*Update on Ennis-Please Read-New Mystery*

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RatsRGods

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2008
Messages
88
Location
Cleveland, Ohio
Hi everyone, some of you may remember Ennis with his scratch and bite wounds from a few months ago. Well, those are all healed , but now we have a new problem :(
I noticed a small lump underneath his belly, by his testicles last Saturday.
I didnt expect it to, but it has grown rapidly over the past week. Tonight, I noticed it is black like a bruise and it kind of stinks (I'm pretty sure it's the tumor I am smelling and not Ennis - he doesnt ever stink)

Here is a picture I took tonight:
DSC02726.jpg


Can someone advise me what exactly it is and do I need to take him to the vet immediately?
If so, Ennis is 2 years old, in pretty good heath, should I have them remove it?[line:a1g187vb][/line:a1g187vb]
 
I have no experience with that kind of tumour, but someone on this Forum posted about exactly the same thing very recently. You certainly would need to take Ennis to the vet as soon as you can get an appointment.
 
You have an abscess. These suddenly pop up after a bite. The body has walled off the infection from the healthy body...creating the abscess.

A lot of these can be dealt with at home, if you feel up to it, just be warned they smell foul. :sick2:

Going to look for one of my many posts on the subject with icky pics :lol:
 
Here's tucker's neuter abcess before it burst...see the black mark? Its where the skin thins and a scab forms and the abscess ruptures.

Tuckersscabonhisneuterabscess.jpg

You should do a warm water compress or a sitz bath in the sink to get it to come to a ""head"
And afterwards (pus must be flushed out ..I use saline myself). never use ointments for healing as an abscess needs to heal from the inside out or it traps a bit of infection in there and recurs :(

Any scab that forms must be softened and removed so you can flush again...usually takes a few days and at least twice a day flushing and most heal nicely :)
 
oh my goodness. at least its not a tumor tumor. i was afraid of surgery.

But I still dont think I will be able to do it myself- Im a wuss.

How long do you think I have before it bursts??
I can probably get into my vet on Saturday.
 
RatsRGods said:
oh my goodness. at least its not a tumor tumor. i was afraid of surgery.

But I still dont think I will be able to do it myself- Im a wuss.

How long do you think I have before it bursts??
I can probably get into my vet on Saturday.
Click to expand...

Let your vet lance it if it hasn't burst by then, but you still need to do the soaking and flushing :lol:
 
Yep! Looks like an abscess. The funky smell is the big tip off, usually. Tumors don't smell funky, generally speaking.

You can go ahead and do the sitz bath [much easier than trying to compress his boy bits], and if it bursts by tomorrow then all you really may need to do is take him in to get some Baytril. If it hasn't burst, and you don't feel up to that challenge, your vet can lance it to drain it. As Lilspaz said, you will need to flush it 2x daily with saline, and to remove any scabs that form so you can flush. In this case, Scabs = Bad.

Abscesses can be particularly gross to burst, so no one will hold having your vet do it against you. :sick2:
 
Get towels and a long sleeved shirt. Fill your sink with enough water to fully cover the abscess. Place rat in sink, and try to keep them there for around 10-15min. That's a sitz bath.
 
lilspaz68 said:
Your bathroom sink and warm water...wear long sleeves. Try to keep them calm...they generally don't like it, but often will relax like Talli does here...

Tallisoaking.jpg
Click to expand...

:heart: :heart: :heart: :love6: Can I have Talli? :heart: :heart: :heart: :love6:
 
I hope your little dude heals quickly!!! Poor little man! Abscesses are nasty aren't they? Talk about the best way to rob a person of their appetite! :sick2:
 
Sorry Jen, Talli left me awhile ago...she was a lovely older girl from the local HS, I adopted with her even older sister...she was a biter in the beginning and went on to nipping then licking. I miss her.
 
lilspaz68 said:
Sorry Jen, Talli left me awhile ago...she was a lovely older girl from the local HS, I adopted with her even older sister...she was a biter in the beginning and went on to nipping then licking. I miss her.
Click to expand...

You have every right to miss her Shelagh, :hugs:

what a marvelous girl!!! Look at that face! Gazing up at you from the sink.... making sure that she is safe in the water! :love6:

I would have dropped dead if she had looked at me like that, and most likely would have given her samples of everything I had in the fridge! :)
 
javakittie said:
Get towels and a long sleeved shirt. Fill your sink with enough water to fully cover the abscess. Place rat in sink, and try to keep them there for around 10-15min. That's a sitz bath.
Click to expand...


Thanks! I thought a sitz bath was some kinda special thing to soak him. I didnt know it was just water, ha ha now I get it. "Sitz".

Well, I got Ennis in for an apptmt tomorrow (thank god, I was taking my dog in for a check up & they are letting me bring Ennis as well or I would never have gotten in to see my vet on a Saturday!)

One last thing --
is there anything I need to especially ask my vet to do for the abcess when she drains it?
I will ask for Baytril - anything else?
 
Nope, your vet will just lance it and drain as much of the pus out as they can. Some vets flush the cavity in office, some send you home to do it. If you don't have any small syringes [like the kind you use for their meds] ask for a couple of those. When you're flushing the abscess cavity at home, you just draw up some saline [table salt+water] and put it to the opening. Depress the plunger, and Voila! Abscess flushed.

Just Baytril, too, or any other antibiotic that your vet generally uses. It's used to help the abscess heal from the inside out and to prevent the cavity from getting further infected. It is, technically, an open wound, so you want to treat it just like any other wound.
 
Is it bad to add epson salts or something to the water? I've been dealing with a warm wash cloth on Teller's behind, but he hates it. I think this will be a much less stressful way for him.
 
I've never used Epsom salt in the water. Just plain warm water has always done great for me.
 
Okay, I took Ennis to the vet yesterday and I have some good news, then some bad news.

I guess the abcess that burst itself because it was flat by the time I took him to the vet and it had a little open wound on it.
So the vet examined him ,said he had a little infection there, prescribed sulfaziazine/trimethoprim as and antibiotic.
While she was examing him, Ennis pooped. The vet looked at the poop, picked it up with a kleenex and brought it over to me. It was green.
The vet said "Is there anything he has eaten that would make his poop green?"
I couldnt think of a think that he has had in his diet that is out of the ordinary lately and green. He had some peas, dried spinach pasta. But he has always ate those and never had green poop.
The only other thing that he eats is the "Tasty Pretzel Treats" I get from Petsmart that are orange, purple, pink and green. But he and all my rats have ate those for years and never had a problem.
Well, the vet was very concerned and gave me this powder called fortiflora to sprinkle on his food once a day. I guess it's for bacteria in the system.

Okay, that was all well and find. Ennis was completely normal during the exam and when I brought him home. Well, my family and I left for the day to go on a little trip.
Came home around 7:00 pm.
Called Ennis and he normally comes running out of his igloo to greet me.
Well, he was in the cornder of his cage and wouldnt move. I called him, shaked a container of treats for him which always does the trick. And he wouldnt come.
So I picked him up and laid him on my bed with me.
He was very shakey and unsteady and could only move a little at a time.
I have him a yogurt drop which he took and ate.
And after he finished it, he was opening and closing his mouth over and over like he was still chewing.
So I am freaking out - trying to stay calm.
I wanted to post on here last night but I didnt want to leave his side.
So he stayed with me all night. I tried to put him in his cage for a litte but he struggled to get back out to me. And I couldnt bear to leave him in there so sick, incase he was close to dying.
So be slept with me in my bed all night (took all the covers, by the way).
I checked on him throughout the night to make sure he was still breathing.
Woke up this morning and he is still the same. Slow and unsteady.
He had pooped a little during the night and it was still green.
I gave him his meds and the fortiflora in some creamcheese which he gobbled up.
Gave him a little water, but he wasnt really interested.

So -- now -- I dont know what to do.
This is all a mystery to me.

Anyone?
 

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