Help needed! Wound on rat!!

(I have two rats, Peaches and Dotty)

I've just gone to bed and fed my girlies, I shut the cage and Peaches came up to the bars with Dotty and then seemed to sneeze violently. She kept doing this with a very pained sort of forced squeak so I got her out with Dotty and put them on the bed. Peachy continued making this noise for a bit and it eventually died off. I was thinking she might've had a blocked nose or something, so I just let them run for a bit.

It was then I noticed on Peaches' back, she has a rather large open wound. It's only torn her skin and there's no sign of bleeding, I'm just not sure what to do. I've bathed it with some salt water (as best I could, she kept trying to eat the cotton wool) and I'm now looking at savlon or germolene or something just to keep it from getting infected.

I'm planning to take her to open surgery at the vets tomorrow morning, but is it okay to leave it that long? It just looks very nasty and I don't want it to open up or anything.. She's happily running around otherwise and doesn't seem particularly bothered about it..

I've no rat experience, but some catfights in me past.

Neosporin is a good topical, and is safe to ingest in small quantities should he try to lick it off. A bandage is optimal, but usually impractical...

Rock

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Ooops, missed that it was a girlie rat, my apologies to the lady...

:wink:

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Thank you. The only things I 've really got to hand tonight are Savlon and Germolene. Someone told me Dettol cream was better for ratties, but I don't have any..

I also don't have a bandage unfortunately and I think her cagemate if not her would chew it off and hurt her even more... I need some steri-strips or something, dunno if these would be effective for rats..

Lol, nw. I won't tell. Razz

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I'm just worried about the fact that it is that wide open and I've nothing to keep it covered.. She's sleeps in a hammock, tangled around her cagemate, so I'm worried she'll put strain on it and pull it apart.. I mean, it shouldn't happen and I read up that rats tend to be able to heal quickly from wounds a bit like this, but just the fact it is GAPING is worrying me.

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My scant experience (secondhand) with rats is that they have a very strong immune system. Any analgesic / antibiotic in a small dose would help, in my amateur opinion.

If I keep talkin', a smart person will happen along soon...

Rock

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(PLUS I don't know what caused it, either Dotty (who is quite a bit bigger and rougher) or something in the cage...I just can't figure out what. I'm not sure how Dotty would've made such a large, deep and rather straight cut.. But there's not really anything in the cage that would suddenly have acquired sharp enough edges either...)

Lol! Thanks, just having you replying is putting my mind at a bit more ease. Are we thinking Savlon (with 'skin healing' properties) or Germolene with it's anaesthetic? What would you personally go for?

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I'm poor "Murrican", might ask a Brit...

:wink:

(I would lean toward something to prevent infection)

Rock

I will see if I can inquire of the meds to Spendi...

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I'd also go with treating the infection, or preventing infection. Neosporin is also my medication of choice on cats. They heal very fast, and sometimes form skin over an infection, causing a nasty abcess. I think Bag Balm would also be good, if you happened to have any at hand.

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you should shave the area around the wound.Many infections begin involving hair near the wound. Your vet will no doubt shave the area so that topicals have a chance to "take".
Rats are tough little buggers.

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Can you keep the two of them separated overnight?

Maybe take one of your socks, cut the toe end off - put it on Peaches as a wound cover ... or something that'd be about the right size for her.

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As recommended by some people on another rat forum I'm leaving it, to see if it will heal by itself. Rat's skin apparently heals very quickly and other people have been advised by vets that it's best to leave wounds like this to themselves as glue or stitches will irritate the animal and might cause them to make the wound worse...

She's still okay, not bothered.

Unfortunately I couldn't seperate the girls and I think it might have distressed Peaches a bit to not have her Dotty Mouse to cuddle up to. Surprisingly though Dotty left her well alone, I was expecting her to be like "Wound! *lick lick*" but she just let her be. I'm just gonna make them a new hammock and clean them out a bit early so hopefully she wont get bacteria in it before it heals.

Thanks guys.

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how is Peaches now?

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She's looking good, thank you. Smile

Her wound is still not completely healed, but it doesn't look infected, it's started to come together quite a bit now and she's still not bothered by it. Just keeping an eye out incase it does get infected or re-opened, but it's looking okay.

Still don't know for certain how she managed it!

I have replaced all of the paperclips with new LARGE ones incase she cut herself on one of those...she does like to hang upside down on the roof of the cage Rolling Eyes

so it's possible that she got caught on one of the jaggedy edges..

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