Rat consistently sneezing or huffing? And rat with small lump near vagina?

Question
QUESTION: Hi Sandra,

I just wrote to you about my rat Selfi and her sprained arm, but last night I
woke up to sounds coming from one of my other 3 rats, Phantama. It sounded
like a constant flow of sneezes, each spaced a second or two apart from one
another...as if she had something stuck in her nose almost, although I
listened closely and didn't hear any mucus-y snuffling or congestion in her
lungs. She was rescued from my local animal shelter last October and is about
9 months old and hasn't had any other health problems as far as I know. I
looked online and it says that it might be allergies, so I moved her cage out
of the bedroom it was in to see if that would help. I'm not sure if it did,
because although eventually she did stop sneezing after that, sometimes
she'll start sneezing again for no apparent reason. I also thought
that...perhaps it is just "huffing" that sometimes females do when they are
asserting their dominance. I always thought she was the subordinate rat in
my little trio, however. She did seem to be a little more aggressive toward
Sabine, though, who is probably the "alpha" of the group.

Furthermore, my other rat Sabine seems to have developed a small hard lump
directly above her vaginal opening. Its fairly small, maybe like half a pea in
length and width, and looks like the skin on it is a blue or purple color
underneath her fur. It doesn't seem to cause her any distress when  I touch it
and I haven't seen any growth in it since i spotted it yesterday. Whats your
take on it? I'd also like your opinion on how immediately I need to take them
to the vet, as I was going to be busy helping out with some of the rats at my
local shelter this weekend and need to know if i should cancel this. Thank
you so much I really find your answers most helpful!

ANSWER: It could be huffing, my males have done that if they were arguing.

However, they can sneeze over and over and over in a type of spasmodic sneezing episode. Does she have any congestion etc?

As for the lump...it sounds like an abscess. Try to hold a warm compress on it and if there is a scab, try to pick it a bit. Press firmly around the base of it and see if anything comes out. If so, you will want to irriate it with saline solution or just clean water, and apply neosporin to it.  Let me know what it looks like.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Yes, Phantama does seem to have a little congestion , buts its very hard to
notice I had to hold her nose against my ear to hear it, and it was only the
odd snuffle here and there.

As for Sabine, the lump seems to have all but disappeared since yesterday
afternoon. Earlier this evening there was a tiny sliver of a scab right above it,
but I just checked it again and even that seems to be gone now. Is it possible
that she punctured and drained the abscess on her own? I don't know enough
about abscesses in rats to know if that ever happens or if I should take her
into the vet still. Also, since i was handling male rats earlier today I think she
went into heat and her vagina was extra open... while i was inspecting for the
lump I could see some redness right beyond the vaginal opening...and I was
just wondering is that normal? it just looked like the inside was redder than
the outside. Thank you so much!

Answer
Yes sometimes it does get a bit more red in color due to the blood vessels dilating.  Even though they do not bleed during heat because their uterus doesnt have enough time to build up a lining to the uterus and shed it again like human women do, they do not bleed. They are in heat every 5 days for about 12 hours.

Also, chances she popped the abscess and cleaned it out on her own are pretty high, and in fact, this is very normal for them to do if they can reach it themselves.