lump!!!

keep an eye on it and monitor its growth and her energy levels. most lumps are benign but they can grow to a size that could cause problems. you should discuss with your vet your best option when dealing with them. soe don't grow too large and though the rat won't be winning any beauty contests but will be fine. having said that though that is not always the case, it is possible that she could have cancer. if that's the case you'll notice soon enough if she goes off food or starts to lose weight even though she's eating lots. unfortunately there isn't a lot taht can be done for the malignant tumors as often by the time they're noticable the cancer has spread to other parts of the body. some steriods can be used but i just wait for the rat to tell me on her own when she's ready to go and don't normally bother with the steroids. however it COULD be a simple abcess which antibiotics and perhaps draining will fix right up. without seeing it myself i can't tell you which it is. all you can do in the meantime is watch and wait. i hope all goes well.

cute markings.

yeah, that looks more like a tumor to me. an abcess would be near or on a wound and would at least be red and sore. the best thing for now wold be to keep an eye on it and document its growth so you can get an idea for its rate of growth. watch her weight and activity levels, if they go down it could be a sign that the tumor is malignant. at that size it shouldn't bother her too much for mobility. can you touch it? what does it feel like? are there any hard bumps inside that you can feel? when you can take her in to see a vet to get the vet's opinion on if it needs to be removed or not. how old is the rat? she may need surgery and the older the rat the less well they cope. though with a good vet and previous good health most rats do just fine. my 27 month old rat, Spider is going in next thursday to have hers removed. the problem with these types of tumors though, even if they're benign is hat if they don't get every little peice the tumor will come back. so its easier if the tumor is free floating and on the smaller side (about the size it is now would be good) then when it gets bigger. but the larger ones can be removed as well. so long as the tumor doesn't get bigger then the rat cause then the blood loss from the surgery alone would more likely kill the rat. but any, for now, monitor it and document it. when you can ge the vet to look at it and your records and go from there. i hope everything turns out well.

so i just had a rather largish lump removed from my 27 month old rat. she came home groggy and sooky yesterday evening and is bouncing and climbing the walls of her cage today. she seems to have more energy then she did before the operation and seems much happier. the scar is quite large and there is some minor seepage. i'm keeping that wiped up as best i can with a warm washcloth and she seems to it when i clean it gently that way and starts bruxxing. the odd thing was that the majority of the lump was really an abcess. the vet said it was caused by the abnormal tissue (tumor) but the treatment would have been pretty much the same had she known the extent of exactly what was what anyway. it was pricy, cost me $171 CDN but i'm very happy i did it. the vet and i talked about another rat i have in my care (fostering until her owner can get a bigger cage) about her lumps but we're fairly sure that operation wouldn't be much help. there are two masses and they seem to have a line of tissue attaching right to side. given also the speed of the spread its likely its spread to the other mammorary tissue as well and any operation would only be a small stopper as other tumors were likely to develop. we discussed spaying at the same time to perhaps reduce the risk of more tumors or at least their growth speed but to add that to the lump removals adds greatly to her risk of not making it through the operation. also she has already gone through puberty so though it will reduce her risk of further growths it won't be as significant if she was done eariler and you can not be sure exactly its benifits at this time. we discussed perhaps doing multiple surgeries but the time inbetween will give he limps more time to grow and make each later surgery even more risky, and multiple surgies are going to be tough on her. though all this discussion is probably useless anyway as violet's owner is unlikely to pay so much for an operation in the first place, even if the tumor was one like spider's and about the best type to get rid of. she jsut doesn't have the money. in any case i just wanted to share that my spider baby (the rat in my sig) is doing wonderful after her tumor removal and vent a bit of my worries about violet. thanks for listening.