tumor on rat

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ravveth

ravveth

17 and mother of two
Joined
Jun 8, 2014
Messages
46
Location
Canada
Poppy has developed a lump on his back. Its rather small, the size of my thumb nail maybe (i have small fingers) its hard and I can pick it right off his body, it's just under the skin. From my research my guess is a benign tumor. It's growing, but at a slow rate.

The lump is not in any threatening place, it's on the tip of his back, doesn't get in the way of anything and doesn't bother him at all. Poor boy doesn't know he has it!

My question is if you guys would suggest operation. I've heard stories of rats dying under anesthesia so I'm very paranoid.

According to my mom (she's a dentist ehe) the tumor should not become threatening in his lifetime. But I'm sure some of you guys must have been in this situation before.

Essentially I'm very hesitant to operate because
1. this means i have to make a phone call and i have severe anxiety (stupid reason, i know)
2. i don't want to lose poppy under anaesthesia over something non-threatening
3. money (i don't want to spend it on something that could potentially kill him)

would you guys operate? is there anything I can do to slow the lump's growth?
 
Are you sure it's not a sebaceous cyst? It's very common for males to get these on their backs I read. My River has a small one right at the top. A tiny little bump just under the skin and he also has one on his side. He's had them for about 4 months now and I've been keeping an eye on them. They haven't grown and he's 18 months old and very active and healthy. Doesn't bother his at all.

I really think they are cysts. It's because of the oil on their coats and the little sacks (lumps) fill with fluid and become very hard. You can pop them quite easily I read, with a pin and them use antiseptic afterwards but I can't bear to stick a pin in River and they really don't seem to bother him. There's not a chance in hell I'm going to put him under anaesthetic for something like this. I wouldn't risk it. I've lost 50% of my ratties to surgery and will only consider it if it's life or death or mammary tumour growing at a colossal rate. It's also important to consider their age. The younger they are, the better chance they have of coming through the dangerous anaesthetic.

I'd also like some advice and input too. How can you really tell if it's one of these sebaceous cysts or a tumor, and if it's a cyst, what's the best way to drain them if at all?
 
With cysts I usually leave them alone and keep an eye on them. When they are ready to pop they often develop a dark spot on the top and then you can carefully give it a squeeze (from the base) and see if it comes out like white toothpaste or strings. If you can get it empty you can flush it with saline and it hopefully won't recur.
 
Claireybell2477 said:
Are you sure it's not a sebaceous cyst? It's very common for males to get these on their backs I read. My River has a small one right at the top. A tiny little bump just under the skin and he also has one on his side. He's had them for about 4 months now and I've been keeping an eye on them. They haven't grown and he's 18 months old and very active and healthy. Doesn't bother his at all.

I really think they are cysts. It's because of the oil on their coats and the little sacks (lumps) fill with fluid and become very hard. You can pop them quite easily I read, with a pin and them use antiseptic afterwards but I can't bear to stick a pin in River and they really don't seem to bother him. There's not a chance in hell I'm going to put him under anaesthetic for something like this. I wouldn't risk it. I've lost 50% of my ratties to surgery and will only consider it if it's life or death or mammary tumour growing at a colossal rate. It's also important to consider their age. The younger they are, the better chance they have of coming through the dangerous anaesthetic.

I'd also like some advice and input too. How can you really tell if it's one of these sebaceous cysts or a tumor, and if it's a cyst, what's the best way to drain them if at all?
Click to expand...

I doubt it's a cyst because it IS growing at a slow rate and it hasn't shown any signs that cysts do. It doesn't feel like there's fluid, it's a hard lump. Thus far according to my research it doesn't resemble the description I've found of cysts, hence my tumour diagnosis xD

Like I said it's not life-threatening now. And that's what I've heard about rats under anaesthesia, which is why I'm worried.

So I shouldn't have him operate for now?
 
Cysts/abscesses have fooled the most experienced owners and vets so don't rule it out. As for removal? I wouldn't worry as he's older and it's unlikely to impact his health or life span.
 
From what I've learned from research, I highly doubt it is a cyst. I'm scheduling a vet appointment for them sometime soon so the vet can get a look at it.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it is indeed a cyst, because it seems a lot less troublesome the a tumour.
In the meantime, according to my research apparently flax seeds can slow tumour growth? I gave Poppy a bit of flaxseed (the kind I put in my smoothies lol) mixed with a bit of yoghurt today and he loved it.
Is there anything else I can feed him? I've heard similar stories about broccoli and ginger. Can anyone confirm this?
 
ravveth said:
In the meantime, according to my research apparently flax seeds can slow tumour growth? I gave Poppy a bit of flaxseed (the kind I put in my smoothies lol) mixed with a bit of yoghurt today and he loved it.
Is there anything else I can feed him? I've heard similar stories about broccoli and ginger. Can anyone confirm this?
Click to expand...

I've read one study about broccoli but I've never experienced it.
 
okay so its been a while but I figured I'd update. Popppy is still doing fine, I took him to the vet and we found out the tumor is indeed cyst and that it shouldn't need removal because it is a fairly localized problem. I told her I didn't want to spend money and stress out my rat on surgery unless the tumor could potentially become life threatening, she said not to worry about it unless it suddenly started growing very fast.

Shortly after, maybe a week or so, something happened to the cyst and it became smaller and scabbed over. I'm assuming it burst. I didn't really know what to do and I'd spent the majority of my funds on vet visit and diagnosis. I was worried about infection but it doesn't seem to be infected? It isn't causing Poppy pain, he still doesn't know he has it. I'm hesitant to touch it with fear that I make it worse, so I'm just observing rn.
On the bright side, after that happened the cyst shrunk down quite a bit and stopped growing, so I don't know if I should be worried or happy xD
 
River's cysts have done exactly the same thing! Scabbed over and basically gone. Little bit of ick where they've burst but I'm glad they're gone. I just got a warm wet cloth when he was sleepy and gently cleaned the mess and he didn't even lift a whisker to acknowledge me lol. They really are no big deal and don't bother them really.

I'm just relieved. When I found the lump on him my heart nearly stopped and I was pretty upset. We all know what lumps typically equate to on our animals and it's usually never good. But in this case, thank god it's just a harmless cyst. Dirty boys lol
 

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