Mamory Tumor.

Question
Hey Sandra,
Haven't had to email you in a long time!
So, i only have one rat left, my poor lonely girl, but i can't get anymore as i am going to be going to college next year.
Anyways, my girl is about 2 years old and has been super healthy until now. (no breathing problems for once! can you believe it?)
Last week i started noticing that she had a lot of scabs around her head and shoulders, i checked her and theres no mites or anything just scabs. so i watched for a couple days and he is scratching a lot more around her neck and shoulders then usual. Not to sure why, there's nothing there. Might just be dry skin is what i am thinking. But that's not my biggest problem.
On Sunday i had her out and was playing with her and everything looked normal but on Monday morning when i woke up and went to feed her i noticed while she was walking that she had a lump on her stomach. i took her out and checked it. its on/in the last teat closest to her hind legs on her left side. its about the size of a gum ball and hasn't grown since Monday. Its squishy, feels like a fatty lump but gets more firm closer to the middle of it.  She doesn't like it when i touch it, but it doesn't seem to be hurting her at all, just uncomfortable i guess. She is still eating and drinking fine and still going to the washroom regularly.
I don't know if this would be related to her feet or not but since she was a baby she had what we thought was bumble foot but it kept growing until, well now it is the size of a dime. It doesn't have a lot of fluid in it, the vet couldn't get anything out when i brought her in to get checked. I've tried soaking it in Epsom salt but i don't see a point, it just makes it bleed then it gets pussy and gets more dirt in it then before we started. And its not bothering her at all so i don't want to make her stressed just to make the foot worse. I have stopped with the Epsom salt. But just starting since the beginning of last month theres another sore coming up on the other foot, a lot smaller, but looks the same.
Do you think that these would be tumors? Some sort of cancer?

Thank you!

Answer
Hi Teagan

Sorry to hear about the rats health problems:(

Lets start with the scabs...mites and lice are tough to see, and since they only get on the rat long enough to feed (they are anaplura so they suck their blood) they live in the litter and among the cage toys etc....85% of the time and the other time they get on the rat.  This is why you cant depend on your eyes to see them. IF you CAN see them, you have a pretty hefty infestation of them.

However, high protein diet is known to cause scabs and itching, esp on the face and shoulders.  I am sure you know this and keep their diet adjusted to the proper amount of protein needed.

On to her lump....I wish it would be an abscess and hoping you tell me that it has snce formed a little bit of necrotic tissue over it (what others assume is a scab and usually I describe it as a scab to avoid confusion and steer away from medical jargon best I can...lol)  but she is the right age, unfortunately, and this is one of the prime locales for a mammary tumor.

I am glad she uses the washroom good.  LOL  thats cute how you said that...:)

All joking aside, lets talk about her feet....sounds like classic bumble foot.  The ulcerations can get huge, so big they are the size of nickels and even can be seen when the rat is standing up on his feet, you can see the flesh protruding out from under the rats foot. I have had several rats with it, mainly bucks, but a few females that are chubby.  There are many remedies to help, some work others dont.  Sometimes the culprit is staph bacteria since it is the most common bacteria shed from both the rats and even humans.  It has nothing to do with the mammary tumor and it is not cancerous.  What you can do for the bumbles is keep the cage super clean and dry and pad it with fleece.  These are like pressure sores/bed sores and come from pressure and the break down of the skin often seen in chubbier rats. If there is a itty bitty cut on the foot and the rat stands in bacteria, thats all it takes to form the bumbles.  

Oral antibiotics are used but dont always work. sometimes its a good idea to biopsy it to see the culprit, sometimes its even from a fungus.

try using neosporin too.