help..

Question
My rat has a big lump on the side of his head, near his eye. what i think is a abscesse but im not sure it came about in one day, on the second day it looked bruised almost. It looks bad and im sad for my baby...but he is not showing signs of pain, hes eating fine everything seems to be fine like that! please what do you think it is and how i should treat it , if i can at home, and is there anything to help with pain??? thank you so much for your help !!!!

Answer
Hi Bob

Sounds like an abscess if it came out of the blue so fast. What you can do is hold a warm compress on it the best you can. You can use a warm damp cloth or fill an old sock up with rice and nuke it in the microwave to get it warm and try to get it on his head, perhaps walking around with him scratching his ears etc..to keep him busy. If anything, it should come to a head on its own and with it looking black and blue, it sounds like it is ready to burst.
Prepare yourself for a bit of a mess and alot of possible smelly discharge from it. If it seems soft and "ripe" you can gently press around the base of the lump, and I do mean gently. Beware because it may just start to ooze pus and you need to wipe it with wet paper towels.
Once you can get it to pop open, rinse with just warm clear water and take a tube of neosporin and fill the hole up with it. It may leave a large crater.  If this gets close to the eye you need to see a vet right away so it doesnt include the eye or this would be some serious trouble.
Usually once the abscess drains if there was discomfort, it goes away because all of that foul funky gunk is out of there.  If it is kept clean and drained when it fills up (it may fill up again so watch closely) it will close up and heal within a few days.

Hope this helps.  Please let me know how it goes and if and when it pops!


Sandra