Rat Injuries-Has this happened before and what is the possibility of recovery?

Question
Tonight I realized that one of my rat's has an infected wound. I suspect it is at least two day's old due to a rather large fight the other night. Unfortunatley, I did not notice this before this evening. I have an appointment tomorrow for the Vet.

However, my question being what is the feasibility for treating this wound. It is swollen, some skin is starting to die, and smelly. As this happened to any other rat owners? In the past my rat's wounds from rough housing have been relatively small and healed fast. This wound is open and gaping.

I have put a bacteruim cream on it for now. Is there a chance for survival? This is a beloved pet and the sweetest of my four boys. Please feel free to email me with any past experiences, etc. I would like to know what to expect tomorrow at the vet's to prepare myself.

Also if the information is needed, he was born in Feb 2007.

Thank you for taking the time.

Answer
Your rat is a young buck yet, and this is normal for all rats to get wounds, especially males that fight. You said this is the second infected wound, so I am suspecting some fighting going on, some which is abnormally aggressive.  First things first, yes your rat will be just fine. There is no  need to worry about him unless the infection goes into the blood stream and causes sepsis which would take time to happen first and he would be very very ill right now.
The wound, gaping wide open, will eventually heal shut, with the fur growing back (in most cases) and you will never believe anything was ever there before this!!

The deepest of abscesses can be cleaned out, even the most disgusting necrotic  wounds, so deep you can get a good visual on the muscles etc...have healed with proper medical intervention and not only do I mean with a vet, I am talking a vet that is an exotics vet and not just someone who sees vets on the side and knows "a little something about them"
If you need a vet that has a specialty in exotics and also rats, I can help find one for you if you let me know your location etc...
Second, how long and how often do the rats fight? While some rough housing is normal, the rule of thumb is "no blood, no foul" but your buck is getting hurt and this is twice now with me to assume the first time around was also sustained from another rat fight as well?
If this wound is not an abscess that happened randomly and is not a result of a fight etc...thats different, but if this continues, someone needs neutered :-)
Fighting due to hormones usually gets worse around 6 months of age and peaks right around 9 to 10 months old, but some rats never stop until they are considered
seniors which is usually 18 months and up.
Anyhow to sum it all up, your rat needs a vet that is experienced with rats, oral antibiotics to prevent systemic infection if the wound is that infected, also a good solution to clean the wound with and some vets may even give special ointments to use that is "lick safe" although a small dab of neosporin wont hurt if the vet doesn't prescribe anything, but he may have good reason so I would hold off on using any ointments for the time being.

Please let me know how it goes and I hoped I helped some.


Regards

Sandra