E-collar

[Wanda]

My vet put an e-collar on my rat Ratatouille after a tumor removal.
It's driving him insane. He keeps shaking his head and trying to do everything to get it off.
Any advice?

[ema-leigh]

Ive heard that you shouldnt use them on rats, because they can do more damage to themselves trying to get it off. You could ask your vet to do a different stitching or use glue?

My little girl Hope just had a tumor removal and shes not picking at the stitches at all, the vet never even offered an E collar. If she did pick the vet said she would do a different stitch or glue.. depends on big the wound is.

Glad to hear that Ratatouille surgery was a sucess

[RatWitch]

If the wound is stitched/glued properly then he should be okay. One of my girls did tear her stitches out and had a MASSIVE gaping hole on her side, you could see inside her body She had to go to the emergancy vet and get re-stitched. We then just watched her 24/7, literally. All night. All day. And made sure to move her head if she went for the stitches.

[AMJ087]

I wouldnt think an E-collar would stay on. Do you have pictures? Im very interested to see how the vet did it.

Is your rat on pain meds? If not that could help a lot. If the stitches are annoying or hurt or itch etc the rat may pick at them more so if not on pain meds id get some.

[RatWitch]

Do you mean to see a vet collar? I have pics if you want

[Jaguar]

They're usually attached by a string that looks like a shoelace, tied around their neck as tight as possible without restricting airflow 

[Wanda]

This is what it looks like.
It's now hanging on the side, but since it's the side of the stitches, that's actually better.
He's gotten used to it a little bit. I've been too scared to remove it, especially since the wound is really big.
The vet said that he'd researched it a lot and that this is what works best on rats.

[Jaguar]

Oh it's one of those ones, I was thinking the plastic ones, that looks weird ahaha

[AMJ087]

I was thinking plastic too thats why i was so suprised. with that collar can he reach the wound or no? When me female kept puilling her stitches out i tied a cloth around her neck. She could reach the stitches but was so distracted my the cloth she left them alone. I think its good hes bothered by it. If he wasnt he may be trying to get at his stitches.

[ema-leigh]

Oh thats cute! He looks like a teletubbie haha (I think its a british childrens tv show... I havnt seen it on in Canada yet?!... but then again I am almost 20 now)

Ive personally never dealt with an E-collar, always just used glue/stitches. But I could see how this could be effective on many rats - not all though. My doe Lucy would have that off in a jiffy.

How is Ratatouille doing now? Im glad his surgery was a sucess.

[Wanda]

He's tried to get it off, but it's a lot more difficult than it looks!
Ratatouille is doing well. His hair is slowly growing back.
Yesterday I let him walk around in the upstairs hallway again. He was so happy!
He's not on pain medication anymore (only for the first week), but he seems okay.
I'm still giving him antibiotics each night. From a spoon, because he does NOT want anybody spraying anything in his mouth. He made that very, very clear.

[AMJ087]

Im glad things are going well!! My female hates medicine too I have to mix it with food.

[Wanda]

It's been 2 weeks, so yesterday I removed the e-collar.
There were 2 pieces of what seems like skin attached to the insides of the collar and small wounds around his neck. I'm not too happy about that!
He did a lot of grooming after I removed the collar and he now has large bold spots around his eyes.
It's not looking that great.

[Stace87]

Ouch. It must have been far too tight. I would ring and let the vet know, so the same doesn't happen to other animals under their care.

[Wanda]

I'll let the vet know.
This is what his bald spots look like: