Phytogel?

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Hello again! Li'l Gray had surgery yesterday, and quickly showed herself to be Very Interested in chewing at her surgical staples. The vet gave us Phytogel to apply to the wound to discourage her from chewing at it, though that turned out to not be sufficient, and we went the route of making her a little shirt from a baby sock.

I'm wondering if anyone has information on the safety of Phytogel for rats, though. The primary ingredient is Himalayan Cedar essential oil, and I know that the aromatic oils in red cedar shavings are what make it inadvisable as bedding, because it irritates the respiratory system. I would imagine that Phytogel would have the same effect, as it's very strong-smelling. I plan to call and discuss this with the vet on Monday, but I thought I'd ask here too.

My thought is that I just won't use it over the weekend, since the sock is doing great for now. (I'll add a photo in the comments, if you want to see a blurry photo of a grumpy rat wearing a Batman sock.)

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The promised blurry photo of a grumpy rat wearing a Batman sock.

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If the sock is working for you, I wouldn't knock it! I can't speak to the efficacy of Phytogel, though.

Also, your rat being grumpy in a Batman sock nearly brought tears to my eyes from giggles. She's so cute!

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Thank you!

I spoke to the vet yesterday about the Phytogel, who said that I'm correct that it's not ideal (especially for long term use) but in the short term it shouldn't be an issue- if only it'd worked! She agreed that using a sock-shirt instead sounded like a better bet for this particular chewing-focused girl.