Weird Lump Below Ear

[Randall]

Hello everyone,

My poor baby who just lost her sister a few weeks ago has developed this weird bump below her ear. The vet when she first looked at her said when she pushed on it pus came out so we have been giving her ear drops for around 7 days. We took her back and now they are saying it could be a tumor or maybe an abscess so now we are giving her Baytril, but she seems to have lost her appetite and then after we give her the meds she rubs her face on the bedding. We have tried giving her mashed bananas and yogurt, but she doesn't seem to eat much. Any ideas on food we can give her or why she rubs her face on the ground? Also any thoughts on the bump below her ear?

 

[SQ]

She is likely rubbing her face on the ground because she does not like the taste of the meds and is trying to rub it off. You may want to mix her meds with something sweet - a such as a couple of drops of strawberry quik, add a couple of drops of water and thicken with a bit of baby cereal - then see if she will lick it off your finger, or take it orally by syringe into the side of her mouth a tiny drop at a time so it does not go into her lungs.
Feed her her good quality rat blocks (Oxbow, Harlan 20164, Science Select) You can also soak the blocks in cool water to make mush which is easier to eat. If you give her organic (or at least nonGMO) soy infant formula thickened with baby cereal it will provide her with nutrition. In addition, feed her cooked vegs, greens, cooked grains, etc. When trying new foods, rats will only eat a small amount and then next time may eat a bit more. She might also like to try pureed cooked vegs or baby food. (Check out the info on diet and nutrition in the Reference Threadhttps://www.ratshackforum.com/threads/reference-thread-read-only.35894/ )

I am very sorry but it looks like she may have a zymbal's gland tumour. Here is some information from the rat guide, a vet approved medical site for rat owners - you can share this info with your vet Health Guide: Zymbal's Gland Tumor
Lilspaz68 will be able to give you good info., I am sending her a message

Love her, spoil her and enjoy the time you have left.
The link above will give good info on how to provide her with the best care

There is a lot of good info in our Reference Thread about various topics, including info on how to have a rat humanely put to sleep - most vets do not know how to do it properly REFERENCE Thread - Read Only

 

[lilspaz68]

I agree, the location is where a ZGT develops. These are nasty fast growing invasive tumours and they often abscess and open up but once they drain this is when the real tumour starts to grow. Is there an opening you can flush saline into to see if it's just an abscess that can be treated?

 

[Randall]

There is no opening that we can see. At her first vet visit for this, when the vet pushed on it, the drainage came out of her ear. We also saw the pus (for lack of a better word) the first 2-3 times we put the drops in her ear but that has since dried up. We haven't seen any drainage since (about a week ago--her first visit was the previous Friday). Even though the drainage cleared up the bump continued to grow, which is why we took her back to the vet on Friday. We have tried mixing the baytril with food but she tastes the difference and refuses to finish it, wasting the baytril. So we've gone to using a syringe to make her take the baytril. In addition, now she is not eating enough of anything to mix a dose of baytril with. We have seen her drink water. We got her some baby food today and she seemed to enjoy it at first then started playing with it, which I have never seen her do before. Then she started rubbing her face on the ground again.

She is over 2 years old, if that makes any difference in what we should do.