Rat tumar or obcess

Question
Hello. My rat has a tumar thing on her stomach. I felt it befor and it felt sorta of attached. Well I looked at her cage and their is a whole in her stomach. It's not bleeding out or any organs falling out but i looked thru it ( I want to be a vet when i get older) and it was a mass of pinkish red fat and it had black spots. I am suspicious its a cancerous tumar. But im hoping its a simpless abcess.

Answer
Good news. You will make a great Vet when you get older because you are right, it is an abscess or at least it sounds like it is.

What you need to do now is clean it very well for her. Its important you clean it good.  How long did she have the lump before it opened up and caused a gaping wound?


Make sure no more pus is in there.  Alot of people spell it "PUSS" but it only has one "S" just in case you were not sure. Puss means "cat" like Pussy cat.  This is for other people that get confused with how to spell the word pus.  Anyhow, the pus may be green and thick like toothpaste, or yellow or just white and it may spell terrible. If there is more in it, try to squeeze it gently from under the lump.

You need to use plain saline solution or hibicleanse (found at drug stores) but if you do not have that, use clean warm water to rinse it out.  Just use either a syringe or a cotton ball loaded with the cleaning solution. Squeeze the cotton ball so the liquid goes in the wound and pat it dry carefully. She will probably fight you like crazy.

When your done with that, put a blob of antibiotic ointment on it best you can and if you can keep her busy for a few minutes so she doesnt lick it, thats good. Dont worry if she does lick it off though it wont hurt.  Just use enough about the size of a  q-tip head unless the hole is bigger.   Do this a few times a day.  It should close up and her fur will grow back soon.   Can you take a photo of it?  YOu can attach the picture right here on our follow up.  That would help me for sure so I am totally positive that its an abscess but it sounds like one.