# Rat with possible skin cancer  what to do?



## ajgibbon (Dec 8, 2009)

I posted a bit ago about my little ratty roo having a skin problem causing a big scab on her back and face. The vet now thinks that it is very possible that its skin cancer and said that doing a biopsy might be the next move. However little Roo is now pushing 2 and a half therefore she might not survive the procedure.

Just wondering if anyone has had a rat with skin cancer, or a rat that has undergone a biopsy.

At the moment I am against going for the biopsy, one because I dont think she would pull through it and 2 even if it comes back positive for cancer, at her age there isnt much they can do. Is it better to find the cause of this skin condition, or just let her live with it for as long as she can until quality of life is reduced? :crying:


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## blade100 (Aug 24, 2009)

personally if she is fine in herself and eating etc and doesn't seem in pain then i wouldn't put her through the stress as you say she is 2 and half years old.which is a good age for a rat.

see how she goes.
does she have ratty company?

amy


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## blade100 (Aug 24, 2009)

ahhh yes i see you have 10 rattys:001_tt1:


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## LisaLQ (Dec 19, 2009)

Have you got any piccies? I've never heard of a rat with skin cancer, although I'm sure it happens it cant be very common so I dont really have much advice.

Has she been treated for mites or a skin infection to rule those out? Mites cause irritation to the face - and with scratching these can get infected. Staph infection is also very common in rats, causes large sore oozing patches and is hard to get rid of sometimes. It might be worth sharing a piccie? The usual treatment for staph is washing in hibuscrub, and then putting tea tree on it - but if it's on her face that could be trickier as tea tree isn't exactly gentle.

It might be worth asking on here about possible treatment or course of action:
Rat Health UK


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## ajgibbon (Dec 8, 2009)

blade100 said:


> personally if she is fine in herself and eating etc and doesn't seem in pain then i wouldn't put her through the stress as you say she is 2 and half years old.which is a good age for a rat.
> 
> see how she goes.
> does she have ratty company?
> ...


Thanks for your reply. Well she is herself, eating and everything but has lost some weight but stabilised (might also be cause she is old) however she is on her own as the other girls were pulling at her scabs and it was causing a problem. Therefore she does get out more than the rest to sit with me. But at the moment she does still seem happy but she has to constantly be on antibiotics and painkillers to stop infection getting in.


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## ajgibbon (Dec 8, 2009)

Thanks for the reply LisaLQ and she has been on antibiotics (baytril, septrin for the last 2 months almost and three mite treatments (spot on and xenos) so the vet says they have ruled out mites and bacterial infection and says she has seen the symptoms once before in a rat that had skin cancer. However I will mention staph infection to the vet and ask on rat health.

These are photos I took the other night, the first scab on her back started out as a tiny scratch (very small dot) and then got bigger and seemed to spread to her face. Poor little thing.


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## owieprone (Nov 6, 2008)

tbh as hard as this is, i'd weigh up quality of life first over anything else. if she's being 'picked at' by the others, who are only trying to help, but this is causing pain and problems on top of what she's already going through and having to take painkillers and abs. 

Rats are one of the few creatures who don't show certain pain very well, not that we'd notice anyway so again it would be up to what pain you think she's in over painkiller doses and times.

as she is over 2.5 i'd think about cost of any other treatments, and continued treatment over the time she has left too. it's not nice but it's something you need to think about.

It's a decision only you can make.

hugs.


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## LisaLQ (Dec 19, 2009)

That really looks like a staph infection, or fungal - I think it might be worth doing another swab to check for staph and a UV light test to rule out fungal.

In the meantime, there's no harm in bathing her sore bits (on her back at least) with hibiscrub, and putting some tea tree oil on (or cream if you want something a little less harsh - they do a pet tea tree cream in the pet shop).


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## owieprone (Nov 6, 2008)

LisaLQ said:


> That really looks like a staph infection, or fungal - I think it might be worth doing another swab to check for staph and a UV light test to rule out fungal.
> 
> In the meantime, there's no harm in bathing her sore bits (on her back at least) with hibiscrub, and putting some tea tree oil on (or cream if you want something a little less harsh - they do a pet tea tree cream in the pet shop).


unfortunately it looks like both staph. and skin cancer so only test could tell, but do get the vet to double check all the tests again, as Lisa says.
It doesn't look fungal to me but have it checked just in case.

you could also ask for a higher dose of abs, in case its a resistant strain of staph, if they don't give you a higher dosage make sure you finish the full course of abs they've already given you at the intervals they've told you to use, even if it doesn't look like it's doing anything outside it's keeping her safe from anything else.

are you bathing her aswell? as her licking and cleaning herself with just saliva might agravate the symtoms? even without hibi-scrub plain water might help keep the sores maleable than plain saliva and less likely to crack, also see if you can get a cream to keep the sores soft and maleable after bathing.

you might want to think about quarantining her away from the others incase it's not cancer and scrubbing the cage and everything in it just in case also.

as long as you take her out as often as possible to play, she won't pine for company too much, and once you know what she's got you can decide whether to put her back in or not with the others. she might welcome the peace for a little while.


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## LisaLQ (Dec 19, 2009)

You dont need antibiotics for staph, it's something that is easier to clear up with the hibiscrub/tea tree treatment. However, if that doesn't work it might be worth looking into more aggressive treatment for it.

She doesn't need seperating, if they are going to get it they'll already have it.

I'd still do the swab/tests to be safe.


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## spoiled_rat (Mar 24, 2008)

Looks almost identical to a buck who came in here last year, he was covered in similar scabs, and it was staph, it cleared up with regular bathing though.


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## ajgibbon (Dec 8, 2009)

Tonight the scabs seem to have broken up (or perhaps been picked off) her back and are oozing a bit. And tbh are looking worse :crying: She has been separated from the others for a few weeks now as they wouldn't leave her scabs alone and no one else is showing signs of any problems (cages are getting cleaned down throughly with trigene)

She is at the vets again tomorrow so i'll mention about the other tests again as I personally dont think the biopsy is the right choice. I will also mention about the staph and see what the vet thinks.
I will also pick up some hibiscrub and give it a go.

thanks for the replies, i'll let you know how it goes at the vets


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