# Red bump on skin... tumor, abcess, wart? (added pic)



## squeek (Oct 30, 2007)

My rat Coco has a weird red bump on the inside of his arm. It looks dry and scabby and is not covered in fur. It looks like it is attached to the skin rather than swelling under the skin. I looked up pictures of abcesses and tumors on rats, but this seems much smaller. He is about a year and a half old. He has a cage mate who he wrestles and plays with, so I thought it was a scab at first, but it is definatly a round protrusion with scabby skin on it. Any ideas what it could be? [img=http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/3769/dsc06248or7.th.jpg]


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## Stace87 (Jun 24, 2008)

*Re: Red bump on skin... tumor, abcess, wart?*



squeek said:


> I looked up pictures of abcesses and tumors on rats, but this seems much smaller.


Not all abscesses/tumors will be large. Or if you have just noticed it, it may have only just appeared.

Abscesses feel attached to the skin, and tumors move independently of the skin around the tumor.


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

*Re: Red bump on skin... tumor, abcess, wart?*



Stace87 said:


> squeek said:
> 
> 
> > I looked up pictures of abcesses and tumors on rats, but this seems much smaller.
> ...


Sadly that statement about the independent movement of a tumour is not always true, some can be very connected deep inside, or like my Bear's what I thought was an abscess, turned out to be a horrible infected and malignant tumour. Removed 

Can you take a pic for us?


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## Stace87 (Jun 24, 2008)

*Re: Red bump on skin... tumor, abcess, wart?*



lilspaz68 said:


> Stace87 said:
> 
> 
> > squeek said:
> ...


Oh, I'm sure I heard the vet mention that. Silly vet.


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

*Re: Red bump on skin... tumor, abcess, wart?*

Most mammary tumours are very moveable in their first stages so a lot of people think/say that


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## squeek (Oct 30, 2007)

There is another strange thing going on with Coco... Although I don't really see how it could be related, I guess it could. He has iths reddish-black stuff around one of his eyes, in a circle. I know about the red fluid that comes out of their eyes and nose when they are stressed, but this looks darker, crustier, and is only around one eye. It's in a circle around his eye, like a black eye (except it's on his fur). I wiped it clean and the next day it was back. I can't see how it could be related, but it is strange that both things happened at once.


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

Its dried porphyrin, it can get quite dark. Wipe it off with a damp cloth and see if its really a dark red.

Stress, illness or eye problems are the reason.


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## ration1802 (Sep 25, 2007)

That looks very similar to cases I've had here,

The first, Ben, had a skin tumor that was merely a protrusion of the skin around a 'scab' (it looked like a volcano in shape)

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b384/befferoo/Medical bits/Bengrowth040408.jpg (it's quite a gross pic - unfortunately Ben had a clotting disorder which meant this tumor bled quite a bit)

The second was Ritchie, unfortunately, of which I have no pics of the tumor itself. But it looked just like your boy's and was attached to his skin by a small tag of skin. My vet called it a papilloma.

It's definately worthwhile getting it checked out by your vet. Removal, if it is something this sinister, can be done quite easily


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## squeek (Oct 30, 2007)

Thank you, I did take him to the vet. She said it didn't look like a tumor but to keep an eye on it. She didn't think it was anything serious. She thought the excessive discharge from his eye could be seasonal allergies, and that I could give him saline drops. 
Poor Ben!


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## xMR.GOMEZ (Jul 25, 2008)

My rat, Nappy had discharge around his eyes. I would wipe it off one day, and it would come back the next. Turns out, he had a URI (Upper Respritory Infection).


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