Older female rat - skin condition, loosing hair + scabs

Question
QUESTION: Hello,

My beloved pet rat, Molly is getting up there in age - maybe around 2 years old.  She has been through so much with a severe ear infection about 5 months ago and has a large tumor on her tummy that so far has not shown to have any effects on her health.  Our family truly loves her and has grown concerned in the past few weeks.  She seems to be scratching at her back, is loosing patches of hair and has developed scabs from the constant scratching/grooming.

I have tried bathing her, cleaning her cage our frequently and use newspaper and carefresh as her litter.  I am almost to the point where I want to lotion her up just to help her skin out but worry about it being toxic if she were to ingest it while cleaning her fur.

What is going on with her skin and how can I help to comfort her scratching so that she will not form scabs?!

We just want her to be comfortable in her old age.

Thank you so much.  (I think this is such a great resource for animal owners with questions.

ANSWER: Hi Angela

Sounds like a few things going on with little Molly. For starters, the tumor is more than likely causing problems you are not aware of.
WHat she has is a simple mammary tumor that can easily be removed which I highly recommend. These tumors begin to rob the body of the nutrients they need to sustain healthy vital organs, including her skin. It takes away the nutrients from the food she eats so she will probably start to lose weight soon if you have not noticed since.  Dry skin is going to be more common now and she may be getting too little of vitamins and minerals that she needs which could be causing the itching which leads to scabs from scratching.  She may also have mites which result from stress.  The hairloss could be a combo of lack of vitamins from the tumor and also from mites if she indeed has them, but I am leaning more toward the lack of vitamins. If the tumor is that large it is no doubt highly vascular.

WHat you can do for now is feed her a bit of olive oil on a cracker daily. This will help with any dry skin. You can put neosporin or generic antibiotic ointment on the sores and rub in well. It wont make her sick if she licks it but it wont work well, so keep her busy for at least 10 minutes for it to absorb. After that if she licks it off it wont matter as much.

Has the thought of removing this tumor crossed your mind at all? These tumors literally "peel" off of the rat and surgery is usually without incident especially if the rat is in good health. Age is not a real problem. You can take a 2 year old rat that is in good health and a 1 year old that has had several respiratory infections etc... the older rat would have a better chance at recovery than the

Is she eating ok and what does her diet consist of?

Please let me know if she has a vet to care for her too...an exotic vet that is able to care for rats and do the surgery if you want to consider it. It would give her more time her on this earth with you if you have that removed because eventually she will pass away from organ failure.  

Again, please let me know the few things I asked you and also, how is she doing today?  How long has she had the tumor, I forgot to ask...

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

QUESTION: I am kind of in shock after reading your response.  I never equated the itching with the tumor and the thought that she is somehow suffering has really struck me.

I wish I could just take her into an exotic vet for surgery but I have had a very awful experience with the local exotic vet in our area - who I took my other lil rattie in to have put to sleep after she had what looked like to be a severe stroke 4 months back.  They put my beloved Izzy to sleep and then while I was crying in the waiting room (I went by myself) slammed me with a huge bill and included a so called "exam charge" that was disclosed to me before I had arrived.  I had called them to ask a lot of questions before going in that day.  When I asked to have the exam charge removed from the bill the Dr. insisted it was state law and she could not forgoe it even though Izzy did not need an exam.  Just imagine, an extra $40 exam fee on top of the euthanasia charge even though I went in specifically to put my little one out of misery and knew there was no needed treatment.  And the worst part is the doctor did no exam because she was already paralyzed from the stroke and had been so very sick.  After a long battle of trying to reason with the vet the next day (while still grieving for my loss of Izzy) and going through the better business burea to file a complaint, it has seriously scarred how I perceive "exotic" vets operate only because I have been ripped off by one that took advantage of me and my pet.

Just walking into the doors of some of these so called "exotic" vets will cost you a standard exam fee or $30+.  God forbid you need medication or surgery.  I really wish I had not had such a horrible experience.  I wish there was a way to find a local vet that I knew was taking care of rats for the right reasons - to help the owners and the little ones to get better - not to make a profit.  As you can read, I've been seriously traumatized by that experience.

How would I find someone I could even trust to do the surgery?  How much does a surgery of that usually cost - cost of post-op meds?  and are there complications which I should know about?  How do the rats do in terms of healing?

I want the best for Molly but don't want to be taken advantage of again.

As for your questions - she is very healthy other than the scratching.  I would say she has had the tumor for a few months - it is between her back legs on her tummy.  She eats/drinks/plays as if nothing is there.  The scratching started a few weeks ago but seems to be getting more severe.  I fed her crackers with olive oil last night and will continue to do so.

You advise is greatly appreciated.  Thank you

Answer
I am so sorry you went through that. It was pretty rude to say the least. We would never even expect anyone to deal with the bill the same day they put their pet to sleep. As for state law for an exam first? Thats BS...what it is called is GREED!!!!

The vet I see is strictly an avian and exotic vet, board certified. I am appalled a board certified exotic vet would be so cold hearted and in fact next time you write you can make it private and tell me the name of this vet...something tells me she is not a real exotic vet, just one that has a special interest in it and sees them on the side. I would expect more compassion from any vet to be honest.  I am sorry this happened to you. I can see why you would be afraid to trust any vet again but I would not let that stop me from getting that mammary tumor removed from her before it really gets too vascular. When that occurs that means there is more blood vessels that can cause the surgery to be a bit more risky than it would have been earlier in the game.

If you want I can help find a vet for you...I can find as much as I can and together we can be able to find out how they treat their clients.
All I need is your location, zip code etc...
I dont know if you realize that there are just a few hundred board certified exotic vets in the entire world.  I think California has the most with 41 and Texas I believe has maybe 20 something.  We only have 13 in NC....so there are not very many that are available.

I had a very bad experience with a vet once years ago who was a self proclaimed exotic vet. She was a general vet that saw small mammals on the side but her ad stated they saw exotics too which leads most people that are hungry for a vet for their rat to believe she was educated properly in all aspects of exotics.  She killed my rat during a regular neuter. Now I understand all surgery carries a risk but this was a healthy 5 month old buck. I knew the second I picked him up that he was not right. He was freezing cold and lethargic and I begged her to open him up but she told me to keep my nose out of the vet text books .....I was right and he died.  Yes I got her in mega trouble too because a necropsy was done and it was determined she did not properly clamp off a blood vessel and he bled slowly to death just like I knew he was. She was ORDERED to remove the ad that mislead people into thinking she was a board certified exotic vet because she wasnt....but she did keep her license. I was happy with the outcome though at least someone cared. I didnt think much would be done since he was a rodent but the board truly did care.

Anyhow, please let me know if you want me to help. I know there are vets that truly care about the well being of their clients....you just had a really bad experience unfortunately.  I would love to know who it was though just to see her credentials!!