Lump in young rat?

[RegimeofSwine]

I bought Courage about a month ago at Petco (this is inexcusable, I know,) which I'm assuming makes him 2-3 months old. Two days ago, I found a lump the size of a pea under his neck. It showed up out of nowhere. It is solid, but has some give, kinda like gummy candy. I can move it all around from one side of his jaw to the other, and feel completely around it; it isn't attached or stationary. It doesn't smell, it isn't open or scabby on top, and it isn't swollen or painful. I'm hoping it's a sebaceous cyst and not a tumor. Anyone know?

 

[jorats]

In that location, it could also be an abscess. You could try some warm compresses for now.

 

[RegimeofSwine]

In that location, it could also be an abscess. You could try some warm compresses for now.

I've been doing warm compresses. I was thinking it might be an abscess at first, since he's in there with a bigger rat who's 3 months shy of 2 and not always in the mood to play and might have gotten a little snippy with him. But, it doesn't smell and it's not level with the skin.

I finally got my mom to agree to take him to a vet, we're going there today. She said she's not spending any more than 100 dollars on him, so if it's a tumor I don't know what I'm going to do.

 

[Sorraia]

It could be an abscess. If its closed (which this one would be) you aren't going to smell anything. You will only smell infection if it were open. I'm also not sure what you mean by "level with the skin". Abscesses can stick out and appear very similar to tumors.

 

[RegimeofSwine]

It could be an abscess. If its closed (which this one would be) you aren't going to smell anything. You will only smell infection if it were open. I'm also not sure what you mean by "level with the skin". Abscesses can stick out and appear very similar to tumors.

Most of the things I've read on the internet so far have said that an abscess will feel connected to the skin/level with it, and that was the case with the abscess our kitten had (this was open and from a very serious bite; smelled ungodly horrible.) This thing moves around under the skin when you feel it with your fingers.

I was also under the impression that abscesses were from trauma letting bacteria under the skin, and it looks like it's not red, and there's not scrapes or anything near the area. It's also absolutely not swollen in the tissue around it, either, not sure if that means anything.

 

[Sorraia]

It could be an abscess. If its closed (which this one would be) you aren't going to smell anything. You will only smell infection if it were open. I'm also not sure what you mean by "level with the skin". Abscesses can stick out and appear very similar to tumors.

Most of the things I've read on the internet so far have said that an abscess will feel connected to the skin/level with it, and that was the case with the abscess our kitten had (this was open and from a very serious bite; smelled ungodly horrible.) This thing moves around under the skin when you feel it with your fingers.

I was also under the impression that abscesses were from trauma letting bacteria under the skin, and it looks like it's not red, and there's not scrapes or anything near the area. It's also absolutely not swollen in the tissue around it, either, not sure if that means anything.

Many abscesses do form when there's an opening to the outside, but not always. I've seen a number of abscesses on rats that were not open. They very much resembled the appearance of tumors too. Some abscesses I've seen were very hard and felt "connected", others were not. It just depends.

 

[victoria]

I just had a rat go in for a tumor removal that turned out to be a bunch of abscesses. When I first found it, I hoped it was an abscess on her collarbone and did a warm compress for a week and nothing. She had another tumor that was removed shortly after I discovered the abscess but it was hard to remove and the vet didn't have time to remove the second one that time around. When the second one started growing (despite the fact she's been on antibiotics for a month) I had it removed and paid a lot of money to remove an abscess. All I'm trying to say is don't rule out an abscess so quickly. If you do go the surgery route, especially given she's so young, I would strongly urge you to get her spayed if you can - it will prevent other tumors in the future.

 

[RegimeofSwine]

Just got back from the vet, it's an abscessed lymph node. We're trying antibiotics, and if that doesn't work they're removing the lymph node.

On the plus side, I found a very good vet. They were very gentle with him and cooed and baby talked him as they did the biopsy. They seemed rather fond of and experienced with rats. I'm glad I found a good vet on the first visit, after reading some horror stories on here.

 

[jorats]

An abscess is always the better news... and responds almost always to meds. Keeping my fingers crossed that it heals up real nice.

 

[RegimeofSwine]

I'm REALLY keeping my fingers crossed that it responds to meds, because my mom said she's not paying to have the lymph node removed if the swelling doesn't go down. I'm trying to get a job of my own so I can take care of stuff like my pets, but for the 15 or so applications I've sent out over the past month, I haven't even gotten an interview.