These are pet rats...not feeders but I figure the info will be the same. One of my females developed what looked like tumors, one on her side, one under her armpit and one on her tummy near the base of her tail. I know tumors do happen, she's older and she was nursing a litter so I left it alone. After the litter was weaned the tumor on her side and under her arm pit disapeared. I thought it was odd but didn't worry too much. Then one day I noticed what looked like a hole on her cagemate under her neck. It looked like an abcess had blown. Both females recovered and seem fine. They are nursing a litter together now (I don't know which are whose...they take turns with the whole lot.) I noticed that the lump under the first females armpit had returned and the one on her tummy is bigger. Today....out of the blue, my other female, a youngster has a lump under her throat....I don't think she's going to make it. This was VERY sudden. She was fine yesterday when I fed her and today she can't even lift her head! The young female was in with an older litter(she's alone in my room now) I was getting ready to sell and they are all fine, my 4th female and my male are fine. I rotate who lives with who...the male it alone because he's rough with his women, the 4th female was alone until the 2 older ones weaned thier babies. The 2 older ones are always together. The youngest...who is dying was in with a newly weaned litter belonging to female 4. They have all come in contact with each other at one time or another. I have removed all the bowls, toys and bedding to be sterilized. Thier cages are all clean. They are in very large airy wire cages....the bottom is out of reach. What could this be? How do I stop it? Is this something that could be transferable to another animal. I have a dog, a skunk and several reptiles in the house. (The rats are outside) HELP
Cancer. Females get mammary chain tumors all the time. Especially albinos. The tumors may be benign, most are. But the problem is, they multiply along the chains rapidly, and most of the time return after being surgically removed. We had one rat we tried to remove tumors from and after we opened her up, found that the tumors had spread up into her back and we would have had to almost completely skin her just to remove them. You can't stop it and it's not contagious. Female rats have mammary chains down both sides of their belly and the chains actually continue up the sides a good distance ecen though there aren't any teets in that area. The lump under her throat is probably the same thing. Many benign types of tumors can come and go, even in humans. So they may all be benign, but just watch for things like not eating, weight loss, and lethargy. If anything like that starts to happen, the tumors could have spread or become too large and it may be best to have them put down. Tumors will also be more likely to grow suddenly with changes in hormone levels (like when they are pregnant, lactating, or in heat). The hole on the cagemate, could have been a bite or scratch wound. It happens sometimes, even with longtime cagemates. If it healed well, then I wouldn't worry about it. Next time, if it happens again, just clean the wound with some soap and water and apply some Neosporin or other antibiotic ointment, just to keep back infection. As for your little one that is already sick, it possible that the tumor is cutting off her trachea ad esophagus. Keep an eye on her breathing and if you think she's really in pain or distress, you may want to consider taking her to the vet either for medical treatment or to put her to sleep before she has to go through anymore. Good luck!
