lump in stomach/bowels????

Question
I have a rat about 2 yrs old- after cleaning her cage- I noticed a lump about the size of a dime on her belly-It feels like it may be intestinal blockage but not sure?- this is the first time I have had a rat and not sure what to do? Should I try some home remadies or what? Not sure really what it is or what to do?

Answer

It could be one of two things....but not an intestinal block unless you tell me she is in pain and has not had a bowel movement lately etc...

It could be an abscess, which rats are very prone to getting. usually they are a bit squishy and soft, but they can be hard too. They may have a crater or pit in the center or they may have a scab or black color on the top. If that is what you see, let me know, because that would be better news than the next thing I am going to say which would be a mammary tumor.  Dont let the word TUMOR scare you. This is very common as well in our female rats that are not spayed. Females usually go through menopause, or the end of their estrus cycle, around 18 months of age, give or take a few months. When this occurs, estrogen levels rise, and this fuels the growth and development of mammary tumors in the rats mammary tissue. The mammary glands are scattered all over the underside of the rat, both male and female, although males do not have nipples. Males may get them but they are more common in females and often if a male gets them, they usually get one and do not have any more grow.
With girls, its not that simple.  The good news is, they can be removed easily by a SKILLED exotic specialist.  Dont let the word specialist scare you into thinking we are talking high dollar, because they are about the same as a regular vet.  However, even if they are a bit more, its worth the money because a non certified vet, in other words, a regular vet that sees exotics but is not a certified exotics vet do not have even half the education in exotics that is needed and its a nice thing that they try to work with rats the best they can, often it makes things worse for the rat and costs more money for the client. One time a while back I founda  great exotic vet for some lady and her rat. The exotic vet wanted $60 for the first visit, which was a big long thorough consultation, and she said NO WAY and went to a regular vet that charged her just $30 for the visit. With meds the total was around $60 which she proudly proclaimed victory to me saying she would have paid that alone for just an exam.  However, her rat continued to be sick, and in fact, became even more ill and we found out her vet totally misdiagnosed her rat, as I had tried to tell her. So she went to yet another NON exotic vet that charged her $35 for the visit and this time with meds the total came to over $100.  So we have now invested $160 in this rat that has seen non exotic vets and this poor rat continued to be sick....so FINALLY she went to the exotic vet and when she got there, she found that none of the meds used were even warranted for the rats condition so she had wasted all of this money. The vet gave her a good old fashioned script for penicillin and her rat was better within 3 days.  It cost her a total of $70 since the penicillin was inexpensive.  So all in all she dished out $230 on three vets when, if she had done it right the first time, she would have just paid $70 and the rat would have been better long ago.  Sorry for the rant, this is for others that may be reading this because alot of folks read through these threads looking for answers to their questions before asking me, so now they have learned something new about Vets today too, without even asking.  :)

Anyhow, you may ask if she can live with this tumor if indeed it is one and the answer is no. It will claim her life eventually even though chances are it is not cancerous, it still can cause problems. Please read my site on info and see photos about mammary tumors too and let me know when your done reading it.  Also, if you need a vet, no obligation of course, I will be happy to give you some names if you let me know your location, zip code or city etc...
Here is the URL to my site and this is the link right to the page on tumors:
http://www.freewebs.com/crittercity/allabouttumors.htm