Possible abscesses

Question
I have a spayed hairless female rat who recently has had two very small growths appear on her back. They appear to have a grayish core, and protrude out from the surface of her skin. I fill the bottom of their cage with cat litter so at first, I assumed they were small pieces of cat litter she'd gotten embedded in her skin from rough housing with her two cage mates.

She had a smaller growth that was similar about 2 months ago, but it was about half the size of these, and it was already an open wound. I tried digging the core out, but the only thing I could ever get out of it was blood. She still has a small scar from it, and needless to say she didn't much care for the experience.

What I'm wondering is, would these be abscesses, or simply just bedding or other debris that somehow got embedded in her skin?

One of my early rats had an actual bona fide tumor in his leg, so I know what I'm looking for there, and I haven't found anything like that. These things (whatever they are) should be easy enough to remove with a needle. I'm just trying to get an idea of whether it's worth putting her through the stress and pain of removing them.

Answer
Hi Sam

I am not sure what type of cat litter your using but if its clay, pine or cedar, I have to tell you that keeping your rat on litter meant for cats is not very safe. Clay litter can be toxic to rats if they eat it and it can also cause intestinal blockage as well, which can be fatal. I would suggest using aspen, yesterdays news or carefresh bedding.
Your hairless rat should really be kept on a soft bedding for one reason, which is to insulate the cage and keep her warm but to also help prevent scratches and damage to her skin since there is no fur to protect her from scrapes and scratches.

If she has an abscess, it will be a pocket of pus that may or may not have a scab on it. Once the scab is gently removed, you can gently press on the base of the mass and possibly express the pus. This should be done after a warm compress is held on the lump for a bit to try to draw the pus to the surface. You should never try to open up any type of mass using a pin or anything else due to possible infection and of course, further injury to the area. This can stress the rat to the point she may even become ill since stress can compromise the immune system. I recently had a rat come in the clinic because the owner tried to treat her abscess herself at home her own way, by poking it open with a safety pin she thought she made sterile by holding it in the fire of a match for a second or two. This lump she thought was an abscess, turned out to be a tumor that was attached to a major artery and when the rat began to bleed, she couldnt stop. The rat nearly died from blood loss because she hit the artery and caused the rat to bleed internally. also other folks have come in to the clinic with a rat with severe infection, often leading to fatal sepsis because they were picking at a tumor instead of what they thought was an abscess which some folks think its as simple to mess with an abscess as it is to pop a zit on your face. LOL  Not to be gross but thats the best analogy I can come up with.  Anyhow, back to what you can do: Warm compress (said that already, sorry) and after that, gently press the base of the mass if your sure there isnt something like a chunk of litter lodged under the skin but do not pick it with a pin whatever you do. Gentle but firm pressure around the base but if she protests, any blood comes at all, or nothing happens after two or three attempts, stop and let it go for a bit. If its an abscess it will eventually come to a head from the warm rats.  Someone else on here suggested using a sock with rice that was heated from the microwave and she said her rat loves to lay on it, so thats a thought: nuke some rice and put it in a baggie and put it in a sock...that may work better than a wet warm compress for the rattie.
Anyhow if some funky material does happen to come out (pus) you can irrigate it with saline solution or diluted betadine, never peroxide since that can damage delicate tissue around the abscess, and pack the hole with neosporin or polysporin ointment.  If you notice a foul odor from her body even after she is cleaned up she may need oral antibiotics to go through her system. These things can get nasty if we are dealing with infection that is.
However, if your certain there is an object under her skin, a vet should be seen right away to have it removed.

Hope this helps! Good luck and feel free to ask anything else...I will try my best to help you and your rattie friends.


regards

Sandra