Last Weigh in (June 2013)	Today's Weigh In (December 2013)
Sero	8.6 oz	12.2 oz
Atticus	11.4 oz	14.4 oz
Vaux	12.1 oz	15.2 oz
Pip	1 lb 9.3 oz	1 lb 6.2 oz
Beret	13.8 oz	14.2 oz
Molly	9.5 oz	9.6 oz
Nymeria	9.9oz	11.3 oz
Aniston	10.7 oz	14.9 oz
Paisley	11.1 oz	11.3 oz
Scarlett	11.0 oz	12.4 oz
Chelsea	13.8 oz	14.8 oz

Sero- given olive oil bath; minor scratches on body

Atticus- given olive oil bath; minor scratches on body; dry patch/scab on tail appears to be mostly healed

Vaux- given olive oil bath;  minor scratches on body

Pip- exfoliated tail gently (build up under scales); scab on side (appear to be bite wound); no other issues

Beret- some scabs along neck and sides of body other than that, looks good. Wheel tail is still present but does not affect her mobility or balance at all.

Molly- looks good, no issues!

Nymeria- scabs along neck, shoulders, and sides of body- this is typical of Nymeria- they appear more like bite marks

Aniston- lumps have become quite large and are just now starting to hinder her mobility but only slightly as she still walks in the wheel. Increase in weight due to tumor size

Paisley- looks good- cataract in eye still present but doesn't appear to have increased in size by too much, no other issues

Scarlett- left eye has hard lump directly below it, squinting. Flushed it out as best as I could with natural tears eye drops and wiped it gently with a cloth- will continue to monitor and wipe it daily

Chelsea-  marble sized lump on right side (mammary tumor); strange mass on groin area- appears to be like thick, raw skin- has  been there for weeks with no change in appearance or size. Doesn't seem to affect her even when I touch it gently

Chelsea's odd growth. No hole, just an indent in the center.

Chelsea has a nasty burst abscess on her tummy. Flushed it with sterile saline. I also discovered two very small lumps forming- one on her right side and one on her left side just above her hindquarter. No surprise, her sister, Scarlett No-Haira had to have a lump removed not too long ago.

Discovered a small lump on Atticus' right testicle. Monitoring.

Discovered two lumps on Aniston. One is rather large and very squishy- right around her genitals. If I didn't know any better, and if I had not owned Aniston for as long as I have, I would almost think it was a testicle as it is about the size and density of one. The other lump is right above her right rear leg, very much in the same location as Scarlett's was (in the crease where the thigh meets the belly). I am hesitant to try to put her through another surgery at her age (she is approaching 2 years of age this November) since she has already been through one. I will be monitoring the tumors' growths.

Emerson has had increased decline in the mobility of his back legs. The muscle mass of this thighs is diminishing as is the hair on his back legs and tummy, but he still gets around! Wobbly and off balance, dragging his feet as he walks, but he still goes up and down the ramp of his cage, and in and out of the hammocks. Other looking like an old man rat, he appears to be in very good health.

All other ratties appear to be doing fine. They will all be treated with ivermectin soon as I have noticed more scabs on some of the rats and scratches on the hairless and would like to be sure we can rule out parasites.

Sero's facial bite wound is looking much better. Still some bruising but the wound itself looks pretty good.
Vaux's lump is indeed a abscess.  It now is flat but has a blackish crusty scab over it. In my experience, its almost worse to mess with them at this point so I am leaving it alone but will continue to monitor it.
Cicero's breathing appears to look a bit labored. He isn't making any noise, but his sides move in and out much more than normal. Putting him on Baytril.

Rushed into rat room after hearing loud distress squeaking to discover that Sero got bit on the left side of his face. All the other males were laying about, looking at me innocently (go figure!) The skin surrounding the area appears to be bruised. Definitely going to have to keep an eye on this to make sure it doesn't become an abscess.  Speaking of which, while examining Sero, I noticed that Vaux, who was standing up with his front paws on the cage side, has a small pea sized lump on his abdomen. I suspect an abscess since he is male (likelihood of it being a mammary tumor is much more uncommon). Applied a warm compress.

Scarlett is back in with her cage mates. They seemed pretty happy to see her!

Scarlett managed to open her incision site. It took several attempts with superglue to get it closed up. It barely bled either and didn't appear to be causing her any discomfort- it was just jarring to look at!

Scarlett's mammary tumor was removed today. She did great! Dr Don is truly a wonderful rat vet! I did not have a chance to speak with him prior to the operation so I was not able to request to have her spayed (I was hoping that since the tumor was on her abdomen that he would be able to spay her while she was under and since he was already operating in that area). Her tumor was smaller than Aniston's however I think the lack of hair made it appear larger than it really was. Her post-op instructions are like that of Aniston's- no exercise for a week so she will be staying in a single cage by herself for a bit to ensure that she takes it easy while she heals.

My S.A.V.ed boys (get it? Sero, Atticus, and Vaux...SAVed?) all received olive oil baths to cleanse and to moisturize their skin (less traumatic and just as effective as a water bath). They are so sweet! They were bruxing and boggling away at the attention! The scratches appear to be minor, although some look worse than others. I believe they will heal up very nicely.

Sero had a lot of buck grease and multiple scratches. He also has quite a bit of porphyrin coming from his left eye. He is the smallest of the group.

Atticus's right eye appears odd to me for some reason. At first I suspected he might be odd eyed- as that eye looked more ruby and the other looked more black. It appears after further examination that he is just ruby eyed but the abundance of porphryin in that one eye made it look more reddish than the other. His skin is the least scratched up.

Vaux came in with the most scratches. He is the largest of the group.

They were estimated to be about 3-4 months of age.

Weigh Ins:
Vaux     12.1 oz
Sero     8.6 oz
Atticus 11.4oz


Drained some sebum out of Cicero's cyst. It was last drained June 4th. Didn't have too much sebum in it and I was able to extract it easily, which is good- we are keeping on top of it to prevent it from becoming too painfully impacted.

Scarlett's tumor has grown very little in this amount of time, although we are still going to have it surgically removed.

Drained some sebum out of Cicero's cyst. It hasn't been drained since April 22nd. It has remained much smaller since that initial draining, which is good- I am staying on top of it to keep it from becoming too large or too impacted.

Discovered a lump on Scarlett's belly, just above her right hind leg. Classic location for a mammary tumor. Making plans to have it removed and see if Dr Don can perform a spay while he is in removing the lump. For now, we are going to keep an eye on it.

Aniston's surgery went very very well! Dr Don is amazing! No exercise for a week post op. I will be keeping her in separate cage to avoid any cage mates from grooming her stitches out. They are to dissolve on their own. Dr Don said she wouldn't need any pain medication or antibiotics as he gave her some already. That concerns me, as I am so used to dogs and cats requiring SOMETHING after surgery, but he is the expert and a very much respected and highly recommended rat vet!

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.

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.

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.