Twiggy - Not a Tumor?? Scab's Off..Icky Pic Time

I am putting up a new post for Twiggy and will post the history all in his own thread for learning purposes so you can go through it with me and we can possibly learn something new.


On Feb. 7th I noticed a swelling that wrapped under his jaw...feels incredibly invasive, from behind his jaw to under his jaw and inside.




My heart sunk :sad-p:

A week earlier there was absolutely nothing to see



Feb. 14th




Feb 20th the tumor develops a sore on it



Feb 24th the scabbing is more pronounced



Feb 28th advancing fast. At this point Jenny comes over and brought her anatomy books and from the location we guess is it a parotid salivary gland tumor.




Mar 5 the scab is bigger and thicker now...and its still not affecting him whatsoever




Mar7 he is now on abs and pain meds...the scab separated from the skin a little under the ear...there's a bit of surface pus, and now I start the balancing act...when do I take him in? He is happy and very much himself, just with a horrible beast thing on his jaw. So for now I will let him run and explore like he loves to do so much.




Mar 7 - That night I saw it had opened a bit more and I wanted to know if the pus was firmly embedded on the tissue surface or if it was removeable. So I sterilized a metal scraping implement and carefully tried a little scrape. Very removable! I actually carefully scraped out under the opening and pulled out a ton of this nasty cheesy abscess gunk. Then I flushed it and even more clots came out. for a short moment before Twiggy moved, I could see what looked like relatively normal muscle tissue on his jaw. I took pics the next morning.

Pics are under a spoiler from now on, as they could be very disturbing to others.
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Mar 8 - evening - the scab was opening up even more (probably from the flushing softening the scabbing and tissue holding it to his face). After more pain meds, I gently scraped at the back of that scabby ball and it was ALL cheesy pus again (not a ball of tumour like I was worried...I was able to almost core it out, then I flushed him again...poor Twiggy :sad3: )
Before removal

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After removal, the tissue looks raw and not as good as I was hoping, but I still can hope.

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After I work with him, he gets to run around on the floor which he adores and he forgives me quickly for his ordeal, bouncing around and climbing into my lap when I sit on the floor with him. From now on I only plan on flushing to see if I can get that scab-thing off his face to see if we have a chance.

Oh Shelagh, I'm so happy it looks like an abscess, or at least that most of it was an abscess. That hole looks really scary though.

I think a lot of us have decided that any tumours in that area is a death sentence due to our experiences with Zymbal gland tumours. But we need to remember there can be other things...like cysts and abscesses. This will be a good experience for us to see how this turns out with Twiggy.

That is horrible looking, but great news! Have you taken him to a vet? Sorry for the silly question, but I've seen great results after surgery to get rid of abcesses on humans. So glad its not a tumour!

Kibble said:

That is horrible looking, but great news! Have you taken him to a vet? Sorry for the silly question, but I've seen great results after surgery to get rid of abcesses on humans. So glad its not a tumour!

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I am working on this at home for now, but if it becomes beyond me he will be seeing Dr Munn. Right now I have the 2 barely available spots (they double-booked my appt's) for Issa and Lilith on Friday for their procedures...his is less urgent at this point.

Wow that looks terrible but I'm very glad that this means he may have a chance! Fingers crossed that it is just an abscess under there!

Is it too far back to be tooth related?

Dazzle87 said:

Wow that looks terrible but I'm very glad that this means he may have a chance! Fingers crossed that it is just an abscess under there!

Is it too far back to be tooth related?

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I am pretty sure...I'll know more once that huge cornified thing comes off or at least releases its hold more.

That is... well, incredibly disturbing and also disturbingly fascinating. I had to deal with six bouts of cellulitis a few years back, so my stomach's well prepared...

Definitely see if the scab can come off - my bet is the pus is being generated from that side (at least, that's how it looked in the photos) so it's probably a charming reservoir for bacteria.

Continue being such a wonderful boy for your mommy, Twiggy! You're a real trooper!

Wow!!!!!!

Lol, I saw spoiler and went right for it without reading! >_< Then went back to read.

The poor guy, but I will take mass of gross pus over tumor any day, especially with the tumor prognosis. I'm SO happy he has a fighting chance!!! (lol plus I cant wait to see that in person... you'll have to show me next week )

YAY Twiggy! Give him lots of his most favorite thing (haha I guess thats roam time on the floor?)

I'm not a squeamish person, in any way, but this made me squirm a bit!
Poor ratty, I hope he can get rid of this thing with your help!

Wow, I'm crossing my fingers hoping that Twiggy has an abscess instead of a tumour. Good luck little man! I know he's on pain meds. Is he on antibiotics too? If so, is there any way to get the pus cultured to get the best antibiotic?

Can tea tree oil be used on rats? I've had good results on skin things with pus (again, on humans!) using it in conjunction with antibiotics. Manuka honey is great for infected wounds, too. The sugar osmoses all the water out of the bacteria and kills them.

But totally what Joanne said, a bacterial culture would probably be even better.

OMG, I love pus. Love.

I have never been so pleased to be grossed out! It is wonderful that Twiggy has a chance. If he forgave you so quickly he must have been awfully glad to get rid of that ugly looking pus. :sick2:

Yucky but so glad it isn't a tumor!

Well I lied. I ended up fiddling more with Twiggy tonight. :undecided:

He is on abs as well as pain meds don't worry.

This time I gently cut pieces of the dead scab (and lining pus) off of his face...he let me get almost all of it! Its pretty inflamed and unhappy in there, and I used a Q-tip to gently wipe out the little bit of pus at the bottom...gave him more pain meds earlier this evening and gave him a bit more after. He really wasn't impressed with the flushing this time (it didn't do anything) but was very good about the cutting. Now that horrible pus isn't pressing against the tissue there, and air can get inside, I am hoping that it might heal better. I won't do anything tonight, but tomorrow I will put some fuciderm on it, the most amazing vet ointment ever. I have used it for pyo, infected toes (seems to get right in there and cure infections), but tonight it needs to rest.

More spoilers...less gross with pus (sorry Moon!) but more angry looking...which makes me sad. He's running on the floor right now. :nod:

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Yeah, that nastiness looks familiar. Though there is something strangely satisfying about removing pus from your rat . . .


also, at least you didn't name the thread "Smell This???" like Phyllis's cinnamon roll thread. :giggle:

Poor poor darling baby! But so good that it's out in the open!

Those striations across the muscle (or the flesh, anyway) - is that pus too, or some sort of fat deposit?

M0onkist said:

Poor poor darling baby! But so good that it's out in the open!

Those striations across the muscle (or the flesh, anyway) - is that pus too, or some sort of fat deposit?

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There is almost no pus left so it's definitely not that.

AshleyRayeRats said:

also, at least you didn't name the thread "Smell This???" like Phyllis's cinnamon roll thread. :giggle:

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:laugh4:

I love gross pics, so this thread makes me happy both for Twiggy and you (YAY! Possibly not a tumor!), and so I can look at gross and interesting pics.