1 year old male rat has lump

Question
Hi: my 1 year old male rat, Winston, has developed a soft, moveable lump on his right side, near the abdomen. Winston is not neutered. The lump has become apparent only in the last week. There is no scab and it is not draining. However the tip appears to be red. He does not mind me poking at it. In fact he thinks I am grooming him and he grinds his teeth and tries to groom me in return. I have only ever had male rats, but have never had this occur before. He is a rather chunky boy. He is very active, eats and plays as usual. He eats a varied diet that includes tons of mixed spring lettuces (his favorite), apples, cheerios(for a treat) along with his rat specific food. I am very scared that this may be malignant. One thing is that he was part of a litter of tail-less males. The hind legs of one of his brothers were completely reversed backwards and did not function. We adopted Winston from a pet store.

Thank you.

Trish

Answer
If its a tumor, I would think it would be benign, as I find most malignant tumors to be hard (or at the very least, firm). If there is no scab and it has yet to drain, that does take me away from the assumption that it's an abscess, but not entirely. The next step would be to hot pack it and see if you can get it to come to a head. If within a few days you have made no progress, my assumption would be that it is in fact a fatty tumor, and from there I'd recommend having it checked out and if possible, removed.

Good luck!