Poleybear was a little angel: despite the operation and the foreign environment he was very friendly. He did not at all look like he was going “to have a go” at his stitches. Well…, when we checked on him early next morning we found that he had pulled his stitches out over night!  It is difficult to prevent this problem in rats as none of the usual  protective meassures work well. We decided to bandage his abdomen to prevent further chewing. We made the decision to keep Poleybear in for one more night. Again he was an innocent looking fellow  while watched by us – but what a surprise we found the next morning: annoyed that he couldn’t have a go at his stitches again, Poleybear had eaten through the end of his snuggle sack!

We feared the mass might be a tumor as they are very common in rats, but we were all relieved to find out that the mass removed was in fact an internal abscess.   Poleybear went home the next day were Philippa kept him separated from his rat friends for 10 days. After the successful stitch removal he is now back with his friends and back to his old self.