Strange bump under the chin?

Question
My female rat Dawson is about 4 months old and I noticed a strange bump under her chin last night. It looks to be something like a pimple not ready to be popped and recently I went to the vet for my cat for something that looked a bit similar and it turned out to be cat acne. Anyway she has this bump under her chin, and if I try and touch it, feel or press it she starts to cry and throw her little paws at me so obviously it hurts her alot. I think it also may be giving her trouble eating as she only eats soft things, rather than the seeds or normal rat food. The only things I can think of that it could be are an abcess, tumor or cyst perhaps. It doesn't have any form of scab as such and my other rat doesn't have any symptoms of it either. Are my suspicions on what it is possibly correct or could it just be a pimple? I have no idea if rats even get pimples under their chin though. I have checked everything else on her, and it all appears to be fine.

Answer
Hi Sarah

Sounds like the start of an abscess. Try to see if she allows you to hold a warm compress on it. It will more than likely come to a head in the next day or so.  How do her teeth look? You can compare her teeth to the photos on my website but I wanted to be sure this was not an abscess coming from her bottom teeth. Check for an odor from her mouth, too.

My next question is, I know you have a general vet for kitty, but its a good idea to find one for the rat just in case. AN exotic vet is the best bet and they are hard to come by. If you need help finding one, please let me know and I will gladly help you find one!

Let me know about her teeth!  Here is the URL to my site and the page about teeth:

http://www.freewebs.com/crittercity/thosemarvelousteeth.htm