RE: Lump on male rats rib cage?

Question
Hi Sandra, sorry I never got back to you but I didn't get an email saying you had answered the ques!

Anyways I was the one enquiring about my male rat's lump on his rib cage...

You couldn't see the lump, it was only obvious when you felt around the area, and it is near the bottom of his ribs not near the armpit.

I took him to the vets and he said that it is a floating rib? ie he has broken it at some point and the lump is a calcium build up?

However, the lump is growing still and you can just about see it now without having to touch him, Im aiming to take him back on Tues but do you have any ideas of what it could be? Could it still be an inner abcess? or is it likely to be something more serious?

He is eating, drinking and running around fine when he is out but he has been more sleepy recently...

Thanks Again

Anderley

Answer

Your vet is incorrect. A floating rib is NOT from a previous break. How do I know?  Because I have one myself. It is, in fact, a birth defect. A floating rib is simply two of the lowest pair of ribs that have no anterior attachment to the sternum. This makes the rib tend to roll under the rib cage causing temporary pain until it floats back into position.   This is absolutely NOT your rats problem. It is rarely seen in rats.  Its a dog thing if anything, which leads me to believe your vet is a general DVM that sees exotics on the side but is not a board certified avian/exotic vet.

You need another vet, obviously, that can tell the difference between a mass and a calcium deposit.  Please let me know your location and I will gladly give you some names of good vets that see rats.
Just the other day a girl wrote to me about her rat that had an abscess for four months. One look at the photo and I knew from experience that it was indeed an abscess, but it was an abscessed tumor. Eventually this would have killed her due to mass infection. I found them a better vet and the vet echoed my diagnosis, saying it was a tumor that had abscessed and must be removed. If they did not get this little girl to a vet that knew about rats she would haved gotten seriously ill.
She is having in removed next week!            

Anyhow let me know your location and I will get back to you as soon as I can with names of good vets for small mammals.