Rat w/elizabethan collar: tips to make him less miserable?

MachineMessiah wrote:
> My 7 month old PEW male rat had surgery on his belly today. He has some
> staples down there. They put an elizabethan collar on him which they
> want him to wear for a week.
> He is completely miserable. Does anyone have some tips on how to make
> this situation less of an ordeal for him?
> I have baby food, pudding, and yogurt for him to eat. Any other ideas?
> tia

I'm very surprised your vet recommended the collar for a week. How's the
rat going to eat and drink? Also, rats are constantly cleaning their
face and nose I'm just not sure a collar is right for a rat.
Any chance you can take off the collar while you are watching your
little guy and put it back on when he's alone?
Also, his wound will heal much before a week is up, most likely within a
couple of days.

--
Joanne
The Rat Shack
www.jorats.com
 >> Stay informed about: Rat w/elizabethan collar: tips to make him less miserable? 

What was the surgery for? I agree that a few days of the collar is
enough. Next time, assuming there is a next time, ask you vet about
using intra-dermal stitches. These are internal ones. My rats pretty
much leave their surgical wounds alone with these stitches and have
never needed an Elizabethan collar. Again, give you rat supervised
breaks without the collar. Personally, I really don't like the use of
staples on the rats, even normal stitches are better.

Dewi
 >> Stay informed about: Rat w/elizabethan collar: tips to make him less miserable? 

"MachineMessiah" <Geoffthegodofbiscuits RemoveThis @cakeordeath.net> wrote in message
news:iLKdnSo4oclV9ZDanZ2dnUVZ_q_inZ2d@giganews.com...
>
> My 7 month old PEW male rat had surgery on his belly today. He has some
> staples down there. They put an elizabethan collar on him which they
> want him to wear for a week.
> He is completely miserable. Does anyone have some tips on how to make
> this situation less of an ordeal for him?
> I have baby food, pudding, and yogurt for him to eat. Any other ideas?
> tia

I've only used a collar in one instance and my rat was utterly miserable -
couldn't eat, wash or even sleep properly. What I did was give him big
breaks with the collar off, when I was constantly supervising and making
sure he didn't mess with his stitches.

Hope he makes a quick recovery so that the nasty collar can come off soon!

Tracey
 >> Stay informed about: Rat w/elizabethan collar: tips to make him less miserable? 

In article <1192107626.931845.246800.TakeThisOut@o3g2000hsb.googlegroups.com>,
widget4000.TakeThisOut@yahoo.com.au says...
> What was the surgery for? I agree that a few days of the collar is
> enough. Next time, assuming there is a next time, ask you vet about
> using intra-dermal stitches. These are internal ones. My rats pretty
> much leave their surgical wounds alone with these stitches and have
> never needed an Elizabethan collar. Again, give you rat supervised
> breaks without the collar. Personally, I really don't like the use of
> staples on the rats, even normal stitches are better.
>
> Dewi
>
>

Thanks to all who replied.
I came home from work today and took the collar off.
He really enjoyed that. When I can't hold him on my lap he has to wear
the collar. I'm going to keep an eye on his incision and as soon as I
think it looks healed enough I'm taking the collar off.
I've had about 30 rats over the years and this is the first time one of
them ever got stuck with one of these things. The vets have usually used
glue or internal stitches.
He has a little bit of everything stiches wise. He keeps getting
abcesses on his belly. I took him in to get the abccess cleaned and the
vet found "an area of pus filled noduals and necrotic tissue". I let
them excise all of it (I'd felt the noduals) in the hope it will prevent
any more abccesses down there. They even used a lasar on him. He has a
couple of external stiches they want him to leave alone. He tried to go
after them when I had the collar off but stopped even before I had a
chance to stop him myself. I think the wound hurts enough right now
that he'll leave it alone. He has pain meds and antibiotics which he's
being a bad boy about taking. I guess ratties don't figure out that pain
meds are a good thing.
thanks again.
 >> Stay informed about: Rat w/elizabethan collar: tips to make him less miserable? 

MachineMessiah wrote:
> In article <1192107626.931845.246800.RemoveThis@o3g2000hsb.googlegroups.com>,
> widget4000.RemoveThis@yahoo.com.au says...
>> What was the surgery for? I agree that a few days of the collar is
>> enough. Next time, assuming there is a next time, ask you vet about
>> using intra-dermal stitches. These are internal ones. My rats pretty
>> much leave their surgical wounds alone with these stitches and have
>> never needed an Elizabethan collar. Again, give you rat supervised
>> breaks without the collar. Personally, I really don't like the use of
>> staples on the rats, even normal stitches are better.
>>
>> Dewi
>>
>>
>
> Thanks to all who replied.
> I came home from work today and took the collar off.
> He really enjoyed that. When I can't hold him on my lap he has to wear
> the collar. I'm going to keep an eye on his incision and as soon as I
> think it looks healed enough I'm taking the collar off.
> I've had about 30 rats over the years and this is the first time one of
> them ever got stuck with one of these things. The vets have usually used
> glue or internal stitches.
> He has a little bit of everything stiches wise. He keeps getting
> abcesses on his belly. I took him in to get the abccess cleaned and the
> vet found "an area of pus filled noduals and necrotic tissue". I let
> them excise all of it (I'd felt the noduals) in the hope it will prevent
> any more abccesses down there. They even used a lasar on him. He has a
> couple of external stiches they want him to leave alone. He tried to go
> after them when I had the collar off but stopped even before I had a
> chance to stop him myself. I think the wound hurts enough right now
> that he'll leave it alone. He has pain meds and antibiotics which he's
> being a bad boy about taking. I guess ratties don't figure out that pain
> meds are a good thing.
> thanks again.

Good to hear that he's doing well.
Novotrimel/Bactrim/Septra is a wonderful drug for abscesses. In case he
gets anymore, I'd recommend asking the vet for this med.

--
Joanne
The Rat Shack
www.jorats.com
 >> Stay informed about: Rat w/elizabethan collar: tips to make him less miserable? 

When my boys have had to have a collar it has lasted for about 2 hours
after we got home. Every one of them was miserable. I removed it every
time so I was assured they had easy access to their food and water 24/7.
I never had any problems with stitches re opening as they tended to
heal very quickly. I would however keep a close eye on him if you
choose to remove it.

Regards Kate

Tracey wrote:
> "MachineMessiah" <Geoffthegodofbiscuits DeleteThis @cakeordeath.net> wrote in message
> news:iLKdnSo4oclV9ZDanZ2dnUVZ_q_inZ2d@giganews.com...
>> My 7 month old PEW male rat had surgery on his belly today. He has some
>> staples down there. They put an elizabethan collar on him which they
>> want him to wear for a week.
>> He is completely miserable. Does anyone have some tips on how to make
>> this situation less of an ordeal for him?
>> I have baby food, pudding, and yogurt for him to eat. Any other ideas?
>> tia
>
> I've only used a collar in one instance and my rat was utterly miserable -
> couldn't eat, wash or even sleep properly. What I did was give him big
> breaks with the collar off, when I was constantly supervising and making
> sure he didn't mess with his stitches.
>
> Hope he makes a quick recovery so that the nasty collar can come off soon!
>
> Tracey
>
>


--
http://community.webshots.com/user/ollieogg
 >> Stay informed about: Rat w/elizabethan collar: tips to make him less miserable?