Fluid build-up after tumour removal

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Miss_Rattie

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Jul 18, 2017
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Hi all, I have a rat who had surgery last week to remove a mammary tumour. In the last few days the would area has swelled due to fluid build-up. I had this before with a rat who had a tumour removed from the same position under her armpit, and I was told that it was a seroma. It wasn't infected and I had to take her twice to the vet to have it drained.

My current girl is very nervous so I would prefer not to have to take her back to the vet. Plus the surgery cost £400 so I would prefer not to have any further expense at the moment.

I am therefore thinking to leave her as she is for the fluid to drain away naturally, but I don't know how long this will take or whether it will just swell more. She is on antibiotics and there is no sign of infection around the wound, so I am confident that it is the same problem that I had before.

Does anyone have any experience with this after surgery and know whether I am OK to leave it to clear by itself, also how long this may take?

Thanks :)
 
By whatever means it likely has to drain. It becomes very painful and can compromise circulation if it's allowed to swell to great amounts without being allowed to drain. I'm glad it's not infected, though.
 
Hi and thanks for your message. I took her to the vet today to have it drained as it got quite a bit bigger overnight.

The vet did drain it and took about 15ml of fluid, which is quite a lot! He did check that there was no infection and did say that it was OK to allow it to drain naturally and so not to take her back if it fills again, and it would be OK to leave. He did say that the fluid will just fill the loose skin left by the surgery and not get bigger than that, which is reassuring.

I was concerned as the swelling was right by her front leg and was affecting her movement. She is super-active again, now that is has all gone :) So hopefully no more problems!
 
It's filled with fluid again! The vet said that it might do. So I guess that I will leave it this time, unless it looks like it is causing problems.
 
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