Rose's bump

[Kalandra]

I thought I would share Rose’s story with all of you.

A while back I noticed a small swelling had appeared next to Rose’s right eye. It was small and looked inflamed. After my veterinarian had examined it, we decided because of how the swelling looked that we would give it a round of antibiotics. It was rather inflamed and looked like it was an infection at first.

The antibiotics did help get rid of the redness and some of the swelling, but the bump remained. Rose was then scheduled for surgery to remove the mass. Surgery went well. Doc stated that the mass was well encapsulated. Leaving Rose with 3 stitches next to her eye. Her pathology came back recently and the diagnosis is a mast cell tumor.

Has anyone experienced a mast cell tumor in a hedgehog? I would love to hear your experience with it if you have. The pathologist couldn’t find much information about what to expect from such a cancer in a hedgehog. He did reference 1 professional journal article.

I would love to hear experiences to get some idea of what to expect from this type of cancer in a hedgehog. I have been reading lots, and from what I have read its behavior varies greatly from species to species. Malignant in some and benign in others. Sometimes metastasizing quickly, while in others species it tends to remain local.

For now the game plan is to watch for reoccurrence, and to check the local lymph nodes regularly for swelling.

An image of Rose with her stitches is below. This was taken several days after the surgery and the wound had started to scab up. Today the scabbing is coming off, her fur is starting to grow back and the wound site is looking amazing.

 

[Nancy]

I've never had it here nor can I think of anyone at the moment that has. At the time Peaches had her mammary tumour removed, the pathology came back that what shows as a malignant tumour in some species is not in others. He said according to other standards, she had a malignant fast growing tumour but hadn't dealt with enough hedgehogs to be certain it followed for hedgehogs. Also the tumour was not completely removed. Considering she lived 3.5 years after that and died of a completely unrelated problem, I can't help but think that it could not have been a malignant tumour.


Best wishes and prayers to Rose for a full recovery.

 

[Kalandra]

Thanks Nancy. Sadly, due to the area, Rose's tumor was unclean as well. It extended to the deep margins. That doesn't mean he didn't get it all, just that he couldn't take the recommend amount of clean tissue out due to its location.

 

[smhufflepuff]

Rose, you're a beautiful hedgie. Best wishes for a speedy recovery and for many happy days ahead.

 

[Kalandra]

I showed a couple of you the image of what Rose's tumor looked like last night and one comment I got was that it didn't look like what the person had expected. So I thought I would post an image of what Rose's mast cell tumor looked like as well as what Rose's eye looks like as of 10/27. It was not gross, but just a tiny spot on her face that was swollen and wouldn't heal.

I think it is also a good reminder to take changes, even small growths like this seriously. This was a malignant cancer. We are hopeful since it was still small that it didn't spread. So far I haven't detected any new swellings and her lymph nodes feel fine. I do monitor her regularly by taking photos of the area and feel her lymph nodes.

The spot did get rather red last week, but it seems to be returning to normal again. I think that may have been caused by dry air. Rose gets really dry skin during the winter months. The furnace has been running more due to the cold weather and I had not started the humidifier up. Since humidifying the air and giving Rose an oil treatment the spot seems to be back to normal. But that won't stop me from worrying and taking images to compare regularly.

Pre-surgery - You can see just how close to her eye the tumor was.

Healed - I think she looks pretty amazing, but I may be biased.

 

[Nancy]

Great pictures. Who ever would think that a tiny little spot like that could be so serious and yes, we do need to take all spots seriously.

I'm glad she is doing so well and hopefully is cancer free and will enjoy many more years. She is a beautiful gal.

 

[lauralynne]

Yay for Rose!

 

[Laurie]

As said person I would like to say I'm glad you posted these pics Jules because it truly shows what Rose's cancer did look like before an after. I hope Rose continues to do well--she is a super cutie!

 

[Melissa]

WOW! She looks to be all healed to me. Amazing how dangerous a small spot can be.

 

[charlie]

I'm glad you've highlighted this. It would be so easy for someone to ignore a lump like that if they didn't understand how important it is to get these things checked. By the way, Rose - You have very pretty eyes!