I'm worried - Yoshi's tumor sores

[crumbilina]

Yoshi is my approx. 2 year old girl who has a mammary tumour on her right side just behind her front paw. She had one in the same place removed in June and it seems to have regrown. Due to her age, poor breathing, how the mass feels and a smaller lump just in front of the mass (swollen lymph node?) I decided that surgery really wasn't an option and did not take her in to have it removed.

The mass started growing in early october, and despite dietary restrictions and supplements, has since grown quite large (about the size of a toddlers fist). The mass is still completely covered in fur, there are no bare spots but I noticed that there is quite a bit of irritation on the outermost part of the tumour. The area has, what looks like dried serum under the fur and nasty angry looking dried scabbing that looks more like serum then blood, but pinker then normal serum colour. It looks horrible, and painful. She is puffy, and looks not too happy (unless I'm giving her a good scratch). I am contemplating giving her some ibu to try and ease any pain, but after that, I'm not sure what to do. I'm worried. I'm not sure how well she is eating (she is getting some baby cereal tonight), but she has definitely lost rattie weight as the tumour has grown. I believe that she has gained approx. 40g since this tumour started... I am positive that is tumour weight, she is much thinner then what she was before all this started.

I also cannot tell if the irritation on the tumour is from her trying to give her back/ear a good scratch. Her back foot can no longer reach areas that i know rats scratch frequently. I try to help her, but I'm not here all day. Perhaps this is a result of attempting a scratch? But... how do I prevent that, and this almost popped up over night, if this was from scratching, wouldn't it take longer to get to this point?
I will, after I post this, clip her nails just to be sure - if she will let me.
The area under her body which is not in line with her back paws for scratching, looks quite angry as well. It looks pink with irritation, and quite unpleasant.
*sigh*

I tried to get pictures of the problem area but my goodness! It is difficult to control a rat and take a picture with a dslr without looking through the viewfinder >.< So really, this was the best I can do... I didn't want to make her more uncomfortable then what she currently is so I didn't persist trying to get a "better" picture. This one is pretty representative of the problem, except it spans a much larger area.

And now one of her soft pretty face

She is such a sweetie. I just want to help her as best I can... no matter what it takes. Any suggestions to make her comfortable as possible are welcome.

 

[hopefloats]

is that puss on it?

 

[jorats]

I wonder if perhaps the tumour has abscessed as well.

 

[hopefloats]

I had a rat with a tumor sore, it wasn't that. That is why I am curious. It looks like abscess grossness.

 

[MomRat]

When Gregory's tumors were dragging, and rubbing, and opening, Dr. Kuhnle recommended using Vitamin E oil on them, to promote healing and soothing - and it doesn't hurt if they lick it. She made that recommendation based on the info that we line cages with fleece, so not as good an idea if there is bedding that could get stuck in it. Neosporin cream, not ointment, is also useful as it is absorbed quickly.

That being said, we had determined first, through soaks and compresses, that he didn't have any abscessing. I see in previous responses that people think abscess, so definitely rule it out before applying healing cream, although I don't think the e oil could hurt as a soothing agent.

 

[crumbilina]

So, I just mauled her, but she appreciated the scratch she got during so I would say she is content, bright eyed and happy this morning. She looked SO miserable last night. Puffy fur, half closed eyes, I had to go to her to give her a treat (normally, even with the tumour dragging along, she is at the door begging with everyone else), etc.

I really don't believe it is an abscess, but I can see why the picture makes it look like that. The lightly coloured serum colour stuff is skin/scab flaking off. There isn't any pus, something that I am quite surprised about. The feel of the scab makes it feel superficial and not deep at all. There isn't even a thicker part of the giant scab, it feels relatively uniform in thickness. I'm starting to think that half of this is caused by scratching.

I will still keep my eyes peeled for any possible signs of an abscess, because really, that would be awesome. I can treat an abscess. But my gut feeling tells me that this is her tumour doing something funky. The skin around the tumour just looks so angry.

I was really worried last night because of the way she was acting, and how nasty this looked. This morning it looks like some of the loose gross serum flakiness has been groomed off, most likely by Delilah (SO adorable, Delilah will groom the spots that Yosh can't reach and when Yosh tries to scratch Delilah will start sort of, comb the fur in the area she can't reach. It seriously is the most adorable thing I have ever seen). So a lot of the flakiness is gone and the area looks, not great, but better then it looked last night.

She is also back to her non-puffy, non-squinty "self". She doesn't look as miserable, her eyes are bright and fully open and she comes to the cage door for treats with everyone else again. Perhaps there was something else going on yesterday that I couldn't see that made her feel bad. She was like that the whole day, morning and evening. She isn't back to her normal pre-tumor days, but at least she doesn't look as pained as she did yesterday.

I will have to try the vitamin E oil that you mentioned momrat, I already have neosporin cream on had, so I will try that after the vitamin e oil thanks!

If a tumor ruptures, what does it look like leading up to the rupture? I'm somewhat worried about that still, but I think for now, she will be alright. Knowing what to watch out for would definitely help though.

 

[jorats]

When you say serum, do you mean sebum?

 

[crumbilina]

no, blood serum.
Similar to when you have a superficial wound and there is no blood but that clearish fluid leaks through. That, but dried.

 

[lilspaz68]

Does the tumour feel hard and tight under the skin?

 

[Joanne]

My Jazzy had a few large mammary tumours (removed twice, grew back again). Tumours can grow so big that there is not a good blood supply to the tissue in the center, and that can cause the tissue to die, causing an abscess. The skin over Jazzy's tumour ruptured - it was a hole the size of a dime and it bled (I picked her up and there was warm, slippery blood on my hand - freaked me out!) It very quickly closed up again, but I knew it was only a matter of time before it happened again. I decided to euthanize her before she had a crisis and I was unable to do anything for her. It may be getting to that time....
Sorry

 

[crumbilina]

lilspaz68, The skin is tight, but not "I'm going to break" tight, so I think that she will be alright for a while longer. The tumour is firm but still gives when you squeeze a bit.

Thanks Joanne for that explanation, it makes sense now and I think I will know what to watch out for. Sorry about what happened to Jazzy, it sounds horrible!

As for her current injuries: I think that she was scratching it and she opened the skin up. After that I think one of the other girls (or all of the other girls) power groomed it and just irritated the area. I caught Lily really grooming that area and it looked quite angry when I moved her away.
I tried to clip her nails yesterday night, but really couldn't. She just was not feeling well and i didn't have the heart to make her more uncomfortable. I will try again tonight and see what I can do. I also stopped off at Whole foods today and get her some vitamin e oil. Going to try that for a bit and see how it goes.

She is no longer like she was yesterday. She must have just had something else going on. At least her behaviour is back to normal. I feel less worried, A LOT less worried.

Thanks for everyones help so far
I may need more as time progresses... I haven't dealt with tumours getting this big. all my other girls had passed on before the tumours got this large.

 

[crumbilina]

It may be getting to that time....

This is one of the things that I was concerned about. I do not want her to suffer. I think for a while things should be fine, but i think this is going to be something I will have to deal with in the near future. I just wasn't really sure when i should make the decision. She tells me today not yet, but yesterday ick! I will watch out for more signs. I'm sure ill know when the time comes...