Cicero: finally was able to drain all the sebum from the cyst on his back. The hard, pea sized lump on his back is now gone, and their is just a small hole which I will be keeping clean and watching for any sign of infection. His noisy breathing is completely gone, however, I am a bit concerned about his breathing in general. You can see his sides move more than my other rats when he breathes. No discharge from eyes or nose, lungs sound clear from what I can tell.

Nymeria: discovered quite a bit of crusty dried blood in her left ear. Discovered a small laceration on the tragus (not sure if that is what it is called in a rat, but that's about the same location as that of a human). Cleaned the site with saline wash.

Scheduled Aniston's mammary tumor removal for May 3rd. 

Took Aniston to Dr Don's office and it was determined that the marble/small grape sized lump under her right armpit is indeed a mammary tumor. Scheduling surgery for removal.

I have taken in 9 rats to care for temporarily for a friend from Facebook. All rats appear to be in perfect health- all very friendly, alert, and active. Eyes/noses and breathing all clear. They will be with me until the first week or so in May. These rats will not be interacting with my rats but are sharing the same room (rat room).

All rats, with the exception of Scarlett, received baths.

Aniston's lump is slow growing, but nevertheless is in fact growing. An appointment has been made for 4/20/13. It will be a consultation appointment, to have the vet determine whether or not surgery is required.

Found a vet that I am going to go with for Aniston's surgery. It was advised that I watch it for about two weeks, to determine its growth rate and to see if it might just be an abscess or cyst (both which I am quite certain it is not). So now we just wait and see what happens.

Discovered a small pea-sized lump under Aniston's right armpit, more on the leg than the body itself. It moves around under the skin and is squishy in texture, like that of fat. Calling around for a vet to have it removed. I suspect a mammary tumor based on the location and nature of the lump.

Please to report that everyone has been healthy and fine all this time!

Discovered a small lump on Cicero's back. Its about the width of my pinky nail, about center of his back, just right of his spine. Will continue to monitor its growth.

Discovered a small scab on Nymeria's back- most likely a nip injury from Paisley who seems to be relentlessly harassing Nymeria the past couple days. It does not appear to be very serious at all.  I noticed Paisley displaying typical behaviors that would indicate she was in heat. I am going to start tracking this to see if there is a relationship to her aggressive behavior and her heat cycles.

Discontinued flushing Emerson's abscess area as nothing other than a very small scab remain. Eyes looking much more even- suspecting the squinting had to do with discomfort perhaps?

Flushed Emerson's abscess area with sterile saline wound wash (purified water and 0.9% sodium chloride). Will continue flushing area 2x daily until healed.

Flushed Emerson's abscess area with sterile saline wound wash (purified water and 0.9% sodium chloride). Will continue flushing area 2x daily until healed.

Flushed Emerson's abscess area with sterile saline wound wash (purified water and 0.9% sodium chloride). Will continue flushing area 2x daily until healed. Looking MUCH better today! Its already gone down in diameter! Moved Nymeria into the big cage at last after introducing all the other girls to her for a few hours in her cage. Great success!