[ScarBanditBernard]

Woke up this morning to find GusGus with a rather large amount of porphyrin around his eye and a swollen spot under his eye. Any idea what could have caused this? These are the best pics I could get.

 

[KayRatz]

Could be the start of an abscess or tumor.

 

[Gribouilli]

Could it be his nails are too long and he hurt himself trying to clean his face? I can't see from the pic if it is the case or not.

 

[ScarBanditBernard]

Tried to get some better pics to show the bump. He's cleaned it up. He's only about 3 months maybe? The bumb is under the skin. No visible wound. He's a fawn (or Topaz depending on where you are) so im afraid if its a tumor he wont be a good surgery candidate.

 

[Gribouilli]

Why wouldn't he be a good candidate for surgery? I would think abscess first as he is so young for a tumor. Maybe something got under his eye and irritated it. I would get him to a vet. You could try to wash his eye with sterile saline solution, to see if it helps. Also artificial tears might make him feel better.

 

[JAnimal]

Why wouldn't he be a good candidate for surgery?

I believe that fawn or topaz rats have blood clotting issues.

 

[Gribouilli]

I have read about the blood clotting issue, and I meant to start a post about that. The reason being I need to find friends for my single neutered male and need them neutered too since I also have a mischief of intact females. My vet said he neutered lots of those types without any problem. Sorry for the off-topic- I will start my own thread on the topic of storage pool deficiency

 

[Ratloved]

I don't know if I am correct, but I heard the blood clotting issues are with overseas rat population only- mainly in UK area. I don't believe we have that problem in the states. I foster for a rescue all the time and they spay and neuter all animals before adoption with very few problems.

 

[JAnimal]

I don't know if I am correct, but I heard the blood clotting issues are with overseas rat population only- mainly in UK area. I don't believe we have that problem in the states. I foster for a rescue all the time and they spay and neuter all animals before adoption with very few problems.

That could be quite possible. Just what I have heard.

 

[ScarBanditBernard]

Update. It looks like he may have just scratched his eye or had something in it. 24hrs later swelling is all but gone and next to no porphyrin. He's running and playing as usual

 

[JAnimal]

Update. It looks like he may have just scratched his eye or had something in it. 24hrs later swelling is all but gone and next to no porphyrin. He's running and playing as usual

Thats great.

 

[Gribouilli]

Happy to hear he is back to normal

 

[ScarBanditBernard]

There's still a bit of a bump under his eye but his eye isn't nearly swollen shut now. I've been keeping an eye on him but is there anything I should look out for just in case?

 

[Gribouilli]

If it gets worse or not much better in a few days, a vet visit would be a good idea. How are his nails? Make sure the nails are short- there are ways to do that without cutting them, let me know. Make sure his cage is extra clean to minimize the chance of an infection. I hope his eye will be all better soon.

 

[Dan203]

If you have some antibiotics you might want to give him a round just to stave off infection. Nibbler had a small wound on his eye that rapidly progressed into something so bad that they nearly had to remove his eye. Luckily we were able to beat it back with some antibiotics, a cream and some EDTA drops. But it was pretty dire at one point.