A tale of rat abscesses
I only update this journal to write about rat puss.
So Lex the Hairless Hermaphroditic Wonder has a tendency toward abcesses. And by a tendency I mean she's gotten one like once a month since we moved in here. So yesterday I notice another abcess forming and since I don't have 100 dollars to spend on a vet visit, I decide I'm going to watch and see if I can drain it myself. According to the internet, warm compresses help the abscess to burst and drain so last night I apply a wet, warm cloth to the hindquarters of an angry kicking rat.
When I look today, there's a small scab, so I soak it and the abscess opens and pus emerges. The next part is a lot of cleaning--I know that these things have to be drained completely so I try to get all the pus out while Lex kicks and scrabbles because she hates being held upside down. Finally there's no more pus, so I give the beast a raisin with some antibiotic on it, from her last abscess and applied a mild saline solution with q-tip to clean the wound.
Now it's just going to be waiting and watching, I guess. Hopefully none of the bacteria got pushed up into her. Hopefully I can keep the wound open until it heals completely and it will heal up, because I don't have much antibiotic left.
And that is a touching story about a rat.
So Lex the Hairless Hermaphroditic Wonder has a tendency toward abcesses. And by a tendency I mean she's gotten one like once a month since we moved in here. So yesterday I notice another abcess forming and since I don't have 100 dollars to spend on a vet visit, I decide I'm going to watch and see if I can drain it myself. According to the internet, warm compresses help the abscess to burst and drain so last night I apply a wet, warm cloth to the hindquarters of an angry kicking rat.
When I look today, there's a small scab, so I soak it and the abscess opens and pus emerges. The next part is a lot of cleaning--I know that these things have to be drained completely so I try to get all the pus out while Lex kicks and scrabbles because she hates being held upside down. Finally there's no more pus, so I give the beast a raisin with some antibiotic on it, from her last abscess and applied a mild saline solution with q-tip to clean the wound.
Now it's just going to be waiting and watching, I guess. Hopefully none of the bacteria got pushed up into her. Hopefully I can keep the wound open until it heals completely and it will heal up, because I don't have much antibiotic left.
And that is a touching story about a rat.