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My pet rat has a large black lump on her hip Her fur is still white but skin black and smelly HELP2007-11-24 22:13:38

She was fine last night and was moving around her cage normally this morning, i didnt notice anything wrong but hadnt got her out. When i got home about 3 i noticed it is about 3cm across and raised about 2cm and smells. I cannot locate a puncture but skin is black.

Answers:

This is an abscess that you have not noticed before. An internal abscess that was not visible until the skin changed color. Left unchecked it has necrotized, this means that the infection has caused the the skin around the abscess to die, that's why the skin is black. This is the bad smell you are smelling. Not your fault, rats hide their illnesses very well. This is a very serious condition at this point, and may already have led to sepsis, blood poisoning. She needs to see a vet sooner rather then later, have the infection cleaned out, the dead skin cut away, and put on a strong antibiotic, like Flagyl.

http://ratguide.com/health/integumentary...

http://ratguide.com/meds/antiinfectives/...

spazrats

"my life has gone to the rats"

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omg... i used to have a mouse but one day i saw a lump on her shoulder. i asked my mum if she knew what was wrong and she said that she thinks my mouse had a tumor. over 2 days it got bigger. so we took her to the pet shop. she live there now if shes still alive. but if it gets bigger you should go to the vet or pet shop to ask them whats wrong!! hope your rat gets better!!

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Hi, my rat had one of these, was an abcess. Smelt awful. It came up really quickly which I found reassuring as it was too fast to be a tumour. Within a couple of days it scabbed over and burst, I kept it all as clean as possible with frequent washing with warm salty water. Luckily it healed up pretty quickly after that but if it had taken longer I would have got some antibiotics from the vet and perhaps had it lanced to release the pus.

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Rats can develop tumors but tumors are not black and smelly . This sounds like an abscess . She needs to go to the vet . He will probably open it up , drain it and give her an antibiotic . It should not cost that much . I would not let it go . I would get her into a vet first thing in the morning .

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take your rat to the vet !!

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OMG. Get your rat to the vet ASAP. This could be an abscess and the infection is going to need some antibiotics.