Rat lump in throat

Question
Hello i recently bought a six week old rat and i notice that he had a few lumps. Two turned out to be abscess and there is still one on the under side of his throat i am not to sure about. I have a few questions. How can you tell the difference between and abscess and a tumor? The lump in rather larger in comparison to his size. How much would it cost to have a tumor removed from that area?? Can you successfully clean out an abscess with out the use of antibiotics??

Answer
This must have gotten lost because I have not heard back from you.  How are things going?  Did you ever get my last email?

If not, I wanted to let you know that yes, you can keep an abscess cleaned out and not give oral antibiotics. In most cases they are not warranted anyhow and heal up nicely on their own with a little extra help from you.   An abscess usually is squishy and movable while a tumor is fixed in one place and hard.  An abscess may have a scab in the center and if you pick it, it will end up being necrotic tissue and pus will come out after you pick it off.  Has the lump opened up at all yet?