Rat abscess

Question
QUESTION: Hi Sandra,
You helped me once regarding foot bumbles and I'm hoping you can help me regarding abscesses.  My 1 1/2 year old female rat has an abscess on her lower jaw.  There was no injury it just swell up overnight last week.  I immediately took her to my vet. She lanced the abscess and drained it and gave us Baytril. The next day it swelled up again.  I used warm compresses and got it open and gently squeezed out all the pus, and rinsed it out with saline solution.  The next day it was swelled up again we noticed a lump lower in her neck. My vet recommended a exotic animal vet.  The new vet did surgery - opening the abscess and removing the capsule and tissue around the abscess and removing the lump in the neck, which turned out to be a mammary tumor. The rat did not do well during surgery.  She bled too much and had to have a transfusion ( they have a donor rat) and she didn't wake up as they would like and was very weak.  We thought she wouldn't make it.  We followed the vets instructions for after care -  cleaning the wound and applying Silver Sulfadiazine cream. We have kept her hydrated and she has been eating.  The surgery was Thursday and today is Sunday night and we realized this morning that the whole thing is swelling again and there is thick pus under the stitches and scab.  I don't think she can survive another surgery. Every time it swells, it gets larger.  Also, the vet checked her teeth and they are not causing it, so we don't know the cause of the abscess.  Do you have any suggestions? I know the vet will want to do surgery again, but I don't think she'll make it.  She hasn't recovered from the last one and she's very stressed.  Any help would be appreciated.  Shirley

ANSWER: Is there a way to take a photo and send it to askcritterkeeper@yahoo.com?


This sounds like zymbals gland tumor which are very bad news and it is a carcinoma many times.
Is this located between her lower jar and ear, by chance?
What oral antibiotics is she on? Has the vet done an IV with antibiotics?


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

QUESTION: Hi Sandra,
I sent the pictures to your email today.  I hope you get them.  We went back to the exotic animal vet today.  I told her no surgery and she agreed that the rat would not survive.  She did pull the scab off and emptied the abscess. It did hurt, but I think it was worth it. It is a very large wound, but I think the rat is more comfortable without that huge tight mass.  She is on baytril (68 mg)  .30cc once a day.  She also gave us pain medicine.  Chlorhexidine to clean the wound and silvadene cream to fill the hole. The vet said if it swells up larger again,there is nothing she can do for her. So we will wait and see. To answer your questions, in case you didn't get my pictures and answers, the abscess is on the lower jaw and below it and the vet did not give IV antibiotics but the antibiotics mentioned above. Thanks for any advice you have.  Shirley

Answer
I got the pictures thank you.  It does look alot like zymbals gland tumor which is often a carcinoma which explains why it returns all the time.

It is starting to keep her from eating?

What you can do to help give her some nourishment is allow her to lick babyfoods from your fingers and syringe feed her water or even pedialyte

I would ask the vet for another antibiotic. Its obvious the infection is baytril resistant.  Ask for bactrim just to try for a week or so and continue cleaning it and using the ointments as directed by the vet.
Meantime,I Have put in for help from a wonderful person that is co-author of THE  RAT GUIDE.  She is good with pathology and other stuff so she may be able to advise me further.  She may even write to you directly and her name is Bellaratta.   

Hang in there....I have not lost hope yet...we have a few more options yet so hang tight.


REVISED:
Here is Bellas response:I would share this with the vet!

Things I have seen in that area that looked like this would include:

Molar abscesses that have broken through (bad situation)
Sarcoma (Bad situation)
Squamous Non-Zymbal's gland cell carcinoma (bad situation)

If it was my rat ... I would keep hydrated, give banamine injection for pain, superdose with baytril, clean with saline.

For diagnostics I would have a culture done, if the infection is bad enough then it may still show even though the rat is on antibiotics.

And I would ALSO dig down deep for an FNA to see if there is cancer beneath the abscess. The vet should be able to do that without sending it out by staining it and looking at the smear under his microscope.

I would probably use combo antibiotics. Possibly Flagyl to cover the anaerobic bacteria with the Baytril.
Clavamox is also good for soft tissue infection. It can be used with Gentocin.

Basically give the highest recommended dosage. I would even go higher for a loading dose. pain relief will be an important factor.

Hope this helps!