Lump on Brie's cheek - spreading cancer or abscess?

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Bronwyn

Bronwyn

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2007
Messages
2,957
Location
Guelph, ON
I just let Brie and Elphie out to play and noticed a lump about the size of a large pea, maybe slightly bigger, on Brie's cheek. There are scratches on it, so I don't know if this is an abscess or her cancer spreading. :(

Her original tumor under her arm is still growing.

I don't want her to suffer. Not one day of it. She's slow, but still bright eyed...how will I know? :( I should add the girls turn 30 months old this month (not sure what day).
 
:heart:
It's times like these I wish they could talk, just to say, "Hey mum, I'm really hurting...it's time." :(
 
I wish that too.

You will know when it is time. Some days are worse than others. Lilly my oldest on some days looks as if she will not make it through the night and then the next morning she is up raising hell in the cage and begging for breakfast. It is one of the hardest decisions to make.

Some signs of pain are sunk in sides, isolation from other cage mates and generally no interest in things they LOVE especially food. The day Lilly does not snatch food out of my hand is the day I know it is time. She is a food monger and will get your finger if you do not watch it.
 
That's helpful. :) I just tested her with blueberries and she seemed pretty eager to grab them so perhaps it's not time yet. She just has a "tired" feel about her...which may sound crazy.

All my past rats have gone down quickly, within an hour or two with no warning, so I'm very new at this slow process of waiting and observing. With rats, that is.
 
"tired" not crazy at all. Some days Lilly sleeps non-stop and some days her eyes look cloudy and she acts confused, but then the next day they are clear and she is happy. But if she has a few days of unhappiness then I will know it is time. Lilly may be one of the rats that on her death bed would still be eating so you never really know. =)

And if the masses becomes too large for you to handle looking at then you know she probably feels the same way.

Maybe the bump on her check is just a wound or a bug bite? I hope it goes away.
 
Me too! My dad will take a look at it when he's up here tomorrow (a vet).

2yjr0c7.jpg


Brie on her ninth month with the cancerous tumor. The cheek lump is hard to see (sorry about the bad shot) but it's there if you look for it.
 
You can usually tell by the look in their eyes when they're ready to go. I've had a few with cancer like that. I'm so sorry, just love and enjoy your girls. 30 months is a pretty fantastic life for your sweeties. :hugs:

Wow she still looks really good for her age. :heart:
 
I agree despite the lumps she looks pretty good to me and does not look dull or unhappy. I do see the cheek lump.

30 months is great she is doing much better than my girls.

Lilly is only 26 months and looks like an old lady and my Rose is 20 months and has a tumor that size on the inside of her back leg but she still gets around like a bandit.
 
I'm happy to hear that. :D I've been concerned about her weight as when she stretches out to walk her sides seem a little sunken in. Perhaps I'm being too paranoid, haha. I guess the question is what to do about her face! Am I right in thinking the abscesses aren't anchored, whereas tumors are?
 
I honeslty do not know about abscesses as I have not had to deal with one "knock on wood." I know that not all of my girls tumors were "anchored" some were squisy and moveable and others were hard and attached. So I could not tell you.
 
Have you tried compresses on it a few times a day? If it comes to a head you'll at least know it's an abscess then...
 
I think, but it is not always true, that the squishy moveable ones are non-cancerous and the hard ones are usually cancerous. But, not always true. Flower had a hard one and it was not cancerous. Rose's last one was hard and cancerous. So there is no sure fire way to be sure without lab results.
 
A tooth abscess?! I am so in way over my head. What would that entail? Are they difficult to treat? Your sad face doesn't help! :p
 
Unfortunately, I've never heard of anyone treating a tooth abscess successfully. She would need some strong antibiotics, perhaps Chlorpalm, I believe it's the only one that has proven to get through the abscess wall, or something like that.
But then again, my Lex had a huge lump on his cheek and we just did Baytril for two weeks and it went completely away. But I don't think his was a tooth abscess, it was more connected to the ear.

Mamarat had a girl with so much abscess and infection in her face/mouth, she no longer had facial bone. But that girl didn't seem in pain in the least and ate everything in sight. So I guess each case is different and it's a matter of watching her and waiting for her to tell you that it's time. :(
 
How fast did that lump show up Bron?

Last week for no reason, Aura had a swollen side of her face. I put her on metacam and baytril and it came right down. Check the lump for a scab if you can...
 
Oh boy.

I don't have Baytril on hand but I emailed my dad to bring some up tomorrow. I do have Metacam but I'm easing off on that - my dad's worried that 9 months of it will fry her kidneys and he's shocked she's still alive.

To be completely honest I didn't notice the lump until today. I think in the way the fur covers it I almost missed it today, though it's larger than her original tumor was when that was first spotted. So I don't know how fast it came on. :( :(

She's scratched it up pretty well, do you mean a scab from her scratches or...?

Thanks for everyone's help! This poor girl's taking a lot. :(
 
Sounds like an abscess to me with how fast it showed up and that it has scabs. An abscess is the body walling off a foreign object (retained stitch) or an infection (from a bite or scratch, hence the scab). It efficiently walls it off from the rest of the healthy body. Which is why abs don't always help, they just won't penetrate it. I usually do warm compresses to get it to come to a head, then flush it out with saline solution once it has burst.

Can you smell her mouth and see if it smells foul though? If it is, it could be a tooth abscess which is much worse. :(
 

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