# Possible Swollen Lymph Node - Sort of an Urgent Question



## Grotesque (Mar 19, 2014)

Olive's mysterious neck lump isn't going down. I want to share a picture but she will simply not hold still. I don't want to stress her out more than she already is. If you look at a picture of a swollen lymph node on a rat, that is exactly what it looks like. 

The vet prescribed Baytril and Doxy for two reasons. 1) She had a respiratory infection and 2) If that lump was an abscess, it would shrink the lump. The lump appeared last Monday and it isn't going down. It is getting bigger. Its not looking like an abscess. 

It looks very much like lymphoma but she doesn't really show any other signs. I read somewhere that anti-inflammatory could help the swelling go down. Is there a safe over the counter anti-inflammatory that can be given with Baytril and Doxy? 

Any thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions?


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

Baby liquid ibuprofen is a rat safe over the counter anti-inflammatory. If you look on ratguide for the dosage, you'll see you need to give the higher allowed dosage for the anti-inflammatory effects. Lower dosages are for pain relief only. I got the walgreens brand mixed berries and never had a problem giving it to a rat just like that.


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## Grotesque (Mar 19, 2014)

Gribouilli said:


> Baby liquid ibuprofen is a rat safe over the counter anti-inflammatory. If you look on ratguide for the dosage, you'll see you need to give the higher allowed dosage for the anti-inflammatory effects. Lower dosages are for pain relief only. I got the walgreens brand mixed berries and never had a problem giving it to a rat just like that.


Thanks so much. You might have saved my little one until we can see the vet again.


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## Finnebon (Jul 15, 2013)

Warm compresses might help. If it IS an abcess, it would be very helpful for getting it to progress and hopefully come to a head to be lanced. If it is a swollen lymph node, it will increase blood circulation which hopefully will help flush out the lymph node quicker and let it progress a littler quicker naturally as it fights whatever it is reacting to. Ice is normally best, but a rat won't let you ice it probably. I hope it's not lymphoma, poor girl.. Sending good thoughts to you and Olive! I hope that Ibuprofen helps too.

Rat guide is wonderful, and this is helpful too http://ratclub.org/dose_general.htm but doesn't convert mg/kg, only mg/lb. So you'd have to do some figuring to convert whatever kg is to lb for that. (I'm terrible at that)


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## Grotesque (Mar 19, 2014)

She had a dose of baby ibuprofen and it didn't do much for the swelling. However, it certainly did increase her appetite - something we've been struggling with as she wastes away to a skeleton. Her jaw must be feeling a bit better from the pain relief side of the ibuprofen. 

On another positive note - I think I see a little pimple starting to form on the side of it. I hope its a head starting to form! I'll try a warm compress tonight. She might be a bit too squirmy for it though.

Edited to add: She really hates pictures taken of her and she is already moody so getting a photo isn't something that is going to happen. She does look EXACTLY like this little hairless boy featured in the photos (OF THE FACE) on this page. http://ratguide.com/health/figures/lymphoma_figure_2.php

Olive is hairless too. She doesn't have any of the issues seen in the other photos, but the facial swelling is dead on to what she looks like.


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

Another possibility for a lump on the throat could be the SDA virus...are any/all of your rats sneezing or sick?


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## Grotesque (Mar 19, 2014)

SDA was the first thing I thought of, actually. Everyone else is fine. No sneezing or swollen necks anywhere else - and there are 9 rats other than Olive so I think it would have popped up on at least one of them. 

I did notice some scabbing on it last night so fingers crossed that its an abscess. If it is, it is probably a record breaker. Its hard too. Not sure how anything is going to come out. I'm going to do as many warm compresses as I can today and hope for the best.


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