Bathory has lump!

[bookrat]

So last night I noticed that my rat (supposedly almost 2) has large lump beside her right hind leg, it's soft and kinda squishy. I checked her bedding and on the tissues there were little red specks, I'm assuming it's blood, but from what I can see she doesn't seem to have any external injuries or cuts. She's acting normally, still eating etc. I'm just really worried because it's quite big (like walnut sized) and it just appeared out of nowhere. I'm going to take her to the vet on Monday but I was just wondering if anyone had any ideas as to what it is; abcess, tumour? It was really hard to take a picture and she's probably not very happy with me right now.

 

[jorats]

That looks like a typical benign mammary tumour.

 

[Joanne]

But wouldn't she have noticed it before it got this large?

 

[sausage4ever]

She just adopted Bathroy less then a month ago...(correct me if I'm wrong bookrat) and sometime you just don't see somethings. I do weekly pat downs on my boys but that after years of having rats, when I got my first set that had tumours I felt that they came out of nowhere. Also sometimes they grow extremely fast...

 

[bookrat]

I'll have had her for 2 weeks tomorrow. I guess it could have been possible for me to miss it, I did try and inspect her when I first got her but I was worried about her not liking this random new human prodding and feeling her. I really hope this turns out well because even though I've only had her for a couple weeks she's special to me. We'll see tomorrow.

 

[bookrat]

I guess I should give an update. It is a benign mammary tumour (which was kinda hard to pay $102 to be told when it was said here). But it was worth it to know that despite the tumour Bathory is a picture of perfect ratty health especially for her age. Now comes the hard decision part that plenty of you have had to make of surgery or no surgery. It almost seemed like a choice between guaranteed stress and pain with the surgery route with a high likelihood of more subsequent tumours versus letting her be happy and painfree until it comes to the point where she isn't happy and pain free anymore. It's a hard decision but at her age I think I'm just going to leave her as is; without surgery.

 

[jorats]

It really is a very hard decision. If you leave it... reduce her diet to very low fat and protein, that could slow the rate of growth. Also, there's a drug that some people have used that for some has helped reduce a mammary tumour. Tamoxifen.

 

[Joanne]

Mammary tumours, when caught early, can be removed fairly simply with minimal trauma. Gas anaesthetic is all that is needed as it is superficial, and it's very safe. The incision is pretty well all healed up in a couple of weeks, although it takes a while for the hair to grow back. My girl Mimi had a mammary tumor removed, and it didn't slow her down one bit. I think because it's superficial, there's not a lot of pain associated with it.
I know it's hard to justify a surgery when most rats live to approx 2 years of age. I guess I would be thinking, what if she might live to 3? The surgery is possible now, but not might be in 2 or 3 months..... tough call.