Information, story, and photos courtesy of Karen Grant, RN and Rat Guide.

Theme, content inspiration, and editing by Gwen Lindsey and Karen Borga.

Question: When a rat incessantly tries to gnaw at her bandage or surgical wound, or, like Houdini, walks right out of her wrap, what do you do?

Answer: Explore various types of bandaging and wrapping. Try an e-collar. Assess the reasons why the rat is frantically worrying the wrapping and/or the incision. Try different strategies to see if you can address the problem, even if you haven't fully understood the cause.

1. Some suture material can feel so foreign to rats that they feel the need to try and groom it off. Discuss with your vet, prior to the surgery, the advantages and disadvantages of using one type of material (e.g. surgical adhesive, staples, wire sutures) versus another, based on the type and extent of the surgery and where it will be located on the body.
2. Surgical adhesive (a type of glue) is a valuable suture material and has its place with certain types of wound skin closures on rats; however, if when applied it seeps into the wound, it can irritate and set up an inflammatory response. In addition rats may groom off the surgical adhesive, thereby opening the wound.
3. If there is any thought that drainage from the wound will be anticipated or is likely, or that the rat may groom the site in excess, it may be better to use steel clips or staples, or an interrupted type of suturing with steel wire sutures.
4. Rats experience pain in much the same way as humans do. Pain may be more acute with some wounds depending on how involved the surgery is and where it is on the body. A rat may do well with only an NSAID (e.g. Metacam, Carprofen, Banamine) to control pain, but with more involved surgery the addition, or co-administration, of an opioid (e.g., Torbutrol, Buprenex) or a narcotic-like (e.g., Tramadol) medicine may make for a more comfortable rat.
5. Assess the bandage: is the design flawed, does it have poor coverage, is it too easy to get out of, does it interfere with mobility such as eating and drinking, or will urine or feces soil the wrap?

• Four weeks later another mass, slightly larger than the first mass, was discovered in the left mammary chain, ventral-lateral just above the left hind limb (see arrow to the site on photograph below), and the decision was made to have it removed. This time it required tying off a few more vessels and removing a tiny amount of muscle along with the tumor.
• Again (as with the first tumor removal surgery) the vet used dissolvable subcutaneous sutures and the dermis was closed with surgical adhesive. Metacam was given post-op, once Ana recovered from anesthesia, to control pain. However, because she continually chewed at the site, we believed pain was still a factor, and so the vet applied a small amount of lidocaine at the site to numb the pain. This too did not seem to help so an injection of buprenorphine was given.
• Unfortunately, though to a lesser degree, Anastasia continued to try to chew at the site. The vet made the decision apply an e-collar, which was designed so that Anastasia could access her water bottle and eat from a shallow dish. (E-collar pictured here and construction instructions here.)
• While at home and closely observed she seemed to do alright with one additional injection of buprenorphine in the evening for pain. Unfortunately, into the early morning hours she managed to squeeze out of the e-collar and open the wound. The site was immediately cleansed, surgical adhesive was reapplied, and Ana was placed in a semi-restrictive full body wrap (see below), since she had managed to escape a smaller wrap (not shown) previously applied. The hope was that this full body wrap would be needed only a temporarily until pain was more controlled or wound healing begun.

• While in the full body wrap, Anastasia managed to tuck her foot up inside the bottom of the wrap (pictured above). Even though she could easily move her foot in and out of the wrap, she chose to sleep that way. This resulted in the development of lymphedema (swelling of tissue due to retention of fluid in the lymph vessels) in her foot, which resolved once the wrap was removed.
• Even with the wrap removed and additional pain medication given, and close observation, Anastasia continued to make every effort to try to chew the site.
• At this point, still at home, a new, resized e-collar was applied, but she again escaped, and again groomed the wound open. We hoped, this time, that the wound was apposed enough (edges close enough together) to permit healing on its own, but unfortunately that was not to be because Anastasia was obsessed with the wound.
• A modified wrap like that seen below was applied prior to transporting to the vet, where the wound was cleansed, and staples instead of glue were used to re-close the wound. The vet applied the same type of modified wrap as seen below using tape to anchor the wrap to the fur so it could not be pulled off.

This final modified bandage did the trick. Anastasia became much more comfortable and did not bother the dressing or the wound site. We believe that because the final surgery was slightly more involved, her discomfort had been increased. This, coupled with her increased sensitivity to the surgical adhesive, had resulted in her incessant attempts to get at the wound.