Olive sized lump on shoulder/front leg - RIP

[victoria]

I just found Ginger with a giant lump and unable to use her front paw. She was fine less than 24 hours ago because I remember her holding a puff when I fed them late last night and she was out for a few hours with me earlier in the day.

Her history:

I adopted her and her sister/daughter 16 months ago from the shelter. I have no idea on her age since they were left abandoned in a vacant apartment with a male and a litter. When I adopted her and the other female I estimated at the time she was born in April of 2011.

She was spayed in the fall of 2011 and then developed a pea sized lump near her vagina in July of last year. I treated it like an abscess and it came to a head with a with scab so I took her to the vet. He took it out that day, thinking it was a tumour but it turned out to be a dried out abscess.

She healed and recovered well from surgery but developed PT in late August. I started treating with Bromo and after some tweaking of the dose, it worked really well. The abscess came back in the fall and came to a head IN her vagina, so was removed in November. It was a bit scary for the first few days but she recovered completely. She lost a lot of muscle mass the past few months and lately she's started to lose a lot of bulk also but she's still doing quite well. She regressed a bit in early January and we upped her Bromo dose slightly and she bounced back nicely.

The lump feels firm and may be attached. I've seen lots of unattached mammary tumours before and this is not like them. I texted my vet (he's probably sleeping), hopefully he'll be able to fit me in tomorrow.

Anyway... I'm not sure what the prognosis is if it's a tumour. I'll see a vet tomorrow, even if not my own to have it aspirated and go from there. I know Shelagh's Sparrow had her front left amputated, even if my vet felt comfortable doing it I don't know if that's a realistic option with her PT. The last surgery was really hard on her and it was not nearly as invasive and intensive.

 

[jorats]

Oh no... when it's that fast, I tend to think it's a malignancy.
With PT, I don't think surgery is right... anesthesia tends to make PTs grow faster. Poor thing, can't catch a break.

 

[lilspaz68]

That truly is fast. It sounds like a malignancy or possibly another abscess, since she seems to be prone to strange ones. :/

 

[victoria]

She did already survive one surgery with a PT but it wasn't very invasive as far as surgeries go and she was touch and go.

The vet just called me, no appointments today (not a huge surprise since his clinic hours on Saturdays suck) but I have a better idea of how she's doing than I did when I wrote this post. She's not using her paw at all but after I gave her Metacam and Baytril she seems cheery and she did manage to eat some blocks and puffs with one paw. He said it could be a bruise... that is possible since some of the new rats in the colony are really picking on her and she's unable to defend herself because she has no muscle. I took a video that failed to update onto Youtube (I left my notebook on beside me all night so it could) but I'll try again. Pictures aren't great so I'll wait until the video's up and post it. I REALLY hope it's a bruise, with her history, even an abscess would probably require surgery.

 

[victoria]

Here she is last night/early this morning: http://youtu.be/EZumYu3hpiQ

 

[Joanne]

Well it definitely looks like she's not using that leg. Most very sudden swellings (ie overnight) are a result of trauma or infection, and not malignancy. I think pain meds and antibiotics are the way to go. She may have gotten injured in a fight, or bitten. She sits very far back on her haunches - if she has poor use of her hindquarters then that's even more of a reason for potential injury. Just my two cents. Good luck!

 

[victoria]

Shelagh is kneeling towards a serious injury as well. She is getting bullied by one of the rats in the cage - the bully is the alpha of the 'new' colony that moved in recently and I think she's feeling threatened so she goes after Ginger to feel more secure. For her part, Ginger has lost a lot of muscle mass since she developed symptoms of a PT and can't do much more than scream. I'm home a lot and when they scuffle I break it up right away and it has been improving but it's certainly possible she got injured. There haven't been any bites or broken skin, just power grooming but they could have rolled off a shelf onto the level below.

She's in a hospital cage beside my bed and I've been watching her most of the day. She and Whiskers are not big eaters it seems, they barely made a dent in their baby food and their blocks look untouched. I did see her nibble a bit but not a lot. She manages to get around ok but is in pain and squeals when she gets walked over.

She can move her paw - when I pick her up she touch it, she reacts normally. It's not hotter or cooler than her other paw so hopefully if there's an injury, there's no permanent tissue damage. I've given her lots of Metacam to try to decrease the swelling but the lump has stayed the same. If anything, it may be a bit firmer than yesterday.

Her posture and gait (?) have been off for some time - she's walking on the hocks of all fours and isn't wearing down any of her nails and they're super thick. I'm trimming them weekly but they're always long. I'm supposed to trim them today but I think I'll give her a break this week.

I have a friend coming to return a cage and bring me hay tomorrow, she's in her fourth year of vet school and I'm hoping to get her opinions. She doesn't have exotics experience beyond her own pets but she'll have a better idea of what she's feeling and if it's attached. I don't think it's getting worse at least so hopefully that won't change before my appointment Monday morning.

 

[Maple]

Awwww poor thing. I hope she feels better soon Vic. :hugs:

 

[victoria]

Thank you, me too

 

[jorats]

If that's swelling, that's some serious swelling. But if it's a lump... a malignancy can definitely pop up within hours.
I'm sending her lots of healing vibes.

 

[victoria]

If that's swelling, that's some serious swelling. But if it's a lump... a malignancy can definitely pop up within hours.
I'm sending her lots of healing vibes.

That's what I keep coming back to - there is a clear and definite lump on the shoulder blade and it hasn't shrunk. I've had benign tumours pop up overnight, I know it can be very fast. I wish I knew what it was NOW, I'm a ball of anxiety trying to think through the different scenarios.

 

[victoria]

She's getting worse. I'll post the night one and night two pics later but here's a video, maybe it's visible. The lump almost doubled in size and it's much harder...

[BBvideo 450,375zggy7c3]http://youtu.be/AQpqmBEh28I[/BBvideozggy7c3]

Edited to add pics:

First night:

Second night:

 

[jorats]

It's growing fast.

 

[Joanne]

Praying it's an abscess......

 

[mamarat]

Poor baby, sending healing vibes.

 

[victoria]

Lump didn't change much today. I had a rough day, ended up passing out with Ginger and Whiskers next to me for a few hours and when I woke up my husband was going to bed so no pics or out time for the rats until tomorrow. Everyone's stressed that the colony is split up except maybe Ginger, it really sucks. I'm hoping that 2+ of hours daily for everyone is enough to avoid intros if Ginger recovers, I don't think she can handle intros otherwise and I can't think of a way to split the colony that won't really stress someone.

My friend came over and had a look at her and said it could be an abscess but wasn't too sure. She said it was hard to say where it originated but it wasn't from the jaw as she suspected from the pictures. It's really painful for her when it's manipulated but other than that, she's bright and in good spirits. I'm still hoping it's something that can be resolved because I don't know what I'll do if it isn't. I'm guessing she'll be on abs for life if it's another abscess, there's no bite that could have caused this and it's the third one in a year to come out of nowhere.

In terms of treating an abscess, what meds are effective? I tried Baytril and Metro with her previous lump without any effect.

 

[Sharlees rattakisses]

Poor sweetie. :heart:
I hope she gets better soon.
It looks painful.

 

[mamarat]

I had a girl popping lots of abscesses and vet decided to analyze one and there were cancer cells. She said Cocotte had cancer of the blood. That's why she would get them anywhere on her body.
Good luck with your girl, just thought it might help with a diagnosis if your vet tested her abscess.

 

[victoria]

Thanks Mamarat, I had already planned to get samples sent away no matter what.

I sent my vet a link to the video this weekend but he didn't have a chance to watch it so he was a little shocked when he saw her. I think he was expecting something more typical or apparent than what he got. He palpated it for a good while and said whatever it was, it was wrapped very well around her leg bone and because of the paralysis, there was nerve involvement.

As expected, he suggested aspirating it and doing a culture and possibly sending the sample to pathology for other tests. I got to watch them aspirate the lump (with a huge 18 gauge needle) and all he was able to get was blood. He tried a few times and the more he took out, the smaller the lump got. The excitement didn't last long though, the lump quickly refilled after being drained. So... he sent a bunch of slides and a small tube of blood to the lab for tests. We'll have results within the next day or two.

We talked about three possibilities but I guess there could be others. The first is a hematoma, which would be the result of an injury and resolve on it's own without invasive intervention. He sai that was unlikely because after a few days you would expect the skin to have changed colour and it should have started to reabsorb, not kept growing.

The second is an infection of a lymph node. He said that's very unlikely because she would be screaming in pain and she's not. (She's actually in pretty good spirits, just her arm is paralyzed and she's more tired that usual.) If it were that, antibiotics would take care of it.

The third possibility is a tumour of a blood vessel or something along those lines that is causing blood to pool in the area. If that's the case, because of how wrapped it is and the nerve involvement, he would probably have to amputate her front leg. Because she has a pituitary gland tumour the surgery is much more dangerous and it's not a surgery he's done many times before. (I don't think he's amputated a rat's front leg before at all.)

So, all in all, pretty much what I expected and feared. He didn't suggest or even bring up euthanasia at this point and I didn't get the feeling he was overly concerned about her quality of life at the moment.

I've got a lot to think about and I'm exhausted right now. I've spent all weekend bawling or anxious to the point of nausea and I didn't sleep much. I'm leaning towards going ahead with the amputation if that's the only treatment option but it's so dangerous.

 

[mamarat]

:hugs: it's a hard decision for sure.