another rat update...

[ratcreature]

I just came home from the vet, and it turns out that what they had thought to be likely a tumor was an abscess. Today I noticed that Dustin was licking there a lot, that the lump wasn't fully covered by hair anymore, and that a small area of the skin above it was brownish like scabbed. When I showed the vet, she felt it and squeezed a bit and pus started oozing out of it *shudder*, and then she told me that it was an abscess that had broken open. Apparently they can't really tell the difference from just feeling these lumps. I mean, over the last weeks two of the vets at the office examined the lump, and it's not like there had been any wound or anything I had noticed.

Anyway, the vet drained it (and I hope I'll never see greenish pus squeezed out of one of my pets again, ick), flushed it, put on salve and gave him an antibiotic, though whether that is the right one will only be sure when the results from the swap she took for a culture come in tomorrow afternoon.

So now I have to convince Dustin to take antibiotics again, and wrestle him to put on salve twice daily, but I hope it'll heal well. When the vet gave him antibiotic orally he struggled with levels of energy I hadn't seen Dustin display in a while, but he had been prescribed that antibiotic previously for his lungs and then he took it when I mixed it with food, so I hope he'll do so again. Anyway, it's the first time one of pets had such an abscess, but it has to be better than tumors, right? At least if it's really "just" an abscess not some underlying problem that developed an abscess on top of that or anything like that.

Right now Dustin is sulking, possibly because this had to be one of the most unpleasant vet visits he ever had, having that abscess cleaned can't have been pleasant for him. I hope it might at least feel better for him now that it's drained of the pus, and perhaps he appreciates that.

Comments

[cereta.livejournal.com]

Goodness, that poor little guy :(. And poor you!

[ratcreature]

Yeah, health-wise he's the most unlucky rat I've had so far. Not that I had *that* many, but a couple. Well, on the bright side provided that the abscess heals without complications it's better than if he had cancer. And I'll just have to deal with a cranky rat for a while, while he has to take medicine and suffer the salve. (I've rarely seen him so disgusted as when he tried to lick that area and tasted the salve, one lick and he stopped, pushed his tongue out and rubbed his snout on the floor to get rid of the taste. Well, at least it seems like there's a chance it'll stay on...)