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Mona has a lump, could be cancer? :(

Fifibutton

Wise Old Thumper
About the size of a 5p coin near her groin just to the left of her scent gland. I was cleaning her as usual (she is incontinent) and saw a bare patch and touched the lump, it feels kind of squishy. She had a stroke recently and is paralyzed in one leg so she tends to lean to one side and drags herself around so it has occurred to me that the lump is possibly due her putting all her weight on that side as she drags herself around but I am not sure. Of course I have thought the worst as well and assumed it could be cancer but I'm really not sure. I phoned the vet and she is booked in for an examination first thing tomorrow morning. She does seem fine in herself, eating and pooping as normal, no signs of pain and she was relaxed enough to lick me as I cleaned her. When I touched the lump she did not react and its pink just like the rest of her skin.

Does this sound like cancer or anything else?
 
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I think it is. It does not feel deep, just under the surface of the skin. Is a papiloma harmful? Is it related to the virus American rabbits get?

Papillomas are usually benign and they are caused by a virus. Rabbits who's immune system may not be that robust could develop papillomas if they had the virus in a 'dormant' form. If it is painless and not causing any problems then I expect the Vet will say to leave it alone.

Morse has several papillomas around his willy, one is relatively large. But our Vet saw them today and advised that they are left alone as they are painless and not causing any 'structural' problems. With papillomas even if they are removed they often recur
 
Thank you for all the well wishes and vibes everyone :)

We are not long back from the vet and although Mona is not too well the prognosis is much much better than what I had feared. The vet thinks the lump is not cancer or a papilloma. He thinks that it is an inguinal lymph node lump which has developed in response to a wound she developed recently on her hind leg. She kept catching her paralyzed foot which she drags in hay which being so long became wound around her ankle until it became like a tight snare. And she recently became incontinent so the urine would dribble down the leg onto slightly red sore skin from the snare. We had been using sudocrem but have not been given fuciderm as well to speed up the healing of the wound. Her popliteal node is also a wee bit raised so we have baytril for that.

The vet was concerned that she was suffering from some slight back pain so she is on metacam as well and we have also been given panacur as the vet feels its best to cover all bases just in case the lump is e cuniculi related. Oh and her urine is very calcium dense so we need to add some pineapple juice to her water as well and encourage drinking. So its a large cocktail of meds in addition to her eye drops. I already gave Mona her first doses today. She loved the metacam and panacur, she licked it straight off the syringe but she needed more coaxing with the baytril.

I feel so proud of her. She has all these various ailments which are uncomfortable, inconvenient or painful but she has no malice or bad temper about it. Instead she has the sweetest nature and likes to lick all of us instead. She is so brave. She will be 11 in April and its starting to show with all these health problems but she still a lust for life. Sometimes I feel guilty that she is still alive. She hobbles and is half blind and I do wonder if pts would be kinder rather than let her deteriorate but she does have quality of life and she seems to be happy. I don't think she is ready to go at all but I do wish I could make her life pain free. She has developed all these issues at once so its rather a lot for one frail old bunny to take but she is bearing up so well.

However I need to change her environment as hay is no longer an option (she is on readi grass atm) unless I can find a dispenser which will keep most of the hay off the ground. And I am wondering if puppy pads would be an option too. Mona is not really using her litter tray and she just goes where she can when she can.

If anyone has any advice I'd be extreme grateful.


Jane I hope Morse will be ok and is not suffering from the lumps, poor wee man xx
 
We had a splay leg bunny who got hay wrapped round her legs. We use to chop it short with scissors!

Personally I don't rate puppy pads. I much prefer vet bed and towels and fleece blankets changed regularly.

Sorry its not much of a reply, but on phone x
 
Thank you Liz for posting, that is really helpful :D

I managed to find some decently priced vetbed on Amazon as well as a hayrack which I think she can use to access normal hay without it getting wrapped around her legs. I also found a self heating fleecy bed which looks much comfier than a snugglesafe. I didn't realize readigrass was so high in calcium. I'm going to chop some hay up for her just now and put it in a bowl. I was thinking of packing some manuka honey onto her urine burn/hay snare wound but think I'll phone the vet first.
 
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