Pet Rat Abcess

Question
QUESTION: My pet rat is 18 months old and he developed an abcess on his face 3 weeks ago.  It has been removed and drained by the vet twice and he now has a draining tube fitted.  There is pus coming from the tube.  The vet is unsure he will survive although he is fine in himself eating drinking playing and loving.  The vet now wants to give up and put him down but I am not ready to give up on him.  He is well loved and whilst he is happy I cannot put him down.  Any advice?

ANSWER: Is he on antibiotics?  If so, what type, what dosage, and for how long? If not - why not? Does your vet have you flushing the tube/drain with anything (water, antiseptic)?

If he's still happy and eating, I'd keep going down the road you're going personally and try to beat this.. Abscesses can be very difficult things to get rid of but generally once you get on top of them are easy to treat. Your rattie needs to be on antibiotics and for an uber resistant abscess should probably be flushed with epsoms or something sterile to help clear the infection. Any idea how this abscess started? Where on his face was this?


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

QUESTION: The vet has just fritted the drain but not advised me to do anything with it.  He is being injected every other day with antibiotics but I don't know what type.  What do you suggest \i do next?

Answer
If you can, find out what type of antibiotics. That's a good place to start, to know if you're dealing with small caliber and can "move up" to the big guns so to speak, or if you're already maxed out drug-wise. Keep him clean and keep him happy in the meantime. Otherwise; just have the faith that this time, the drain will help and he'll heal up okay.