HELP!! Ziggys gone mad!

Question
QUESTION: You've been helping me with Ziggy's tumor surgery for the last month.  So I went to the vet today, they removed the stitches and he told me that the entire incision was pretty well healed except for about 1/4 inch at the very bottom.  He thinks that Ziggy may have messed with that bottom part of the bandage and got to that part of the incision with her teeth over the last week or so.  So they rebandaged her just for 3 more days to allow that part to heal.

All seemed ok when I put Ziggy back in her cage with her sister.  She was busy eating, grooming and roaming around.  Then, a couple of hours later, I heard an odd noise and found Ziggy on the lower level of her cage spinning and jumping around like the Tazmanian devil!  She was violently shoving her bedding around and also angrily pushing and throwing this small wood bowl all around her cage with her front feet.  She was clearly angry, and I assume in some kind of pain.  I also noticed that there was a little blood on one of her hind toes.  Maybe she'd been violently scratching the gauze wrapping so hard, her nails bled.  These violent episodes have been on and off all evening.  After an episode, I find her relaxing quietly for a while, then it starts again.

My first question is:  does the removal of the stitches cause bad itching or pain?  I'm thinking maybe it hurts or itches causing her to go crazy.

Second question:  She has torn a little bit of the bottom of the bandage and the 1/2 inch unhealed portion of the incision is now showing.  It is red but doesn't seem to be bleeding.  Ziggy's been licking at it now and then, but seems determined to free herself of the bandaging.  I think I need to take her back to the vet tomorrow...but should I have Ziggy re-wrapped better to cover that opening, or should I insist they just remove the bandage for good?  If the latter, should I worry that Ziggy will do harm to the unhealed part and possibly cause infection?  Thanks!

ANSWER: ITs the bandage that is doing it. I would have it removed and leave it be honestly. I am going to see if your email ended up in spam...if you sent your email here, it wont show.  All experts has a policy they remove emails for safety reasons so I cant see them....

REVISED

She needs to be able to groom and eat and move around. The new bandages may be upsetting her, they may be too tight...please ask the vet to remove them or do it yourself.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Day 2:  Today, Ziggy has not had a single wild moment.  In fact, I believe she has been in her hammock resting peacefully all night and most of today.  Tomorrow, we WILL be removing the bandages at the vet.  The small unhealed part of the incision looked much better today and I haven't seen Ziggy messing with it today, except for occasional licking.

I'm just curious about the first question I asked you that you didn't answer:  Once stitches are removed, does it cause the area to be painful or very itchy?  (I've never personally had stitches myself so I don't know).  

I will give you an update once the bandages are removed.

ANSWER: No usually the stitches dont hurt unless they are infected. Sorry I missed that. I need to start copying and pasting the persons questions down on the message and address them one at a time.

An incision when healing MAY itch but that shouldnt make her go bonkers. I am thinking that for a short time, something to do with the bandage, perhaps pulling on her fur or skin, was hurting her and causing pain. The way she acted as per your description was that of a rat in alot of pain. When my Ben was dying, I will never forget the way he acted.  He was acting very needy at first, wanting held, but a bit anxious. I didnt even put him in a carrier and I just took him to the vet holding him while my son drove us. By the time we got in the waiting room, he want bonkers on me....he tried to get away and was struggling with me to let him down. I didnt of course I just held him against my chest/neck and stroked him. I felt his sides kind of quiver real fast....it was hurting him so badly. He went out of his mind at that point and was screeching and squeaking and he grabbed my cheek between his teeth and just shook his head, jaws trembling, but he never bit down. I was like...OMG this rat is going to tear me up and there is nothing I can do about it.  I yelled for the totally shocked staff to get us in a room NO DUH!!!  Patients were staring at us probably thinking I had this rabid crazed wild rat or something.  We had to sedate him right off....and took an xray and thats when we found the large tumor in his colon. :(  we put him down after I kissed him goodbye (he was asleep, had no clue but at least he wasnt in pain) I have seen rats in pain before but this....my Ben, my heart aches thinking of it...this happened in April and I probably told you this story three times over again and if so I am sorry. I use his case alot when it comes to displaying signs of pain in rats since they hide it so well.


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Actually no...you have never shared that very sad story with me!  I was in tears reading it.  Poor little thing.  I hate to see animals suffering, especially because they can't tell us about it.  Thanks for sharing.  How many rats have you had in your life?  How many have you had at one time?  Sounds like you have had to live through a lot of sad rat stories.  I love our little ones to death...it's so sad they have such short lives.

Anyway, just to give you a quick Ziggy update:  THAT TERRIBLE BANDAGE came off today YAY!!!  The vet said the incision looks very good.  Ziggy's been home for about 10 hours now and has not messed with it at all, not even hardly licking it.  She seems much happier to be "free" to groom everywhere now.

I will try to take some photos of the incision area tomorrow or soon since you requested it.  

Just one quick question for now:  I was stroking and massaging Ziggy earlier and when I felt the sides of her body by the hind legs, I could feel her little bones very distinctly.  Maybe I never noticed before, but I think she has lost a lot of weight.  She looks thinner and feels like there's no fat between her bones and her skin.  Is this normal post-surgery or should I be worried?  She is acting normal and healthy otherwise.

Answer
She probably lost weight because she couldnt eat good with that ridiculous awful bandage!

My story about Ben, I never told you how this all transpired. Two days before he had that painful attack, I found blood ALL over his cage and in his litter pan. I found dried blood on his anus.  He was acting fine, eating, drinking, I prayed it was either an anal polyp or a broken blood vessel from straining?  To the vet we went, and we decided that since he was OK and acting fine, leave him alone. If it is a tumor inside we cant operate anyhow. So he had two good days before he died.   I dont know if I would have put him to sleep had I known he had colon cancer, but had I known he would have been in such extreme pain that day, I guess I would have had a big decision to make.  

As for your rat, I didnt tell you this story because I didnt want to scare you or make you think I was so anti bandage, but about 5 months ago, someone on here wrote to me about their rat that had a tumor removed and the vet wrapped her like a burrito. They somehow found my telephone number and called me because I didnt answer them right away and the rat was acting funny.  When they called I said to rip that thing off of her, it was crushing her insides. They did, and she died hours later.  They took her remains to another vet and it was confirmed the tight bandage caused her to go into heart failure.  I will never forget that so now I get a bit worried about bandages, esp compression bandages that should  never be used.  Being that she was at the vets though and under observation I knew this wasnt the case with your girl though.   So sad that happened to the little rat and the vet killed her, basically, which isnt the first. I have horror stories galore.  One vet removed a rats kidneys during a spay rather than her ovaries and this little rat lived for THREE DAYS without kidneys before dying. A necropsy proved that is why she died also.  Some vets just need to keep their hands off of rats.