Tumour or abscess?

Question

I have a 4 year old male rat called charlie who has had a firm lump on his upper chest for around 3 months now. it is under the skin and hangs down quite noticibally when he stands on his hind legs. he lives with another male rat (Toby) who does not show any agression towards him whatsoever (charlie is deffinately the dominant one). i took him to the vet and they drew fluid from the mump and there was ony blood inside ita few weeks ago and they perscribed me baytril to feed him for 10 days or surgery if it failed. the baytril didnt work and the lump has been changing rapidly. one day it will be really huge and the next it may be half the size but it always has a fleshy sore on it and it smells really grose. it doesnt seem to have affected him that much at all but he ALWAYS cleans it. the cage is cleaned out twice a week. he doesnt show any sighns of pain

im also worried, because im afraid getting it surgically removed may be very costly

please help

Answer 1

You know, I've had approx 10 rats in my life time and they never had these tumor things.  I wonder if it's because I feed them healthy people food?? I'd sure like to know if this has helped.  These tumors are common I hear among rats and I'm glad to hear your taking care of him.  I would just keep an eye on it and if he's young and it's not too costly have it removed, i've never heard of them just going away....Kelli

Answer 2

if he doesnt seem to be in pain i guess you could just ignore it hes 4 and thats pretty old for a rat just let him live for whatever.  He can only live 1 more year or less so i dont think the surgery is really worth it.

Answer 3

the same has happened to my drawf hamster and i'm really scared what might've happened but i only noticed the swollen part near it's chest yesterday (monday) 'cause i was cleaning its cage which i haven't cleaned for a month 'cause of my homework and other things also i haven't taken it out. but the swollen part is not bald or anything it is soft and sort of squishy it seems to clean it. my hamster looks fat but it's not and it doesn't seem to be in any pain. i really hope it's not anything bad

good luck with your rat i really really hope it gets well

Answer 4

Tumors in rats are pretty common.  That's what my rat died from

Answer 5

I had the same problem with a hamster I had for two years. She developed what I thought was a tumor, but I had a sister that is a vet tech look at it and said it was an absess. She took her to the vet she worked with and they drained it and gave me antibiotics. It could be rather costly unless you know someone in the vetinarian field that would help.