Lump on side

Question
QUESTION: In the past few months my rat Lily has had a lump growing on her side, behind her left front leg. It started out as just a bald patch and then a small pea sized limp appeared, but a week later it was gone, this continued to happen for about a month. Recently when the lump returned, it more than tripled in size in only a week or two. It feels a bit squishy, and moves when I touch it, and she doesn't seem to be in any pain. There are no vets in my area that offer services for exotic pets, so I don't really know what to do, since she is around 3 years old, I'm not even sure if it would be worth the risk to her to have it done.  Any help/advice you can give would be greatly appreciated.

Jessica

ANSWER: Hi Jessica


From what it sounds like as per your description, it seems that your Lily has an abscess. Often, they come and go and are mushy and moveable.
Is the lump under the fur or did she lose the fur due to the lump?
Is there a scab or a pit or crater in the center of it or anywhere on it at all?

Here is what you can do in order to determine if its an abscess or not:
Hold a warm compress on it the best you can. One of my readers wrote and suggested also to fill up a sock with rice and nuke it in the microwave to warm it (test it on yourself on your wrist first to be sure its not too hot) and hold that on the lump instead of a wet compress that the rat may object to.
Once you do that, see if it gets even more "squishy" and try to squeeze it yourself by following these directions:
Put your fingers around the base of the lump getting under it as best you can, and slowly and gently apply steady pressure to it. It may or may not pop and the rat may just yell at you for this. Try just a few times and stop unless Lily doesn't mind, but something tells me she may just protest to this.
Let it go and later on, try again to apply the warm compress.
If after a few days nothing happens and it doesn't develop a scab or pop on its own (you will notice a pit or crater in it and it will become alot smaller if it bursts on its own without you seeing it happen)
If it does burst on its own, you need to clean it with warm water and apply antibiotic ointment into the open hole several times a day.

It still may be an abscess and not want to burst on its own, but it could be a mammary tumor since this is a location for them to be found.
I can find a vet for you, even if you don't think there is one, there probably is someone that may be out further from you, perhaps an hour or so away. Even though she is 3, if she is healthy otherwise, surgery would not be a risk any more than if she were a year old. Age is a number, not a disease, and again, a healthy 3 year old is no more of a risk than a healthy youngster. A skilled vet could remove that in no time if its a tumor or lance it and clean it out if its an abscess.
Not treating the tumor if its a mammary tumor? She may be just fine and continue on for many more months with it as it slowly starts to cause trouble for her health. I have let mammary tumors on my sickly rats that have had lung disease that I knew would not make it during surgery and some of them lived   nearly a year with the tumor before it finally caused organ failure due to many factors that the tumor was responsible for...so NOT doing anything if its a tumor is not a bad thing at her age, either.
Its hard for me to tell you what to do at this point since she is 3 years old and has lived to her life expectancy. My oldest rat was 2 months shy of her 4th birthday and she had a tumor removed at 3 years old and did great and I know it would have killed her much sooner if I let it go since it was fast growing and she was losing weight fast.
However, if there are no vets that are qualified to do surgery on her of course, your hands are tied, although again, I may be able to find someone that is about 30 miles from you or so that may be worth seeing. Often people write and say they live out in "no mans land" and have no vets for their rats and when I pull out my list of certified exotic vets I have found at least one, sometimes several.
I only have a few in my area too and in fact I have to drive 40 minutes to see the one I use so don't feel so bad. Its a shame there are so few vets out there that see small animals when they are more and more becoming a very popular addition to the family as a household pet!

Keep me posted as to what you want to do and if you have anymore questions please don't hesitate to ask!

Sandra

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

QUESTION: Thank you.
Although I had to drive to another town, I found a vet, because I was too terrified of hurting Lily myself. He used a syringe and tried to remove pus from her lump to see if he could get anything, and nothing came out. She is on antibiotics right now, but he said it is more than likely a tumor.


So even though it's not slowing her down now, but she is sleeping a bit more than usual would it still be a good idea to get it removed?

Answer
Hi

It probably is a tumor if he didnt get any pus out:(

I had a feeling since it is the prime location for mammary tumors to grow.

Did he advise you on if he thought it was a good idea to operate on her or not?

Its hard for me to tell you what to do at her age. I would feel terrible if she would have a hard time with the surgery and recovery since she is still doing good now.


I always suggest it when the rat is 2 or 2.5 and even closer to 3, but it can grow back, sometimes right away....

I would say that this tumor will not really start to cause problems with her health for several more months yet.

I would ask the vet about lupron injections once a month rather than surgery.  Lupron is a hormone that stops the production of estrogen, which is what fuels mammary tumors. It may shrink her tumor and it also should prevent growth of new tumors too. If she were my rat, that is probably the route I would take at this time since she is older.