socRATties

Mammary Abscess

On Saturday 18 August 2007 Dr. Bebbington (False Bay Vet) and his assistant, Sindi, went in to remove a lump under Bella's front arm. Again he very kindly allowed us to photograph and film the procedure

On Friday 17 August, while holding Bella and doing my routine check, I noticed a pea sized lump under her right front arm. The decision was taken not to wait for it to get bigger, but remove it immediately.

After putting Bella under and checking that her breathing was regular, the area was shaved then gently slit open.

Upon entering the site, Dr Bebbington gently squeezed what at that point we thought was a tumor, only to have it burst. The matter was milky fluid.Dr. Bebbington cleaned the area, making sure the afflicted tissue was removed, before stitching it closed with Vicral

Dr. Bebbington checked the fluid to see what it was. Upon investigation he found it to be a type of “pre milk” almost as if Bella is producing the beginnings of milk. This may be due to coming on heat repeatedly as my boys (though in another cage) had only recently been neutered.

Bella went back daily for a week afterwards to drain the fluid that gathered in the closed area.

27/08/2007 – Bella is healing beautifully and is having no problems with her arm at all.

Neuter

On Saturday 21 July 2007, I had the pleasure of standing in while Dr. Liam Bebbington and his assistant, Sindi, did two neuters.

Please note that these two neuters were done as studies and neither was done using the usual methods. We are currently looking at various methods used around the world to try to find the best, simplest and fastest method of neutering. The ususal method used by Dr. Bebbington is a closed neuter using cat gut.

Part of the reason for looking at various methods is that rats are prone to abcesses after surgeries where they

socRATties would like to extend a huge thank you to Dr. Bebbington of the False Bay Veterinary Clinic in Muizenberg (contact details under we recommend on the socRATties site) for allowing us to be there and for being such an asset to the rat cause. He has put up with questions, visits and general chaos from socRATties and yet remains always willing to assist or take time to advise.

The patients were Victor and Whisky, two rehomed boys of around 8 months old owned now by my fellow socRAT, Chloe.

Whisky being put under (yup another fatty rat!)


First snip


Dr. Bebbington was trying out the procedure to do the same type of neuter as is done with cats. However, the higher percentage of fat in (older?) rats makes it very difficult. The first testical was done this method, however he started to bleed lightly and Dr. Bebbington preferred to do the usual method but using vicral on the other (left) testical to reduce time under anesthetic and to lesson chances of complecations.


Victor under and with his bits out. He was done the usual method, but using vicral inside as opposed to cat gut

Removing fat

Dr. Bebbington did Victor the usual method, but replaced the cat gut with Vicral (sp)



Putting Victor back into the cage with Whisky.

21/8/07 Update: After a bit of bleeding from the work done on Victor, both boys recovered well and are doing A OK with no abcesses or problems.