dried out abscess?

Question
Hi, my fiance and I have quite a few ratties. Our oldest rat Pimbley, who is the dad to some of the others, is a hairless.
Pimbley has had skin issues before ranging from sensitivity on up. Right now, he seems to have an old abscess that dried up. We are not sure on how to handle this. The skin underneath the "dry" area seems to be pinching it up to where it looks as though it could possibly heal and the dry part could fall off. He has had this "protruding dry spot" for couple of months now. To describe the look of the area : looks like a inverted cyst that is dried up to where it cracked and splintered (kind of like a broken piece of wood, how it has splintered like "spikes" idk). My fiance says it used to be an abscess, pimple filled with pus,it has been popped and this is the end result. The skin underneath isn't swollen just seems to be healing therefor pinching the dry area up. Have you ever heard of this and if so do you think we should let it just fall off on it's own or should we be treating it with other techniques. Also, Eli(my fiance) says it cracks and bleeds sometimes.Thank you for your time.

Answer
Hi Missy


Poor Pimbley.  Hopefully some of my advice can be of some benefit to him.


For starters, I am not sure what treatments you have used on his dry skin, but if you haven't done this, I recommend it. Rub him with olive oil and after you do, wipe him down again so hes not all messy and so litter doesn't stick to him.  LOL He may lick it which is fine too. It can actually benefit him if he eats it once in a while fed to him  on a cracker.
Now, that task to care for the abscess:
I am not sure how deep it is buried and hopefully there is no more pus in it. Just be aware that there is a chance it may have pus in it and a foul odor may be there if this is trapped in layers of  skin.

Its best to get it all cleaned out or a secondary infection can set it and that wouldn't be very good for our nekkid friend, Pimbley.

Hold a warm compress on the area to loosen things up some. The application of olive oil should also help with the layers of dry skin.

After that, feel the skin underneath to be sure there are no more lumps under the skin and if there is, try to gently press on it to see if there is anything that comes out. If it does, be sure to irrigate it with warm water.
Rub the area with neosporin ointment several times a day and see if this helps.

Please let me know how it goes. Also, let me know if he picks at the area or it it itches him and I can also suggest something for the itching as well.

And hey, remind Pimbley that bald is beautiful :)

Sandra