Help I know there are a few of you on here (Goldmali I think ) who have rats as pets. My daughter has had one of hers opperated on last Wednesday for a lump off its back leg, opp went well but it will not leave the wound alone, daughter and son-in-law have kept eye on it taking it in turns to stay up with it.On Friday son-in-law went to make a cup of tea and when he returned it had nibbled a small hole, so back to the vets who re stiched,guled and stapled wound and kept it in overnight to keep an eye on it, it came home on Saturday with a plaster also stuck on the wound, on Monday vets checked it and said to leave plaster on until next Monday,it is still trying its best to get at the wound and they are now suffering through lack of sleep. This morning it bit through one of the staples and was looking very stressed so my daughter went back and asked for the staples to be taken out, they took two out but said to leave two in, Ratty sorry Willow has now had a really good sleep but is back at the wound this evening, four vets tried to make collars for her but these came off straight away, any tips or ideas would appreciated.

Rats are not good with wounds.
A very good rat vet my friend went to put in some extra stitches in a front shoulder - knowing the rat would chew at those and not the operation site.

It's been a long time since I had a post-op rat, so if I were you, I'd would ask on the fancy-rats.co.uk forum for up-to-date advice. And here's hoping for a good recovery :)

Not a lot of use here tbh, Id try putting a sticking plaster elsewhere on the rat to try and deflect the chewing to somewhere else.

This is why I rarely have rats operated on, and leave even pretty scary looking wounds open wherever possible (honey generally helps healing superfast, healed a nasty gash on an old boy of mine within days, I was seriously shocked and only the photos of the wound as it had been stopped me thinking I had imagined the severity of it!).

Many thanks for the replies the plaster elsewhere is worth a try. The vets answer was  "I hoped I was not on when you came back as I am at a loss and maybe you should just put her to sleep". I keep telling my daughter now you know why I was stressed when we thought we were going to loose a bitch that was my best friend and had 9 puppies to bottle feed !

Aw bless, I can just imagine them trying to get a rat to wear a collar. :-D

I know with our dogs and fresh stitches as well as a collar we are told to also put a T-shirt on them too to stop them using feet to scratch and once the collar is off to avoid licking, are there any little toy doll clothes that you could put on her to stop her getting to the wound, I know they need fresh air to heal quicker, but for bedtime so your daughter can sleep would it be worth a try. :-)

Just a quick update, my daughter took the rat back on Saturday and asked for the staples to be taken out as she was sure this was the cause of the problem, vet wanted to leave them in until Wed, since taken out she has settled well and is back to normal !

Just a quick update, my daughter took the rat back on Saturday and asked for the staples to be taken out as she was sure this was the cause of the problem, vet wanted to leave them in until Wed, since taken out she has settled well and is back to normal !

Just a quick update, my daughter took the rat back on Saturday and asked for the staples to be taken out as she was sure this was the cause of the problem, vet wanted to leave them in until Wed, since taken out she has settled well and is back to normal !

Great. :-)