Anatomy of a "lump" - Can you tell the difference?

[Leaf]

I've read a lot about flystrike and I've read a lot about abscesses. Some posts here also talk about tumors rabbits have had.

Is there a "rule of thumb" as far as having a general idea as to what a rabbit could have before getting it vetted?

For those that have been in a situation like that - how did the mass feel, and what were the results? Do you go in "blindly" to the vet office and wait for the vet to decide or is there a "rule of thumb" that can clue you in (somewhat) beforehand?

 

[Maureen Las]

an abscess feels hard
a benign tumor can feel hard or soft (for example some animals get fatty deposits under the skin or think a dewlap could be a tumor.

Chippy's lump, I believe was soft as it was fluid filled
My Jacques had a malignant lump on his belly ; I knew pretty much before the biopsy that it was malignant because it had irregular borders and was misshapen.
A lump from a cuterebra larvae (bot)looks like an anthill with a hole in the center and will feel hard. It will enlarge as the larvae develops ..flystrile is maggots hatching and feeding off the rabbit and a bot is the egg of a bot fly using the body of a rabbit as an incubator. Both are gross but flystrike is probably worse for the rabbit.


Does one of your rabbit's have a lump?

 

[Bo B Bunny]

What about on sore hocks? Anyone able to tell what an abscess looks like there?

Bo gets spots but they don't see like..... bad. :?

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

Jess, I found Angel's lump unexpectedly, of course. It was quite small, very portioned and round, hard: semi I guess?:?

She had it removed, and it was diagnosed as a Cancerous Mammory Tumour. It was sucessfully removed, but I lost her a year later. Maybe Cancer again, we're not sure. It happened in one day, so, this is something to document for any cancer patient bun.