By Lora Colver (edited by Bev Reeve)
Abcesses are nature's way of preventing infection from spreading and are most commonly caused by bites and wounds. Occasionally, sterile abcesses form (normally due to a foreign body or inflammation due to an injury or surgery) and there are a few diseases where multiple abcesses form (such as Pasturella).
An abcess forms when the skin surrounds (or encapsulates) the area of infection and a substance called pus is formed inside a membrane (called a pyogenic membrane). Whilst abcesses come in all shapes and sizes and can occur anywhere on the body, you can normally tell that it's an abcess because there is often a smell that accompanies it, and also tumours tend to move independently from the skin whereas abcesses are within the skin so there is little movement.
Dependant on the cause of the abcess, pus can be several shades and several consistencies, from pale yellow to a nice pea green colour, and from an almost watery liquid to solid "cream cheese". Not all pus smells, that is dependant on the bacteria involved but when it does smell, you can't mistake that pungent aroma.
To treat an abcess, you need to drain and clean it. Abcesses must always be allowed to heal from the inside out so any exit points must be kept open (harder said than done as rats can actually begin to heal overnight).
To hand you will need a small pair of scissors, a hot compress (a face cloth with hot (not boiling) water), Terramycin powder, betadine spray, a needle-less syringe, saline solution, cotton buds, wads of cotton wool or tissues, a strong stomach and possibly a peg for your nose
First of all, make sure your hands are clean. Then clip away the fur from the abcess with the scissors and see if you can locate a scab or wound. Bathing the area several times per day with a hot compress will soften the scab (if there is one) and allow you to gently remove it without hurting your pet.
Once the scab is removed, you will need to apply gentle pressure from the base of the abcess to force the infection (pus) out through the opening. Do not squeeze too hard as there is a danger of bursting the membrane within the body and forcing the infection into the body cavity. Make sure you have lots of damp cotton wool or tissues to hand to collect the pus that comes out. Keep applying gentle pressure but move towards the opening of the abcess (as if emptying a toothpaste tube) until no more pus comes out. Do not worry if a little blood comes away with the pus.
Once you are sure that no more pus can come out, then using your needle-less syringe, draw up some saline solution and use it to flush out the wound, applying gentle pressure from the base of the abcess once again to expel any residue pus, infected tissue and the saline. A cotton bud can be used to remove any thickened pus visible but don't poke about inside the cavity or you may introduce further infection to the area.
Dry the area thoroughly and then apply terramycin powder to the inside of the cavity. And then spray the abcess with betadine spray.
Your job now is to stop a scab from forming over the exit wound and to keep the area clean and pus free until it heals.
Bathe the area with warm saline solution several times per day, and pull off any scab that forms. Use the needle-less syringe with saline solution to flush out the cavity and twice a day, fill the cavity with terramycin powder and then spray the outside of the abcess with the betadine spray.
You will notice the size of the cavity reducing as it begins to heal, do not allow the scab to form or stop the bathing and cleaning ritual until it is completely healed. Continue to pack the cavity with terramycin powder until it is no longer large enough to put any inside it. Continue spraying with the betadine spray until there is no longer any sign of an abcess being there. Only when the area is completely healed can you go back to using your usual cage litter.
If your rat has several abcesses or you find that the abcess you have drained simply will not heal and continues to refill with pus, some antibiotic help may be required.
It's been found that an antibiotic called Synulox (palatable drops not tablets) is most effective when dealing with the majority of abcesses (dose is three drops twice a day), however, your vet may wish to send a sample of the pus away to be analysed and it will not only tell him/her what bacteria is involved but it will also give him/her a list of what antibiotics will treat it best.
Very stubborn abcesses may require a cocktail of several different antibiotics to help kill off the bacteria. Your cleaning regime of draining the pus, filling with terramycin powder and spraying with betadine should continue unless your vet tells you to stop. Occasionally, surgery may be required to remove the abscess.
If when you first clipped the fur away you could not see a scab then it is up to you to make one. For the braver souls, you can use a sterile syringe with needle to aspirate as much pus as you can, the hole made with the needle will also weaken the skin in that area and with regular application of a hot compress, will cause the abcess to burst at that point. Never stick the needle in at a 90 degree angle directly into the rat, try to run the needle just below the skin, kind of parallel with the rat’s skin, that way you’d make sure not to go in too deep and puncture the opposite side of the membrane, which would allow the pus to drain into the body cavity and cause serious problems.
For those of you who do not wish to stick needles in your pet, it will take slightly longer but regular bathing with the hot compress will force the infection to the surface and it will eventually burst.
During this time, when you are waiting for the abcess to burst, or if you have already drained the abcess, it is vital that the cage litter be replaced with plain paper and that the bedding be changed on a regular basis as your rat has (or will have) an open wound.
Occasionally
if the abscess continues to grow, tension on the skin can cause a patch
to die (necrosis) and become blackened and rigid. These areas once dead
have no sensation and the abscess can be drained from here, sometimes
the edge of the necrotic area will lift away from the healthy tissue
and the abscess will vent the infection from there. Necrotic tissue does need to be removed completely and if the area is large, surgery may be required to incise into healthy tissue so that the edges are able to heal together once the infection is gone.FACIAL AND TOOTH ABCESSES NEED THE ATTENTION OF A VET. NEVER ATTEMPT TO DRAIN THIS TYPE OF ABCESS YOURSELF.
Tooth abcesses can only be healed if the offending teeth are removed. Facial abcesses are often caused by ear infections and need surgery to clean them out. Facial abcesses can also be caused by bone tumours / cancers.
