Another Surgery for Holden

Tuesday night, I went to take Holden out of his cage for some more playtime and to fill up his food dish, and his face was bleeding. What the ???? I tried not to freak out, but, well... I was freaking out. I tried everything I have read on stopping the bleeding on rats, and even what I've read about for my birds. Nothing stopped it... not to mention, his obsession / compulsion to keep scratching at it!

After over an hour of trying to stop the bleeding, and trying to get a poorly fitting E-collar (yes, those collars that you see on cats and dogs after surgeries and such) to stay on his head, I gave up... off we went, at 9:45pm, to the Emergency Vet Clinic. (Need I mention that it's $75 to walk
in the door between 5:30pm and midnight?!)

Holden and I fell asleep in the examination room at one point while we were waiting... me sitting upright with my head against the wall, and Holden on my left sholder.

Anyway, we were there until about 11:30 or so, and he left with an E-collar on and a very messy face. I denied more treatment, due to their seeming lack of knowledge on rats and how to sedate them... I checked on him several times throughout the night and took him to his "regular" Vet (Dr. Joe Bock) first thing in the morning for treatment.

Turns out, the little brown dot that was on his cheek since I got him was part of a cyst! This shocked me, as it wasn't even raised... more of a
freckle or a mole. Holden had scratched the cyst into drainage! ACK! He had to go under general anesthesia and have the cyst removed (nothing worrisome was found underneath the surface), and received four stitches on his little tiny face. I wonder if he feels like he's a "tough guy" now... w/ the big shaven scar on his face? haha Poor little guy!

He's been with me for a month, and he's already had two surgeries, which bums me out a bit. (Though the neutering was elective...)

He's doing great now... he's leaving the sutures alone, and I didn't have to put the E-collar back on... thank goodness!