# Hole on the side of my rats body



## Ian Roy (Mar 30, 2021)

Hey, recently my rat “Toast” had what looked like an abscess on his side and I spoke to a vet tech in one of my rat groups on Facebook and they recommended I drain it and rinse it with declorinized iodine which is what I did, he seemed to be getting better but then 3-4 days ago I noticed he had now had a HOLE in his side. I am extremely worried that this is something that cannot be fixed, I don’t know what I would do without my boy but at the same time because of COVID I don’t have money to be going to the vet, I had a decent amount of money set aside but one of my other rats wound up getting sick and I was back and forth at the vet which sucked up all of my savings so now I have no money for a vet and I’m worried I’m going to lose my boy. He is roughly 1 year and 3 months old and has been neutered about 6 or 7 months ago with no troubles.Thank you in advance!


----------



## CorbinDallasMyMan (Feb 24, 2017)

Poor little guy! I'd suggest checking out the RatGuide page on [abscesses] for treatment information. An antibiotic may be necessary. 

Do you know how it started?


----------



## MinkShadow (Mar 5, 2021)

Yikes, poor boy! Antibiotics may be needed, that looks nasty!


----------



## Tinytoes (Dec 23, 2020)

That does not look good at all. If it was healing and just started getting bad in the last few days, something is going on. If it's infection it will smell bad. Flush it with hydrogen peroxide ONCE, let it foam and bubble till all the dead/dying tissue has been treated. Then flush it with a betadine/iodine solution and pat it dry. It needs to heal from the inside out, and this could take a month or more. I wish you all the luck in the world. I would be nervous treating it, but we do what we have to do.


----------



## Tinytoes (Dec 23, 2020)

CorbinDallasMyMan said:


> Poor little guy! I'd suggest checking out the RatGuide page on [abscesses] for treatment information. An antibiotic may be necessary.
> 
> Do you know how it started?


Yes, look up abscess and read all you can. And yes, antibiotics may be necessary.


----------



## _dizzy_ (Mar 28, 2018)

Oh my. Antibiotics and a wrap to keep him from licking it.


----------



## Bribri3837 (Mar 26, 2021)

Clean it out so it doesn’t get infected then wrap it ip so it doesn’t get worse and keep an eye on it if it gets worse u need no take him to the vet but its healing then there would be no need


----------



## Tinytoes (Dec 23, 2020)

You can also make a little coat out of a sock, a hole for the head and two for the front legs, then take some surgical tape and tape the end around his belly just in front of the back legs. I used to make sock-coats for my parrot.


----------



## Tinytoes (Dec 23, 2020)

How is he doing? Please let us know. We are concerned and would love to know if he's doing better and how you're treating him. We learn from others experiences.


----------



## Sampyboy (Dec 5, 2021)

Ian Roy said:


> Hey, recently my rat “Toast” had what looked like an abscess on his side and I spoke to a vet tech in one of my rat groups on Facebook and they recommended I drain it and rinse it with declorinized iodine which is what I did, he seemed to be getting better but then 3-4 days ago I noticed he had now had a HOLE in his side. I am extremely worried that this is something that cannot be fixed, I don’t know what I would do without my boy but at the same time because of COVID I don’t have money to be going to the vet, I had a decent amount of money set aside but one of my other rats wound up getting sick and I was back and forth at the vet which sucked up all of my savings so now I have no money for a vet and I’m worried I’m going to lose my boy. He is roughly 1 year and 3 months old and has been neutered about 6 or 7 months ago with no troubles.Thank you in advance!
> View attachment 304389
> View attachment 304389
> View attachment 304390


----------



## Sampyboy (Dec 5, 2021)

My rat has the same hole but a little smaller


----------

