Dre's lump :/ UPDATE 5/4- bigger and icky looking

Fins us on Amazon
Advertise with us
Shop with us on Ebay
The Rat Shack Forum

Help Support The Rat Shack Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Petunia

Petunia

Supporting Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2009
Messages
6,126
Location
USA
I had the boyz out last night and noticed a lump on Dre's back.

it's small and very hard to see, esp since Dre is a jumpy nervous guy who doesn't like to be touched much and was objecting to me "frisking" him-
little gangsta boy thought I was looking for his stash, or something I don't know LOL

It's off to one side of his back, in a spot where it's *possible* Rocko nipped him. I never hear them fighting, though, the three boys are very gentle with each other. Sometimes one will squeal in protest if being power groomed but that's about it.
I guess he could have gotten a scrape or something some other way. I'm going to try to get a closer look at it, wish me luck LOL

should I assume it's an abscess and just put warm compresses on it?
I did a search on lumps and bumps here yesterday and was surprised at the large variety of things these bumps can be!

it doesn't seem to bother him but then it's hard to tell with him, he's just such a nervous boy- hard to say if he's wiggling out of my hands cuz touching it hurt him, or if he just wanted to get away, you know?

I was also reading that ppl shave off their fur to get a better look- do you use an actual razor blade like you shave with or scissors or.........?

I've been pretty lucky with my rats so far that I've never needed to do this before, eh?
 
could be a cyst, could be a abscess, could be a tumour, but usually when its on the back its often rather a benign thing I find...so breathe easy. At this point just keep an eye on it and hopefully it will just stay small. I wouldn't bother compressing if he's a nervous nellie. Just watch and see if it changes...
 
Petunia, on the video you posted of my intro, you can see Pony has a lump on his back too. It turned out to be a cyst. It started out much smaller. These are harmless most of the time.
 
lilspaz68 said:
could be a cyst, could be a abscess, could be a tumour, but usually when its on the back its often rather a benign thing I find...so breathe easy. At this point just keep an eye on it and hopefully it will just stay small. I wouldn't bother compressing if he's a nervous nellie. Just watch and see if it changes...
Click to expand...

whew, I really can't picture trying to shave this guy without one or both of us getting hurt!

I just got a slightly better look- boy, does that boy wiggle! LOL and I *think* I can see a dark spot, like you'd expect on an abscess, so hopefully if that's what it is, it will pop soon

then it's just flush it so it doesn't close up til it's healed, right? ;-)
 
Petunia said:
whew, I really can't picture trying to shave this guy without one or both of us getting hurt!

I just got a slightly better look- boy, does that boy wiggle! LOL and I *think* I can see a dark spot, like you'd expect on an abscess, so hopefully if that's what it is, it will pop soon

then it's just flush it so it doesn't close up til it's healed, right? ;-)
Click to expand...

You got it! Cysts sometimes have a black spot as well, its all what comes out, (smelly, nasty = abscess), (no smell, whitish toothpaste stuff= cyst) and some have cysts that never open just stay there unchanging for ages.
 
Yeh I got a lot of cysts myself and that's really what his lump feels like to me, but my cysts never open, although they often "deflate" only to fill up at some other time. they can be painful to the touch when they are really full, esp depending on if they are near bone.
so rat's cysts will often open up like an abscess? I wasn't sure about that, I was reading about some lumps that should never be expressed because the inside stuff is nasty enough to cause skin irritation or spread.....

omgosh If I read any more about these lumps I'll end up with "cyber-chondria" for my rats LOL

I really do think he'll be fine. I put a note on my fridge to remember to check him to see what happens with it.
 
lilspaz68 said:
You got it! Cysts sometimes have a black spot as well, its all what comes out, (smelly, nasty = abscess), (no smell, whitish toothpaste stuff= cyst) and some have cysts that never open just stay there unchanging for ages.
Click to expand...


When we shave/cut the fur it takes the two of us. One to hold the squirmer and one to du the shaving/cutting. Lilspaz - didn't know the above info - Bumbles must of had a cyst then cause the stuff that came out was thick, white, and had no smell. It did though have a black head on it.

Don't worry to much about it Kona is full of lumps. I'll start worrying about him when they seem attached to something. Peanut has a big abscess right now that will not pop! Healing vibes to Dre.... and calming vibes to you.
 
If you have a small electric/battery shaver, the moustache trimmer part is the easiest to use on long hair, and you are unlikely to hurt him (as opposed to a real razor that is sharp) if he zigs while you are zagging. I bought a cheap rechargeable one at the drugstore.
 
hmmm I couldn't find the lump today, could it really go away that fast? he was awfully squirmy though LOL the only time he really sits still is when he's under my shirt. If I'm sitting, he'll get under the hem of the shirt and cuddle up to me, and when I'm laying on the floor, he'll sometimes get inside my shirt sleeve and cuddle up next to my armpit, which tickles. he's a momma's boy, but only on his own terms. I can pet him a little but if I use too much pressure (which Rocko loves, Rocko loves a good deep skritching!) but I can't do that with Dre, seems to overstimulate him or something. He likes gentle pets and ear rubs. Funny how each rat is different in the way they want you to interact with them


ETA: found the lump. I'd made a mental note that it was on his right side, but forgot to make a mental note of which way he was facing when I noted that it was on his right side- I was lookin on the wrong side of him earlier lol
it's only on his right side when he's facing me (which I guess means its really on HIS left side) doh
 
Last edited:
I'll TRY to get a photo of this but Dre is very jumpy so unless I have someone hold him, its doubtful I'll be able to get it.

that lump on his side seemed to grow a second,smaller bump that seems to be attached to it

I've tried warm compresses but nothing happened. The double lump feels quite solid.

well tonight was I was putting him back in the cage I noticed a dark spot and sure enough there was a kind of scab? on the lump that was lifted off on one side.
I gently pulled that off (it came off pretty easily) but what is inside the lump is all sorts of odd things-
there's some chunky whitish stuff that crumbled and could be picked out wiht my fingernail, but there's also some stuff that looks like hair and some other stuff that looks like a wart
Frankly it's kinda gross BUT there is NO odor of infection whatsoever!

should I give him ABs just in case, since it is an open "wound"?
I tried flushing it with warm water but besides the white hard crumbly stuff, nothing else came out.
There's a tiny bit of blood but only a really small amount, much less than you'd expect from something as big as this thing seems to have gotten.
The cavity seems pretty deep but is still just under the skin, if you know what I mean? it def does not go into muscle.

It looks very much like the cavities that are left after an abscess has come to a head but there is, as I said, nothing that smells bad like an infection (once you've smelled that, you NEVER forget how bad it smells!)
this has a lot of odd crap in it, but there isn't even the faintest odor of infection or anything else.



what do you think I should do? is he going to need the vet to remove this thing?

I cant' tell if it hurts him at all because he is such a nervous boy he will jump for any reason and squeak if he's afraid.


ETA update a few hours later, the hole is covered with a dark scab? or dirt or something. He's resting so I'll pull him out later and get a better look, try to get a photo if I can.
 
it looks a lot like this:
http://www.ratfanclub.org/abscess_files/image039.jpg

Now DebD says not to worry about them but I don't take her advice

However, does it really need to be removed? I honestly don't know if it hurts him or not, he is so nervous and squeaks when you pick him up sometimes, just out of fright, not because you are hurting him

that's the way he's always been- even since he survived being tossed in with a snake and bitten by it
before he was rescued, that is

can I just keep trying to clean it out? squeezing is NOT an option, this thing has a rock hard "casing" and what is inside is quite dry and really stuck in there.
Tweezers might be able to pull some out except I don't have tweezers, and he's so squirmy I"m afraid I might hurt him if I tried.

I just scraped some of the dry crumbly stuff out. It does look like there may be some hair in there too, or something, it's very odd looking crap

I hope I can find someone willing to help me take a photo
 
On that other thread of gross things did you see that solid ball thing that was taken out of one rattie that she said had hair and stuff on it - does it look something like that? Do you think if you soak him is warm water a few times a day it will soften up? I really don't have that much experience with these things my boys get weird lumps - actually they do get a lot of lumps, but none seem to be the same.
 
um I think maybe what is in his lump used to look like that but he's had this for some time, so I"m guessing it's all dried up

I really don't have the $ for a vet visit, well I dont have the money for the cab ($30) so I am hoping this will resolve on it's own

Have you just left any of the lumps be without seeing a vet for them? I saw where the vet said that cyst needed to be removed from one of your boys, what was the reason for that?
 
Kona has had his removed, but they turn out to be fatty tumors not cysts and I wasn't going to have them removed, but the skin on the one stretched too much and bursted exposing the stuff inside which was attached to him and needed to be removed at that point. He now has one that is so big I'm calling it his turtle shell, but obviously with his displaying obvious signs of PT that is the least of his problems.

Bumbles he thought needed removing, but that got a black head on it and I was able to pop it and squeeze that thick goo out of it and there was never a problem again. There was also no smell with that one either. From what I understand if there is no smell its a cyst not an infection.

Peanut had a nasty abscess thing open on his belly by his winky. That opened and closed a couple times before clearing up. We did put him on anti biotics do to the location and I was afraid it might be that male gland that was infected.

If there is stuff coming out of it and it doesn't seem attached I would flush and keep an eye on it for now. Hopefully others will give some advise too.
 
I would wait off on the vet a bit, I think it's safe to. It's only been two days and it has already opened and you got some stuff out!
 
got a couple of photos that are pretty blurry but you can see the size of it from this

it looked a lot bigger to me last night, so maybe I got more stuff out then I thought I did, or maybe he cleaned it up himself?

(last photo is just Dre hiding in his cube wondering why his mommy is being so mean to him- Norry has been draping himself over Dre when I come near, so I had to pull him out of the cage. Norry is very protective of his brudder!)
 
arg! The small hole that I was able to get some crumbly dry stuff out of- It is no longer a hole, but it does not seem to be a scab either-
However, its much bigger than the hole, and it looks inflamed and the portion under his skin also seems bigger

the whole thing is very hard, and Now I think it may be hurting him (it is so hard to tell with him, he's my squeaky scared boy)

I am going to try to get a better photo of it.

there's no way to flush it out, whatever is on the top of it is not coming off and appears to be a part of whatever this thing is.

I remember reading about some sort of growth that, if the contents came out, it would irritate the surrounding skin
I actually posted a link to it and now I can't find it!
I wonder if that's what he's got......
 

Latest posts

Back
Top