Is this a ZGT?

Hi, looking for some opinions...

This lump came up on my boy's ear last week, pretty much overnight, grew slightly after a couple of days to the size you see now.

After looking online i was thinking zymbal's gland tumour (but hoping it wasnt), also thought maybe an abscess but it hasn't opened, or a cyst which he's quite prone to. I took him to the vet on tuesday and she did a fine needle aspirate, some thick cheesy pus-like stuff came out on the needle so we sent that off to the lab to be looked at, it was inconclusive, no cancerous or tumour cells were found, it was more like cyst cells, but they said it couldnt be ruled out. The vet said the lump is quite free moving.

I just got him out of the cage to check him and there's a tiny bit of blood by his ear as you can see in the photo.

He is absolutely fine in himself, still eating, drinking and running around as normal, but i've noticed he's shaking his head sometimes and scratches his ear quite often, i thought this might be where the blood came from as his nails are quite sharp.. but im trying to think of anything except a ZGT

Unfortunately it is in the right place for one. He maybe scratching at it because it hurts so you may want to consider pain meds. I think its going to be a wait and see since it seems your test results didn't really indicate cancer cells. Certainly hope its just an abscess.

http://ratguide.com/health/figures/zymbals_gland_tumor_figure_1.php

Thankyou, i have some pain meds here so i will give him some and see if he bothers it less.

Fingers crossed for something other than ZGT, he's almost 2 years old

How fast did it come up to that size?

It was about a quarter of the size it is now when it first came up, grew to the size it is now by about 3 days later and hasn't changed since.. so hasn't grown (noticeably at least) for about 6 days

Thought i would post a quick update: it's grown a bit since the other day, today there is a scab on top so hopefully it's going to open up soon and drain. I'm hoping it will drain and disappear but im expecting to see a lump left behind meaning a ZGT... but we shall see i guess.
Ollie is still fine in himself and not bothered by it.

Keep us updated

Another update;

The lump is now about twice the size it was in the photos i posted. The front side of it is just behind his eye now, it's covered in a big red scab that's been thickening outwards for a couple of days, this morning it smells atrocious, a definite abscess smell, so i'm going to warm compress as much as he'll let me to try and open it up, hopefully then we'll see what's going on exactly. It's still not bothering him at all, it just looks awful. He is on metacam as a precaution.

Another one of my boys has a lump now too, it came up yesterday evening on the front of his top lip, after searching here i found another thread where someone had posted a photo of their rat with a lump in the exact same spot and it was a small abscess which is what i suspected, i can't smell any infection in his mouth and he's eating and drinking fine, hopefully it's contained in his lip rather than in the actual mouth, i gave him some baytril as a precaution incase any infection started to spread, and will be off to the vet with him tomorrow.

Honestly, what next?! Fingers crossed my other 2 boys stay in good health!

Can you post pics?

This was last night

Damn I am so sorry. This is going to be a mess, and is still looking like ZGT. do you have a pic of the abscess on the boys lip?

I know my poor little boy. You wouldn't think there's anything wrong with him at the moment he's running around like a baby still! I've got Misha booked in with the vet tomorrow morning for his lip lump, here's a pic but it doesn't show up very well. It's on his left front lip where his whiskers are, feels quite hard to the touch, i think there's a slight smell in his mouth but im not 100% sure if i'm actually smelling something or it's my imagination where i've been sniffing Ollie!

My heart breaks for you on both of these. We recently lost our Newton to a nasty facial infection and got into the bone.. I hope your babies will be alright... if it is an abscess and/or some type of infection my only advice is treat it as aggressively as you can...

I'm sorry you and your boys are going through this tough time. My thoughts are with you.

Update;

Ollie's lump has started breaking down. 3 nights ago it started oozing cream coloured pus from the top, i cleaned it and compressed it as much as he would let me, it then started oozing from the bottom too. Oozing continued slowly overnight, lump reduced in size by maybe 10/15% and the scab on it got bigger. Yesterday he was scratching at it and knocked some of the scab off, it bled a bit then stopped, the scab looks really really thick and doesn't seem to want to come off, only in little bits around the edge, he just woke up for his dinner and it's oozing some pus again right now. He's on pain meds and im keeping it as clean as possible, compressing when he'll let me.. still waiting on it all to come off to see what's left behind.

As for Misha, i took him to the vet and she had no idea what it was. It's not really like a lump, it's like.. just a swollen lip? It's rock hard to the touch, ever so slightly bigger (i think), not affecting his eating etc still.. vet just gave me baytril incase of infection to see how it goes, with the option to pick up a more powerful antibiotic if needed (synulox or something like that).
I will see if i can get new photos when the boys come out to play tonight.

Looks like Ollie's lump is definitely a ZGT.

A lot of the outer scab came off in the night, this morning it literally looks like a blackberry stuck to the side of his head, and it's been bleeding. :sad4:

so very sorry on both diagnoses khalirats. How big is Ollie's lump now?

It's smaller since the huge domed scab came off, about 2cm top to bottom, 1cm across, its scabbed over again currently but it bleeds when he's been scratching it.

I've upped the pain meds and he's leaving it alone more now, he's a little quieter now than he used to be, but still eating well and coming out to see me in the evenings. As soon as that changes i will be making an appointment for the inevitable.

Misha is doing better, the lump has softened a bit and seems to be coming to a head, he won't let me compress it but he's still on abs. Hoping he will have a positive outcome atleast.

Got some photos just now, here is Ollie



And here is Misha



Looks like his is ready to open up, on inspection of the photo actually looks like there's a little pus already.

I picked up some synulox tablets for Misha today to replace the baytril.. vet as prescribed a 50mg tablet twice a day, that seems a bit much to me?
I've checked on ratguide and im not great with maths but i wasnt comfortable giving him a whole tab, so he's had half of one this evening.

(post edited because i messed up the photo links!)

Poor little Ollie man
I really don't like the look of Misha's "abscess" its looking more like an infection spreading through the skin now.

AS for 50 mg a day for Clavamox? OUCH. How much does Misha weigh??