#i hate cancer
Hey guys, so unfortunately I have some bad news - Pickle was diagnosed with a zymbal’s gland tumor today. I suspected she had one when I saw the left side of her face swell up this weekend - I went ahead and gave her infant motrin to reduce swelling/any pain, and while the swelling went down, that just made it apparent that she had a small bump between her ear and jaw (see picture 2 & 3 - the lump is on her left side (right in the picture)).
This is a classic location for zymbal’s gland tumors (ZGT’s), and these tumors often present with an abscess or cyst alongside them, making it easy to misdiagnose them if you’re not looking for them. Unfortunately, while this is my first time dealing with ZGT in my own rats, I’ve seen plenty of images and videos of them in other people’s rats, so I immediately had to suspect one :(
So I made an appointment to take Pickle to the vet today, and the vet quickly confirmed my guess. She does indeed have an infection on top of the ZGT, so we are treating that aggressively with antibiotics, ear drops, and metacam.
The tumor itself is always untreatable, as the location makes removing or even debulking it impossible (it’s right next to the jaw, and if removed it would take the jaw and part of the ear - so impossible to do on a living rat. The tumor also tends to grow more aggressively if messed with, making surgery even more risky). These tumors are almost always malignant, meaning they grow quickly and often spread to other parts of the body - but they are so aggressive in growth that often the rat has to be PTS before this. Prognosis is usually 2-4 weeks before needing to euthanize after initial symptoms, and treatment is all about palliative care to make the rat comfortable and reduce any inflammation, pain, and any accompanying infection.
Once the tumor grows too large, it will also begin to shift things around, causing malocclusion and pain. I already see some very slight malocclusion in Pickle, and the lump has grown some even in just the 3 days since it popped up, so we will be watching her quality of life closely from now on. She has another appointment in 9 days to see her progress, and we will determine our continued treatment from there.
Regardless of what we do, Pickle will be put to sleep before the end of May (right before she turns 1.5 yrs…that was going to happen June 8th) - I can’t believe I’m typing this while looking at her now, because she’s still acting so normal and happy. I hate that this tumor is taking away an otherwise healthy and happy 17 month old rat - she’s not even in the old age bracket for tumors yet, and it just feels like she’s being robbed of so much life. I can’t even describe how I’m feeling - I know illness is never fair, but it really feels like Pickle is too young for this shit.
I’m so so sorry Pickle - I will give you the best last few weeks possible, and I promise I won’t let you suffer at the end </3
