ZGT or suspicious abscess?

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noodlebutts

noodlebutts

Junior Member
Joined
Mar 30, 2014
Messages
38
Quicksilver is a 1 year old neutered male rat. For the past ~two weeks I have been monitoring a something that is growing just under his left ear.

It started around the size of a small pea when I noticed it and now it is around the size of my thumbnail. There seem to be two 'lobes' to it, a larger one near his mouth and a smaller one under his ear. He just started shaking his head more often today and the only other sign of pain he is showing is a slight tension in his left lip. It started deep in the tissue and is only now starting to be visible as a slight enlargement of the left side of his face. He is not losing weight and still eating well, and popcorning around my room.

I just want to know what the chances are of this just being an abscess/tumor and what I can do for him. All that I've read so far says that to tell if it is a ZGT all you can do is wait and see if the abscesses don't go away. Does anyone with more experience have an idea of which it is?

10169115_720179548013525_583311670_n.jpg


I took this yesterday, you can see how his face doesn't look the same on both sides. It doesn't really look all that special yet
 
noodlebutts said:
Quicksilver is a 1 year old neutered male rat. For the past ~two weeks I have been monitoring a something that is growing just under his left ear.

It started around the size of a small pea when I noticed it and now it is around the size of my thumbnail. There seem to be two 'lobes' to it, a larger one near his mouth and a smaller one under his ear. He just started shaking his head more often today and the only other sign of pain he is showing is a slight tension in his left lip. It started deep in the tissue and is only now starting to be visible as a slight enlargement of the left side of his face. He is not losing weight and still eating well, and popcorning around my room.

I just want to know what the chances are of this just being an abscess/tumor and what I can do for him. All that I've read so far says that to tell if it is a ZGT all you can do is wait and see if the abscesses don't go away. Does anyone with more experience have an idea of which it is?

10169115_720179548013525_583311670_n.jpg


I took this yesterday, you can see how his face doesn't look the same on both sides. It doesn't really look all that special yet
Click to expand...

What a lovely boy. I hate lumps in the face :( The fact that there's 2 is different from ZGT...how long has he had the lump now? ZGT grows very very fast. Can you take a pic of him from a side view of his head, use Paint or something like that to draw circles of where the lumps are exactly? ZGT's grow in the exact same place each time directly under the ear. Have you smelt his mouth for infection smell (teeth abscesses/issues)? Does it seem tender or painful at all?
 
I've noticed that he has had it for two weeks (the 16th). But he might have had it for a bit longer because he was reacting to me touching the base of his ear before I found the lump (which he no longer reacts to). There is no smell of infection from his mouth or ear and he is eating normally. He does react to me touching it, he squeals and squirms and makes me feel bad for needing to feel it :p

Could the two lobes be the tumor and an abscess? I just noticed that there were two recently, originally it felt like only one. but they still feel connected

tumblr_n39joo1cve1rlba91o1_500.jpg
 
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noodlebutts said:
I've noticed that he has had it for two weeks (the 16th). But he might have had it for a bit longer because he was reacting to me touching the base of his ear before I found the lump (which he no longer reacts to). There is no smell of infection from his mouth or ear and he is eating normally. He does react to me touching it, he squeals and squirms and makes me feel bad for needing to feel it :p

Could the two lobes be the tumor and an abscess? I just noticed that there were two recently, originally it felt like only one. but they still feel connected

tumblr_n39joo1cve1rlba91o1_500.jpg
Click to expand...

Darn it those are both in the area of a ZGT...so really you are on watch and wait. I went through this not long ago myself and documented it with pics (I do that a lot) to help others. I was lucky that Dusty lived with it as long as he did, as it was NOT the norm. His was classic in the beginning but not fast growing for most of the time.

http://www.ratshackforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=26890&highlight=Dustman

Can you look inside his ear as well, see if there's polyps inside the ear canal? If you have one of those tiny LED flashlights they are awesome for things like this :)
 
I did look inside his ear and I didn't see anything weird. Well it looked slightly smaller than the other side and a bit more pink but with a huge thing underneath that didn't surprise me.

What should I look for if there is an abscess that pops so I can tell the difference?

How often do you see tumors in one year olds?
 
That's a spot is a great concern. But it could definitely be an abscess or even a blocked salivary gland. You could bring him to the vet and get it aspirated to find out what's inside the lump. If it's infection, you'll need meds.
 
You should shave the hair off the area so you can assess the lesion properly and note any changes. Taking pictures is a great idea because when you see something day-to-day you don't really notice the changes as much.
I hope it's a simple abscess!
 
Shaving the hair off was a good idea :) I would say that it isn't uniform in shape and the two things that I though might be separate are attached. It is around 1-2 cm long and 0.5-0.1 cm wide. I can't tell how deep obviously.

I'll take pictures like that and keep this thread updated. The poor boy is upset with me :p but he sat nice and still
 
Update for today: He has been licking the air a lot for no reason. I'm assuming that this is a sign of pain, his lip on the same side as the ??? is looking tense. There is no smell from his mouth and he is eating hard food happily.

Should I give him some pain meds to make this easier for him?
 
Here is a video of Silver being average :p He licks every once and a while and shakes his head a little bit more than usual but his balance doesn't seem to be off at all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKLJuSpSjbk&feature=youtu.be

edit: not that he would do it on film of course, but he act like in the video most of the time. I'm just worried about the little things, he is my first sick rat
 
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I'm not sure what good the vet will be able to do him because of the possibility that it might be a Zymbal's Gland tumor. I've been reading up on it and it seems like waiting is the way to go (that's what lilspaz did in her ZGT thread, I'm trying to do that because she had so much success with her boy).

Either way it needs to pop and declare itself before I can do much really, I just want to make sure from people that know more about it that I'm not missing anything.
 
It looks very squishy from what I could see of the video which is not typical I believe. His mouth looks like its a bit crooked and if things feel weird in his mouth they sometimes roll their tongue out like they are licking the air. If its something going on it might be pressing on his jaw (ZGT doesn't affect the jaw until its much later and much much bigger).

I think a vet visit to Dr Munn might be a good idea, just mention you think its zymbal's gland tumour. If its a bacterial thing or an abscess (especially since its not being a typical ZGT...location so far seems to be the only thing normal for ZGT) then you might not want to wait.
 
I can't get to Dr. Munn, I would have to go somewhere in Guelph or Oakville. What should I ask about other than ZGT when I can get a good vet? Timing is going to be tricky because I'm just about to start exams so I need to work around the timing of those.

I just checked him again and his front teeth look fine to me, he was bruxing a bit in the video. I just noticed the lip was pulled up.

Also, how squishy is 'too squishy'? I think it feels firm but I've never dealt with any of this before

Should I look into getting it drained?

Edit: I found a vet on the forum that I can get to so I made an appointment for monday morning. Stress stress
 
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