My Rat Angel

Question
QUESTION: I have a year old sandle-wood Rat named Angel. But she has always been a trouble when it comes to being sick or hurt. On Christmas eve my fiance and i noticed that there was a rather large bump on her nose(to the side or her nose above her mouth kind of an even distance to both). it didnt seem to be sore or anything but it did have a darker tip almost a black/purple looking colour. i was extremely nervous and so i called my vet. the vet in the area doesnt know much about rats thought so i was a bit uncomfortable with her answers. she said to bring her in in the morning being that it was so late. so on christmas day my fiance and i took angel and lucy ( her sister, so they cold see the difference in size ) to our vet. She got sick on the way there and it was green and smelled terrible its the first time she has so i am not sure if one has anything to do with the other. but when we got there they weighed her and told me that it is just an abscess and that it will burst on its own or that we could even help it along or burst it our selves. so i asked if it was possible if she could do that there, just because i cant stand the way she looked it looked so bad i felt terrible. so she said she could she got whips out and a scalpel and made a small cut close to the tip. a greeny yellow puss then came out. she then gave us baytril for a week to clear out the infection. we now try and clean her as much as possible and take a warm cloth to the opening as much as possible. but i find now that there is a large open hole beside her nose and it looks rather deep. it is like i can even see the greyish tissue of her nose and what not. i wanted to see if that was normal now a month later. thank you for your time.

ANSWER:
The vet that didnt know much about rats did a good job with her, I give her credit!!    However, I do advise you to find one that knows about rats for future visits.  Let me know your location and I will give you some names.

The blackish blue tip you saw before the abscess was lanced was necrotic tissue, which means it was dead tissue. The vet cleaned it all up but I am scared to ask...did she keep the rat awake for this procedure? Normally we put them under because it could be painful. If she doesnt know about rats, she probably was leary about sedation which is ok but again, this is why she needs a vet that knows about rats.

Sounds like the abscess was deep and this is why you see the tissue inside the hole.  You will need to clean it out yourself by using either a bit of saline solution or just clean warm water and after that dab it with cotton and fill up the hole with neosporin ointment. The best way is to soak a cotton ball and squeeze it right over the hole so it gets in there and rinses it out.  Is there still an odor?

Are you out of the baytril?

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

QUESTION: I am in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Yes Angel was awake for that and i actually had to hold her down ( which i did not like at all, she never bites though so it was only to keep her still and a bit calmer). when you say neosporin do you mean some that i have for cuts and such for humans? will that be ok for her? there doesnt seem to be any odor being omitted now.
i have maybe enough for 2 or 3 days but i would like to keep giving her treatment regularly because she has had respiratory problems and i find she sounds and looks much better and the red eyes are not as bad.. but since the abscess she has had red eyes and i wash them out as much as possible but a local breeder of rats ( the man i got her from ) told me that she has always had them and maybe its just the way her eyes are. that sometimes it can be nothing. she seems her happy self though, still runs for treats and is noisy. she always runs to me to play when she sees me. (she is a free roaming, secluded to an area of course) and also when i clean it she seems to be in pain, but she doesnt say anything, she may just not like being held for it. thank you for your help. it puts my mind at ease knowing that she didnt do any damage.

Answer
The red eyes, it sounds like porphyrin.  Check my site here and compare photos to your girls eyes and the photos I have up on my site. let me know if this is what you see on your rat too.
If she has porphyrin and is snuffly, she   has a respiratory infection and yes, the baytril will work. She should be on it for at least 21 to 30 days.   I would also suggest this to your vet as well.

Read up about myco too on my site. Maybe print it off for the vet too.


As for the neosporin, yes the same thing we use on our own cuts etc...and no it wont hurt if she licks it.  Just put it on and try to keep her busy so it absorbs some so it works, but if she licks it, thats ok too.  Just a pea size amount smeared around or as much as you need.



I will check for vets for you too.