The rat whose face fell off - NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH!

[Chelsey]

Ok, so I have this rat named Molly that has some sort of chronic skin problem that causes her to have abcesses on her face. They don't hurt her, they're just kinda there (like a pimple). As long as I stay on top of things and keep them clean there's not a problem. Well, this has been a super busy week for me and so I decided to see what would happen if I let nature take its course with the biggest of the abcesses...BAD IDEA. Shortly after Steve left last night I was able to take care of Molly. As I was cleaning her face here's what happened:

HER FACE FELL OFF! There was no blood or anything, those pics were taken like a minute or two after that happened. She didn't even squeal! My roomie, also a prevet person, and I were SHOCKED! Both of us have been around vet clinics for a while now and have never seen anything remotely like this! If you are able to take a close enough look at the piece that fell off you'll notice that the skin itself (not the infection stuff) is black, meaning that the tissue was dead. I just thought this was insanely weird and that maybe a few of you guys that have some medical/science background would appreciate the uniqueness of this situation. Sorry if I crossed the line with the graphic pics, you can delete this thread if necessary.

 

[Shooter7]

Gross! And I'm sitting here eating lunch too!






But now I have the urge to get a cream filled cupcake.....

 

[Chelsey]

Haha! You're disgusting :lol: However, I did put a nice bit warning on my post, so you can't blame me for you looking at it

 

[Ocicat]

The poor thing - so that is a piece from her cheek?

I had a pet rat in college, Nicodemus, and he was the coolest pet I've ever had for several months. Then his personality started changing, and he started biting people. I still have a scar on my wrist from those teeth. I'm not really sure whether he truly went crazy, or if it was that he reached maturity and just developed a nasty, rather feral temperament with maturity.

As I imagine you know, pet rats rarely stay healthy for very long. I have read that they're prone to brain tumors, which could be what happened to Nic. Rats aren't generally bred to be pets; they're bred to be used in experimentation or as snake food. It's really too bad; they are very clever and have tons of personality.

 

[Chelsey]

Yeah, it's from her cheek

My three girls are awesome... so much personality! In my experience male rats that aren't neutered start to get aggressive, that's why I have my girlies I really wish more would be done to improve the health and longevity of these guys.

 

[StupidsReef]

Interesting Indeed. So had you let nature continue to run it's coarse then I assume that the blood cells would have formed a scab under the dead tissue, then allowing this piece to fall off??

Or is there something more to the virus that the rat has??

 

[Chelsey]

I think that the piece would've indeed fallen off. The area that's blank on her cheek has already scabbed over and she's doing great.