Pet Rat with dark puss filled scab

Question
Hi, my 1 year old female dumbo rat has a pencil-eraser sized wound on her underside, about one centimeter north from her vagina. It has a yellow puss with a little smell, and the scab is a dark color. I think it is an abscess and I just want to make sure I do the best I can to clean it up. I understand pet rats tend to get them often and it can be treated on your own if you know how to do it. She has two sisters that share a cage with her and one of them likes to rough-house so I think she got the abscess from a bite. I cleaned the area with warm water and some cotton balls and gentle squeezed out as much puss as I could. She is a very good girl and stayed still for the most part. Some of what I have read said to remove the scab and clean the area out really well then apply neosporin with a q tip and make sure to let it dry. I want to make sure it's ok before arbitrarily removing the scab.
Thank you SO much for your help, I think the work you do helping others like this is absolutely fantastic!

Answer
Your spot on with how your taking care of it. It sounds like an abscess for sure. It should start to close up and go away soon and yes, removing the scab is the right thing to do if there is swelling and puss. It will scab as it heals, though, but as long as its flat and you will know if it looks better, I would leave the scab.

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