[mrskrable4]

Im not sure where else to go with this, I recently returned from a trip out of town and I had my roommates look over my two rats for me while I was gone, everything was completely fine when I left, when I returned home after two weeks one of my rats had a giant abscess on his side, it is completely raw and oozing blood. He is behaving normally (eating, drinking, moving, etc.) and is not messing with the abscess from what I've seen. I called my vet and they can not see me until next week, and there is no emergency vet that takes rats in my area. I desperately need some advice on what to do.

 

[Tinytoes]

Hi and welcome, so sorry it's for an emergency. Look up Abscess on rats, and you'll see it's very treatable at home. Hold a warm wet washcloth on the abscess, find the opening, express the pus and infection until it's all gone, then flush the wound with hydrogen peroxide. Once it's clean, you leave it alone and the rat will usually keep it open as it heals. Mostly you want it to heal from the inside out, so you don't want it to scab over. Sometimes I flush it a few times with a saline solution, just to keep it from closing up. Good luck!! And sorry I didn't see this sooner