# Lump



## Toast (Nov 11, 2009)

My female mouse has a small lump a little below her neck, but above her legs, on her underside. Her sister seemed to have something like this, and died of a very serious infection that reached her head (and ultimately, her brain I'm guessing). Gatorade, the female with the bump, has been in with a male, but I doubt it could be an absess; Dexter will do anything for her and is very gentle. I am wondering if it is genetic, dangerous, what ever you can tell me. Is there a way to fix it? Please, anyone with knowledge about this, help me!


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## Jack Garcia (Oct 9, 2009)

Your best bet is to see a vet immediately. It could be any number of things.


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

Does have a pair of nipples right between their front legs, it could be a tumor, as they tend to come out either in front of or behind the leg when they originate from either of the two front pairs of nipples. If she has been bred and is pregnant, the tumor may remain the same or even shrink, as her estrus cycle will remove one primary cause of mammary tumors. A corn free diet is another thing you might want to consider(for all your meeces).

Like Jack said ,you could see a vet, and he might want to remove the tumor, and you might even be able to afford that, I don't know. Surgery on such a tiny creature may be beyond the scope of many vets expertise. If it's an abcess you can tell by the feel of the lump as a tumor is pretty solid, while an abcess is squishy.

Let us know what happens, OK?


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## Toast (Nov 11, 2009)

It costs 45 dollars just for the check-up, and 250 for surgery (I checked the prices). I can't afford that. I mean, she costed me 5 dollars. I'm going to remove her from the male. I'll try to post pics of it. Maybe that'll help. The lumps not squishy, but its not hard. One of my old mice had an absess, and its definately harder than that.


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## Jack Garcia (Oct 9, 2009)

It sounds like cancer.

With any pet, you must be willing to spend the money to take proper care of the animal or else don't buy the pet in the first place if you know you can't afford proper care down the road. The other option is to watch the mouse carefully and if it gets worse or puts the mouse in pain, euthanize it at the first signs of discomfort. Good luck!


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## Toast (Nov 11, 2009)

Jack Garcia said:


> It sounds like cancer.
> 
> With any pet, you must be willing to spend the money to take proper care of the animal or else don't buy the pet in the first place if you know you can't afford proper care down the road. The other option is to watch the mouse carefully and if it gets worse or puts the mouse in pain, euthanize it at the first signs of discomfort. Good luck!


Well, most people don't think their $5 mouse will need $295 dollars of health care. That's $300 dollars. There should be no criticizing. I mean, if I said that when you had this dilemma, I doubt you would tell me,"Yeah, I'll buy a mouse for $5 and a few months later pay $295 for mouse care."


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## Jack Garcia (Oct 9, 2009)

If I couldn't have it treated by a vet, I would euthanize the mouse at the first signs of suffering instead of letting whatever it is get worse because it's untreated. I don't let things like this go on if I can help it at all.

This is all part of responsible pet ownership for any animal. You have to be willing to spend what it takes for proper medical care. This can be as little as $0-10 if you choose at-home euthanasia (which I can send you a link for if you need it) but the bottom line is that you have to make a choice.

At least now you know in the future that a cheap mouse can be very expensive in the long run. It's also helpful to keep in mind when breeding and if you can't afford the treatment for one mouse perhaps you will reconsider breeding more. If 2 or 5 or 10 mice have the same problem, the costs naturally become astronomical.

In that vein, if this is a tumor, any and all mice who are related to this one (especially females) are at high risk of getting similar tumors in the future.


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## Cait (Oct 3, 2008)

You need to change vet, that cost is astronomical. I have had a lump removed from a mouse for £30 all in. If you ring round I'm sure you will find a MUCH cheaper quote if you do want to give surgery a go.


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## Toast (Nov 11, 2009)

MouseBreeder said:


> You need to change vet, that cost is astronomical. I have had a lump removed from a mouse for £30 all in. If you ring round I'm sure you will find a MUCH cheaper quote if you do want to give surgery a go.


I am. I decided that it was just a waste of money when another place (farther away but cheaper) offers it for half the price. I am annoyed though, because their only open on school days.


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## Kallan (Aug 16, 2009)

Abscesses can sometimes be very firm, but they're usually very painful at this point. If it's a tumour, best bet is to make sure the mouse isn't suffering - when she starts to show signs of going downhill then get her euthanased. You could try asking your vet for a dose of prednisolone (can be used to treat some cancers) but they may not be able to get a dose small enough.


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## Jack Garcia (Oct 9, 2009)

MouseBreeder said:


> You need to change vet, that cost is astronomical. I have had a lump removed from a mouse for £30 all in. If you ring round I'm sure you will find a MUCH cheaper quote if you do want to give surgery a go.


In some areas there are no other vets who will see mice within a five or six hour drive, so the one or two that do see mice can basically charge what they want. The vet I used to see charged around $120 all together (~£75) to remove a small tumor, plus the hour and a half drive there and back which costs a lot depending on the price of gasoline, plus the cost of the prescription medicines. You have to be very careful in the US when picking vets though and ask lots of questions because many vets are not that familiar with mice.


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## Kallan (Aug 16, 2009)

Even in the UK it would cost something similar - you use the same amount of time and expertise and equipment to deal with a mouse as with a dog or cat, and just because a mouse costs less doesn't mean it is cheaper to treat. The only reason it could possibly be cheaper is because you are dealing with smaller quantities of drugs - but then many drugs companies charge more for the smaller dosed tablets or liquids because there is less demand for them.

In our practice we never charge the full amount for any op in small furries - I removed cystic ovaries from a guinea pig and spayed her last week, for under £90 (that included the initial consultation, three days hospitalisation, a full blood panel plus the cost of the operation and drugs, then a follow up consultation to ensure she was still ok). The same procedure in a cat would have cost upward of £250 plus VAT - (the blood panel alone is £65 and I don't think the practice gets any of that - the stuff we get from the lab is incredibly expensive).

My boss lets us get away with charging less for small animals otherwise we'd never get any in to work with. Because of this, we make a loss on anything smaller than a cat that can't be cured with a single consult and some drugs. For many practice managers this is unacceptable but luckily we can go ahead.


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## Cait (Oct 3, 2008)

Must mean I had a good vet then (I have since moved and changed vet). The one I have now is more expensive but I still doubt would have charged much more than £60 for the same thing. An operation to spay my hedgehog would have cost about £50 and she'd use more drugs than a mouse.


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## Jack Garcia (Oct 9, 2009)

The variability of costs among vets for performing the same procedures really fascinates me. In the UK, is rodent medicine covered in vet school? I know in the US, it's possible for a vet to become a doctor and never deal first-hand with a mouse.


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## Kallan (Aug 16, 2009)

The variability of costs is down to different veterinary practices using different procedures as their 'loss leaders', i.e. something that they make a loss on but which encourages consumers to spend more overall.

We cover small furries in every year at vet school - husbandry, anatomy and physiology in the early years, and exotic animal medicine in later years. Most of the small animal medicine course is on cats and dogs however, because these are the animals most likely to be presented. The most common reason we are going to see a hamster or rat or mouse is to put it down, unfortunately. Because of the cost of vet care compared to the cost of the animal, most treatment isn't economically viable for the owner or the practice.

We are starting to get more insured pet rabbits though which is brilliant - it means if a rabbit is presented to us, we aren't restricted by how much the owner can afford - we can go ahead and give it the gold standard treatment and diagnostics to the best of our ability.


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## Toast (Nov 11, 2009)

I know that some people specialize in small animals and some do everything. Some just do norms like dogs and cats. It depends on what coarse you take, but there is a very small vet that treats rodents that I am seeing how much it costs


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## Kallan (Aug 16, 2009)

Toast said:


> It depends on what coarse you take


We all do the same course and graduate being able to treat all species. If you you have a special interest you can direct your CPD towards small furries after you graduate.


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