Scratch on the Goolies *New Scratch-WORSE-with pictures*

[..Shea..]

Well I had Sam (formerly Gandalf) and Pippin out when I noticed Sam's goolies looked a little funny. Well I take a look and there is a pretty nice scratch. He looks a little swollen also. Now normally for a scratch I would just clean it once and let it heal. But because of the area, and how the scratch will be dragged on the cage floor and get urine and poo around it constantly if there is anything else I should do other than keep it clean. Like antibiotics for infection prevention?

Here's a picture I managed to take with my little sister's help.

[LastEchoes]

To me, it looks more like a bite(well, MAYBE a pretty deep/serious scratch) that is already pretty much healed. It looks to be healing nicely and is already scabbed over. I'd just let it be and check it daily to make sure its healing properly. If you're concerned about the dragging/collecting urine and what not, you can clean the cage daily. With rats, putting topical antibiotics on an already scabbed wound seems pointless to me because it's going to stay there only for like 1 min at the most (cuz they'll go into that 'omg something is on me' rat mode and clean it off right away)

[JR1030]

Yup, I agree...it looks like it's closed up already.  If you're worried about infection, you could do some soaks in some warm salt water, and that may help.

[Ratatouie]

i agree with the others. It looks to be healing nicely.
Just keep an eye on it and watch for redness/pus. keep the cage clean and dry and it should be gone before you know it

give the lil manrat scritches for being such a cutie-

[..Shea..]

Well it happened again. This time, ten times worse.
You can actually see his testicles protruding out of this scratch. I'll try to get a picture. There is no blood, but it must have been bleeding a little earlier because I can see dried blood along the cage. I'm going to call the vet in the morning, but as of right now I'm not sure what to do. I know I need to seperate them until further notice, but I don't know if I should clean it out or anything.

[Dark_Rogue]

I hope he'll be ok. My Charlie got a horrible gash on his where one of his testicles actually came though the sack Unfortunately, I didn't figure it out till it had already healed over, for the most part. I just kept the cage really clean and he did fine. I left him in with the boys as they had been living together for a while before that happened. Was just a little squabble that got out of hand. Hasn't happened, again.

[..Shea..]

I think it's just the original scratch got scratched again, and since the skin was still not fully healed it broke open easier. Sam is doing good, he's still his happy little self, eating and drinking.

Here are some pictures of it.



And after humiliating him, here are pictures of his other side.

[Meeshski]

wow, now those pictures are another story. I'd get it checked out- looks big enough for stitches...

[Addicted2Rats]

   Wow!  That looks BAD!  I'd definitely get him into the vet right away so that they can fix it.  It sure doesn't look like something that I would leave and let heal on its own.  Good luck!

Deb

[LastEchoes]

That needs to be stitched up.

[..Shea..]

I'll definately be calling the vet in the morning to see when I can get in.

[rowan138]

Oh,how horible!Poor little guy!Good luck to you both!

[lilspaz68]

Do you have him in with other males?  That looks like someone did a very aggressive bite to his genitals...and you might need to figure out who.

I would definitely get him to to a vet for stitches or glue.  Poor baby.

[baileyjane]

   OWIE!  Any news this morning, Shea?  I hope your little man is feeling better soon!

[Heatherama]

OUCHY!  I'd put something soft like fleece for him to walk on until you can get him to the vet, also if he's with other ratties, they might make it worse.

[..Shea..]

Do you have him in with other males?  That looks like someone did a very aggressive bite to his genitals...and you might need to figure out who.

Yeah. He's with his brother, Pippin'.