# Inflamed/enlarged nipples. Hooded rat. False pregnancy? please help.



## Monzae (Sep 15, 2012)

One of my three girls has slightly enlarged nipple, was just the bottom two yesterday but now seems to be all four. She's about a year old and has been with me for a year, definitely not pregnant. She seems to possibly have been lactating, gave her a warm bath yesterday and was very gentle to clean them up in case of an infection. I'm thinking it's a False pregnancy due to the sneezing notably in the morning more than usual, lactating and enlarged nipples and possibly enlarged stomach, too soon to say on this but I have noticed her uterus feels a bit soft, so that's my guess on what it is. I think they're specifically about 9-10 months old so I don't believe it's anything to do with menopause. Please express opinions or ideas, I don't want to put her at risk of anything if she needed to be checked over.


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## unlikelyfather (Sep 11, 2012)

Is it possible that a wild rat could have come into contact with her?


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## elliriyanna (Jul 27, 2011)

Sounds like more than a false pregnancy and usually there is something to trigger a false pregnancy. Lactating takes a lot of hormones poor thing ... can you post pictures?


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## Monzae (Sep 15, 2012)

I'll get some pictures today. There are wild Rat about but it's impossible they got close to her, their cage is behind my PC and in my sight most of the time and whilst running in the house they are kept under constant supervision. I had noticed she fought with her sister the other day, there was no food involved and this is the first time that this had happened, no one was hurt and they got over it immediately after I broke it up.


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## Monzae (Sep 15, 2012)

Here's a pic, not very clear as it's dark and stormy atm, used my phone to take this pic too. You can see the little spot of red in the bottom right near her leg bone, not much to see but that's about it, little red and enlarged. The bulge in her stomach is probably just the food she just ate, only notable thing on that is as I said, her stomach is a little soft to the touch.


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

It could be false pregnancy but there are other things to consider as well.

There are also mammary tumors that will contain milk, they are not as common as the fibroadenoma we all usually see, but they do happen and they grow fast. They are usually round and will need to be removed surgically.

I also advise weighing your girl daily and recording the weights. I had a male wild rat get into my home and ended up with a litter of halfie babies...found them eeping in a hammock...those wild boys are very persistent....just in case.


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## Monzae (Sep 15, 2012)

Hi, likely that there is a large Male Rat vying to mate with the girls but no chance they could have succeeded. I'm experienced in the signs of Tumors and this is why I believed first in something of a False Pregnancy, I'll keep an eye out for any lumps but pretty certain based on previous experience and the days that have past without signs that this is not the case


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## Monzae (Sep 15, 2012)

They seem to have gone back down in size now, still a little white on the ends but settling down. Very confusing what it was but doesn't seem to be any of the obvious nor something that is an issue


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