pet rat with swollen face/ abcess

Question
QUESTION: My pet rat has a swollen cheek with a small draining abscess under his neck on the same side. This has been going on for 10 days. 3 days ago, I took him to a vet who sees small animals but obviously was not an expert. I'm a dental hygienist, so I suspect a dental abscess from a bad molar tooth. The vet could not open my rat's mouth enough to look at his molars even though he had both me and his assistant to help hold the rat still. He prescribed an antibiotic, Detrim,1.5cc, twice a day by mouth, followed by 3cc yogurt. Since starting the antibiotic, his swelling has gone down and I do clean the abscess and try to express any visible pus. My concern is, if this is a dental abscess, it will surely come back once the antibiotics are stopped unless the tooth is extracted. Would you also suspect a dental abscess or is there another common cause for this kind of condition? The first vet visit cost $65 with the medicine. He quoted me $200 for surgery, and would explore what the cause was under anesthesia. I don't have that much money to spend on the rat but would see another vet for an exam if they were qualified. I live in Lancaster, PA. What should I do? Thank you for your help.

ANSWER: Hi

Who did you take your rat to see if you dont mind my asking?

Also, is it located UNDER the jaw, in the chin area?
Is there a photo you can provide?
As far as the Vets expertise, what I would have done and what the Vets I work with do to look thoroughly into a small animals mouth is to put them under a tad bit of anesthesia to get a better look. The vet should have done that rather than charge you a small fortune to go in blind like they want to do. Thats freakishly high ($200) when they can just give your rat a tiny bit of isoflurane, take a peek and wake them up, done in less than 5 minutes, 10 minutes tops. As for the medication used, I have never heard of Detrim before and that does at 1.5 cc is really a huge dose to get into a rat unless its pretty palatable!  The only antibiotic with the "trim" on the end would be Bactrim.   
As for suspecting a dental abscess, this is a high possibility but there is also an abscess that forms between the ear and the jaw known as zymbals gland tumor which also can abscess, clear up and return over and over again. I am hoping this is NOT what the rat has which is why I wanted to be sure of the location of the abscess. Do you note a foul odor from the rats mouth?

Below are two names of two exotic vets in your area. The first vet is a bit further from your area but she has good credentials too so its worth the extra drive. Both are members of the Association of exotic mammal Veterinarians.

Please keep me posted about what is going on with your little one!




Dr. Emily Anderson  
Exeter Veterinary Hospital
4955 Perkiomen Ave
Reading, PA 19606
610-779-2300




Dr. Bridget Fitzpatrick
Smoketown Veterinary Hospital    
1251 Ranck Mill Road
Lancaster PA 17602
Phone: 717-393-9074

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

QUESTION: Thank you for Dr. Fitzpatrick's name, but I don't see her listed at Smoketown Vet in the phone book.  Here's the information I found on the antibiotic I was given (using correct spelling): Ditrim Linked to Death of a Beloved Malamute
Ditrim is an antibiotic recommended for use in dogs who have intestinal and pulmonary infections or cystoisosporosis. This is a sulfonimide drug with a reaction, as described in the case study below, that is known and well documented.
"Meshka had thrombocytopenia which I think is and all the vets agree was caused by Ditrim, which the Vet was using to treat her urinary tract infection. We took her into the vet's office last Tuesday when we noticed her gums and nose were bleeding. I originally thought that she might have eaten rat poison, as so many neighbors and I have heard there were rat problems in some homes. But it was then determined by blood tests Tuesday night that it was not poison but thrombocytopenia, which had been caused by the antibiotics she was taking. We monitored her red blood cell count by keeping her at an emergency vet clinic overnight for four days and at our regular vet's office during the days. Her PCV or red blood count had dropped so far below normal that we gave her a whole blood transfusion. This brought her count back up to 20, which was safe, and we continued to have her monitored and looked after. Friday, when her count began to drop again, the doctor gave her a transfusion of concentrated platelets to stop the bleeding. This did not help, and the vet determined that basically she was bleeding to death. So we made the decision to have her put to sleep. I am so upset that I was never told this could happen when she was put on this medicine -- but here it is -- a very rare occurrence." Meshka was two-and-a-half years old.

I took Jerry, our rat, to see Dr. Jeffrey Pendleton at Harrisburg Pike Animal Hospital.
Jerry's drainage area is under the jaw, between the mandible and the midline, in a soft area towards his neck. My camera is broken. I first noticed the area almost a month ago, but at that time I thought the yellow scab was just a piece of food stuck on his fur. It then took about 20 days to swell up his face. I have not really noticed a foul odor and it is hard to get him to take the antibiotic even though it's cherry flavor, he does not like it.

Answer

Socrates taking his me   Ok I was on the nose, it is from the same derivative of Bactrim, which we use for urinary tract infections mostly.  Obviously the vet is not equipped with the proper medications for rats or he would not have used this drug. I am sorry for this. Actually this vet is a traditional vet that sees exotics on the side but has no formal training with exotic animals. These vets scare me and often are more harm than good. Its one thing to refer to the medical book to make sure they are on the right track but its another when you have no clue and have to refer to the book to even find out what is wrong. Many vets do this with rats and I have seen rats be put to sleep for head tilt, saying they had a brain tumor when all along it was an ear infection that could easily be treated with medications. I have seen a vet say a rat had an abnormal heart because it was located more toward the center of the chest and so she was injecting air into the chest cavity trying to shift the rats heart.  The heart was in the right place to begin with. The rat died, hence why some of these vets that dabble in exotics scare me....for good reason. Often they do not have the proper medication handy so they substitute, which in turn the rat doesnt get better and sometimes they get worse and die. Not long ago a vet got mad at me on here because he told a reader that wrote to me that he could not look into the rats ears and they do not have any special small scaled implements to use on small mammals. I begged to differ, showed the reader my website with photos of these very much available implements and he was pretty mad. And so it goes....he just didnt like being wrong, and he was. The reader switched to an exotic vet and all was well after that.

As for your rat,He should really be on baytril or keflex for this, or both.

Unfortunately,these types of abscesses can turn out to be malignancies if they are not coming from an infected tooth.  If it is, the tooth can be removed and the rat does just fine. If he would have problems eating, moisten the lab blocks with water to soften it and also add baby foods to his diet too.
I would irrigate the area with saline solution, clean it and pack it with neosporin ointment as well.
As for the medication, you can try to get him to take the medication by mixing it with something else such as strawberry syrup, jelly or jam...anything to mask the taste at this time would be ok even if it were sugary.
As for the vet not being in the telephone book, I do believe she is new to the practice which is why you may not have found her name listed. The first vet listed has formal training in exotic medicine too.

Here is a picture of me dosing one of my rats with meds. Click it to make the photo larger. We use various flavorings to make it yummy and my rats fight for it. The photo is dark (I am tan, but I am not THAT tan as it appears in the photo) but my little guy looks adorable giving himself his medication!

Did the vet suggest putting a drain in the abscess to help it drain better?