What is wrong with Paris' tail? (long) (pics)

[Sunilata]

When I first got Paris, she was four weeks old and I noticed that she had what appeared to be a
small cut/notch in her tail. I was reassured by the breeder that it was a tiny cut that had a scab
(which later fell off just before I picked her up). Well I figured it was healed, and it would
disappear.

It has never been red or pussy or flakey or gross, but the "cut" never went away. At first I was
freaked out, certain it was ringtail, but it isn't. It never went all the way around, it wasn't dry,
there are no more of them on her tail, and she wasn't kept on corncob bedding. It was like a
crescent moon halfway down her tail. Here is a picture of her on the trip back home the day I
got her (she is the beige masked near the top). You can notice the notch in her tail if you look
closely.



As she got older, it became a mark that was no longer indented, maybe even very slightly swollen,
but without the fine layer of hair that the rest of her (and every rat's) tail had. Then it started
to swell up a bit, but barely noticeably. You could only feel it when you ran your hand along the
length of her tail.

She has never jumped, squeaked, or flinched when I touched it or squeezed it gently. Here are
pictures of her at 8 weeks, though, taken today:




You can see just how big it is (and how shiny - it has no hair). It's gotten so distinct that from a
distance I can pick her fuzzy white butt out of the lineup of other fuzzy white butts, just
because of her tail lump. It isn't really as red as it appears in those pictures and it isn't
unnaturally hard OR squishy (just feels like normal rat tail, except it is thicker) and it almost
definitely isn't causing her any pain. It doesn't sound like any definition of an abscess that I
have read, but I could be wrong. I just wanted you guys' opinions. Maybe it is scar tissue? I'm
not sure what the vet would do, or if she even could do anything about it. It doesn't seem like
anything that could be drained, and so long as it doesn't bother her there is no sense to get it
removed (unless it keeps getting bigger). Thanks in advance!

-Hannah, Paris, and the nubbin

[RKEM]

Well if it used to be a type of "hole" and now its a small "bump" I'd go towards scar tissue ... maybe she lost a chunk of flesh on her tail when younger and it just healed a bit weird .... though when she reaches her full size I would guess that it would stop growing.

I'd be worried if it keeps growing but if not it might just end up  as one of those distinctive marks that make some rats special ...

Cute girl btw 

[joolzratbag]

It looks too large to me to be scar tissue. I would imagine it is a slow-growing abscess. One of my bucks was bitten by another on his tail, closer to the base of his tail. It came up in a similar looking lump. I took him to the vet and he was put on antibiotics and the lump went right back down to normal.
He was a young rat at the time - he was put on amoxicillin trihydrate a) because he was young and b) because it is a good antibiotic for abscesses.
You couldn't see a scab or bite mark at all and it never popped or came to a head like a normal abscess - it looked just like the lump on Paris' tail, and it disappeared completely.
Perhaps it is because there isn't much flesh on a rats tail that they look different to the usual type of abscess....

[scout]

I agree with Joolz - I think it's infected. It may not be an abscess like we're used to thinking, one that has walled itself off from the rest of the flesh. But I'd put my money on an infection. If you have antibiotics, it's worth a try. If not, I think it's worth a trip to the vet to get it taken care of.