Hello everybody... First time poster here...

My male rat has some pretty nasty stuff happening in his ears. Has anyone seen this before? How can I treat this, and can he transfer it to my other rat?

Unfortunately I don't have a lot of money for veterinary care, so I'm just trying my best to research it on my own right now. Can anyone recommend some free, online resources?

He is about 1 year and 8 months old.

I'd be super appreciative of any advice.

.5015

Kinda looks like an ear infection I could be wrong he really needs too see a vet :/

That looks not so nice....the little black dots could be scabs from sores created by the rattie scratching at his ear cos it hurts. I don't know if you are going to be able to find a cure on your own. Infections like this really do need antibiotics. Can you work out a payment plan with a vet? Some of them are really lovely and understand the expense cant be met immediately by everyone all the time. Ring around and be honest about your sitch.

I hope he gets better. Best of luck.

That looks like something a vet should see. I second kat- call around, I'm sure someone will be willing to do a payment plan.

Thanks for the advice, guys.

We took Forrest to the vet yesterday. The vet says it's a tumor. We are treating him with antibiotics for now, although the vet actually recommends amputating his entire ear.

For now, we're just hoping it isn't cancerous, and that the antibiotics will prevent it from getting infected. A surgery like that seems pretty risky considering the price and his age. We are feeding him carefully with raw, whole, organic foods and monitoring him closely.

Has anyone ever tried to wrap up open wounds with self-adhesive gauze or anything like that? Just wondering how we could prevent him from scratching it.


Thanks for the support! I will try to update you guys on his status in the days ahead.

Also I was wondering about maybe using probiotics to kind of counteract the antibiotics which will kill all his "good" bacteria along with the bad. Anyone have any experience with that?

Don't wrap the wound with anything, because it might cause pus or make the wound worse. If it itches you may cover the surroundings with gel for teething babies (however it's called).

If you have good vet who already was amputating an ear , it might be good option. Just use inhalation anesthesia, it's safe for older rats.
Sure you can use probiotics, it's good idea.

I don't suggest putting anything on it, leave it alone.

Probiotics are good. I'm afraid I don't know anything about amputating an ear.

One of the rats my friend had, had the ear amputated because of terrible tumour that probably started somewhere in head or cheek. It later located in the jaw, destroyed it , along with some part of cheek. ALso his eye was amputated. The rat never recovered, was euthanized after few months of fighting. But he was eating, drinking, living without problems, almost till the last day. The tumour was very cancerous.

Wrapping an ear will be impossible, as for probiotics I only use them when I see an issue or am using an antibiotic that I know might cause an issue like Clavamoc. Did the vet say what type of tumour? Did she/he say the word polyp?