removed. Their bedding is washed at 60C will that temperature be enough to kill mites?
 
I think if the rats were treated with Revolution, the mites would have died after a month without a host. Treating with Revolution should be enough. I've heard it recommended to wash the cage with a 10% bleach solution but have never had to do that. Definitely get rid of any wood toys or accessories for now or at least freeze them for a minimum of 3 days. As far as bedding goes, I don't know how hot the water has to be, if you're really concerned you can freeze it like the wooden accessories but you would only need to do so once.

I can't stress enough how much the ointment I suggested earlier has helped with sores when nothing else has. I've even had positive results when using it on necrotic abscesses.

Have the sores worsened since you split her? Is it possible the stress of being split from her friends is causing her to barber herself and she's aggravating her condition or it's making her more vulnerable to a mite reinfection?
 
I bought a brand new cage today so I'm going to put her in that tomorrow with Chloe after I wash Chloe with a mite solution. I am trying to search to see if mites can live in things like wood & carpet all by themselves without a host. Whinny was dosed with revo last Thursday but she's not looking that much better. I don't know how long it takes for all the mites to die and the irritation to stop. But if we have an infestation in the wood then the problem will never go away. If this thing is mites, I just can't believe that I haven't seen any or noticed them before. I certainly can't see any on the girls.
So lots of cleaning and bleaching and freezing this weekend.
 
Yes, I believe mites can live up to 2 months in wood or even plastic. When we have an outbreak, I put away all the wooden toys for 3 months.
 

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