Update on Rue.
So, the first vet I went to said that the lump was a tumor and wanted to charge me $200 to remove it. The second vet said it was an abscess and to try a dose of Baytril to help it shrink... And the third little piggie...
I got home, and I checked my email, etc. At about five, I decided I HAD to work on the rat cages.
I opened the door, and got a few ratfaces out and put them in the bathtub. That's when I noticed that Rupert's lump was no longer an innocent lump.
It was in fact, covered in scab, and bleeding.
I called the vet, who thankfully told me to come right over. So I grabbed Rue, almost forgot to put the ratfaces away, got in the car and drove to the vet.
The vet, who wasn't my regular vet, said as I walked in, "oh our rats are so prone to abscess, and yet so very prone to tumors... let's have a look at him, shall we?"
He took one look at the lump, and said, "I'll be right back" and then came back with a 14 gauge needle and a bunch of gauze.
Then he stabbed the lump with the needle. STABBED IT!!! And it started to ooze gross green chunky snot. Then the vet squeezed it, and more green stuff came out, and then more and then more, and I'm sitting here, holding Rue, who's screaming, and it's so gross and I've never seen something so disgusting.
Then the vet says, "He should be feeling MUCH better now... I'll be right back, let me get some antibiotics" and he comes back with a little knife thing, and some more gauze and a syringe full of white stuff.
And he takes the knife and makes the hole a little bigger and squishes out some more, and some blood, which is really gross, and he says, "that should be good, but if not, bring him back and we'll make the hole bigger-- you can understand wanting to be conservative at first, eh?" and he sort of chuckles, and I'm petting Rue, and he reminds me to wash my hands after I touch him, to keep infection down.
Then he says, "this shouldn't hurt at all" and puts the syringe into the hole, and starts squirting, at which point Rue jumps from the table into my arms, like, "OMG Daddy NO MORE!"
So I calmed him a little and set him back down, sort of like, "omg I have blood on my sweater" and glad I don't like it much. And the vet takes some more gauze and wipes up some blood, and tells me that he should be fine now, and to clean around the wound with fresh water if Rue doesn't take care of it, and watch out for signs of further inspection. And he says I shouldn't be frightened if it leaks some clearish red liquid in the next few days.
Then I go to pay, and the receptionist is like, "Sixteen dollars please, and would you like an itemized reciept?"
So yeah, I'm glad that Rue is fixed now and that it was just an abscess, and it didn't cost a million dollars, but I'm sort of pissed off that the first vet didn't fix it in the first place, instead of letting poor Rue suffer like he has been. And they work at the SAME OFFICE!
So now I'm gonna request the other vet, since he seemed really good. His first instructions to me were, "now you just hold him and keep him faced this way" and when I said, "oh, he's not a biter" he said, "well, good!"
x-posted to my own journal.
I got home, and I checked my email, etc. At about five, I decided I HAD to work on the rat cages.
I opened the door, and got a few ratfaces out and put them in the bathtub. That's when I noticed that Rupert's lump was no longer an innocent lump.
It was in fact, covered in scab, and bleeding.
I called the vet, who thankfully told me to come right over. So I grabbed Rue, almost forgot to put the ratfaces away, got in the car and drove to the vet.
The vet, who wasn't my regular vet, said as I walked in, "oh our rats are so prone to abscess, and yet so very prone to tumors... let's have a look at him, shall we?"
He took one look at the lump, and said, "I'll be right back" and then came back with a 14 gauge needle and a bunch of gauze.
Then he stabbed the lump with the needle. STABBED IT!!! And it started to ooze gross green chunky snot. Then the vet squeezed it, and more green stuff came out, and then more and then more, and I'm sitting here, holding Rue, who's screaming, and it's so gross and I've never seen something so disgusting.
Then the vet says, "He should be feeling MUCH better now... I'll be right back, let me get some antibiotics" and he comes back with a little knife thing, and some more gauze and a syringe full of white stuff.
And he takes the knife and makes the hole a little bigger and squishes out some more, and some blood, which is really gross, and he says, "that should be good, but if not, bring him back and we'll make the hole bigger-- you can understand wanting to be conservative at first, eh?" and he sort of chuckles, and I'm petting Rue, and he reminds me to wash my hands after I touch him, to keep infection down.
Then he says, "this shouldn't hurt at all" and puts the syringe into the hole, and starts squirting, at which point Rue jumps from the table into my arms, like, "OMG Daddy NO MORE!"
So I calmed him a little and set him back down, sort of like, "omg I have blood on my sweater" and glad I don't like it much. And the vet takes some more gauze and wipes up some blood, and tells me that he should be fine now, and to clean around the wound with fresh water if Rue doesn't take care of it, and watch out for signs of further inspection. And he says I shouldn't be frightened if it leaks some clearish red liquid in the next few days.
Then I go to pay, and the receptionist is like, "Sixteen dollars please, and would you like an itemized reciept?"
So yeah, I'm glad that Rue is fixed now and that it was just an abscess, and it didn't cost a million dollars, but I'm sort of pissed off that the first vet didn't fix it in the first place, instead of letting poor Rue suffer like he has been. And they work at the SAME OFFICE!
So now I'm gonna request the other vet, since he seemed really good. His first instructions to me were, "now you just hold him and keep him faced this way" and when I said, "oh, he's not a biter" he said, "well, good!"
x-posted to my own journal.