battle wounds, the sequel

[ratcreature]

So, I decided to bring Oskar to the vet, and a good thing it was too, because apparently the wound didn't just slice the skin open, but nicked the muscle layer underneath, so it needed stitches in two layers. And to fix the damage underneath the vet had to open the skin a bit further, so now poor Oskar has a gash that's twice as long on his belly, closed with a row of scary, Frankensteinian-looking staples, and some stitches underneath. Also it's covered in silver, to hopefully prevent infection. And of course he got an antibiotic shot and pain medication, and I got some of both to give him orally. I'm supposed to come back Monday, but watch him closely for infection and come in during their emergency weekend hours if I see any pus. Of course pets always have to do this before weekends, because otherwise the inconvenience and stress would be slightly less inconvenient and stressful. Argh.

Also I was instructed to keep him separate from the others for a while so they couldn't mess with the wound, and for now just have to hope that he doesn't do damage to himself. The vet said that if he gnaws on it himself and tries to pull the staples, they could try a small collar, but they don't work very well on rats (I presume because they don't have much of a neck, and are good at squeezing out of things.)

At least I could just put a divider between the modules of my cage, so keeping them separate is logistically easy, though both Rusty and Kieran were annoyed with me when I just evicted them from the favored spot in the top module. And Oskar was quite befuddled that he couldn't take the usual way down.

Cross your fingers for Oskar, so that he won't gnaw on his wound and that there won't be an infection?

And of course I'm now €82,77 poorer again for the exam, stitching, anesthesia, and meds, and who knows what all the follow up from this one will come to in the end.

Comments

[king_touchy]

My, those rats keep you hopping. Fingers crossed.

[ratcreature]

Yeah, rats are not low maintenance pets. And the little idiot already managed to pull one staple out, as i noticed when I checked him just now.

[astridv]

Oh man, that sounds so stressful for the rats and for you. Hoping he'll heal up quick.

[ratcreature]

I see an emergency visit over the weekend in my future. It's only been a few hours and when I checked him just now, I saw that he managed to pull out one of the staples already, making a bit of the wound gape again. WTF, rat, WTF.

[bluemeridian]

A rat wearing a cone. Yeah, I don't see that working so well - I'm kind of surprised it ever works on the little contortionists at all. On the other hand, the indignant mental image is hilarious. *fingers crossed*

[ratcreature]

Unfortunately when I checked him just now the little idiot already managed to pull out at least one staple, making his wound gaping open in one spot merely hours after it was closed, though thankfully no visible infection so far. So I anticipate that I'm going to see the vet tomorrow at emergency rates again.

[bluemeridian]

Oh no! That was absurdly quick! (I can't blame him, but crazy frustrating for you.)

[ratcreature]

Yeah, it really is. It's seems my whole week was spent at doctors, alternating between visits for me and visits for my rats. I honestly don't know how people with full time regular jobs even manage to keep pets.

[ani_bester]

OMG I just so this 0.o
Do you want donations or anything. I know the misery of vet bills :( I'll keep my fingers crossed for the little guy.

Also stables :( Poor thing, now wonder he wants them out. I'm surprised they didn't use glue again. I have never heard of anything restraining a rat well, certainly non of mine stay in anything for more than a minute. What pain meds does the little guy have?

[ratcreature]

Well, he's not out of the woods yet. The problem is that in the belly all sorts of vital things are as well, so if it becomes infected, it can go bad very quickly. It doesn't help that one of my previous rats died of an abscessed wound in the belly area, that despite vet treatment, turned septic so I had to put him down (or he'd died slow and in agony). And he pulled out at least one of the staples already, so I probably have to bring him back tomorrow to the emergency opening hours. He seems quite miserable as well, just huddling, and hasn't eaten much on his own initiative (i.e. seeking out his food), though he did eat some tasty bits I pushed at him, and ate some cucumber as well (I wanted him to have something watery too).

I asked the vet about glue, but she said it only works on very fresh wounds, so they had to close it up under anesthesia. Thankfully my vet practice uses gas anesthesia for the little guys, so it's well tolerated and can be made very shallow. The pain med I've been given is metacam, I don't know whether that is the same he was given at the practice.

Thanks for the donation offer, but I'm okay to cover them. I mean, the vet costs have totally broken my budget for January likely will for February too, but I'm lucky enough to have some savings that can cover emergency expenses like this.

[oyceter]

Oh no, poor rattie! Also, bad rat for gnawing on your staples! I hope the healing goes well and Oskar behaves around his wound.

[ratcreature]

I hope so too.

It doesn't help my anxiety that one of my previous rats died from an abscess in his belly that turned septic despite vet treatment (he gnawed his stitches open after the operation too), and spread to his penis, so that the vet couldn't do anything but put him down a few days later, to stop him from dying slowly in misery. That rat had been totally healthy before.