# African Soft Furred Rats and Growths/Cancers



## Carlie (Sep 27, 2006)

Has anybody got any experience with Multis having lumps, growths, etc., when they get to about 12 months old? How about eye problems, specifically tiny growths on eye lids causing irritation?

I have 3 different lines of Multis and all seem affected by this. Some have yet to develop growths, but these are in the minority. It's getting to be really upsetting with some much loved pets affected.

Has anybody got any lines that don't suffer from lumps and bumps? I refuse to breed from mine now so these lines end here. 

Any info welcome.


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## elmthesofties (Aug 24, 2012)

Have you seen any soft furs with papilloma?
Here's a little gallery of some affected animals: Disease and Illness :: Metal Monkey Exotics (that page includes pictures of dead soft furs, so you have been warned!)

There used to a forum/website which was dedicated to soft furs but it shut down in December I believe. One of my boys, who is a pet and not a breeder, developed warts and I went on the forum for advice. What I was told is that there is no real cure. The warts will grow back if removed surgically and if it is papilloma, then it is a virus and cannot be treated with antibiotics. My boy has had them for about a year and it doesn't seem to bother him.

The information online seems to be a little shady - I've done quite a lot of research on it, and the different messages seem to be completely different. Some basically call it a death sentence, whereas a few people have said that the warts eventually drop off and the soft fur goes back to normal. I have very little experience with soft furs as I'm just a pet keeper, but this is the general message that I've got online. Might be worth trying to find any posts by a user called Rhasputin as they seem to know a lot and certainly have far more experience than I do.


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## x Sarah x (Nov 16, 2007)

Very very rarely have i seen multi's with such ailments. 

A couple of times i have seen irritated and inflamed eyes, and just twice have i had growths, one to an adult male, approx 18months old, developed a growth on his back that was infected and filled with puss, he did not recover and i had to put him out of his misery when i went in one day to find him immobile.

Another was an adult female, approx 2 years old, developed lots of warty growths on her mammeries, she went on for some time without them causing a problem, but after a few months began to slowly lose weight and become effected so she too was culled early on.

Apart from that i have had a couple of mystery deaths on occasions involving several young and even whole litters at a time, just perish for no reason.
But compared to mice, issues are very rare in multi's, i have found.


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## Carlie (Sep 27, 2006)

Thanks for your replies, elmthesofty and Sarah - all very interesting and useful.

I think I have one or two with warts, but the others have large growths. 

I'll take some photos shortly to demonstrate. 

I'm wondering if environmental factors or food could play a part in my case if I find it's not typical.


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## LEXCORN (Feb 9, 2007)

Hi Carlie,

We have bred Multi's in the past & not experienced any problems with tumours, warts etc.

Our new line from last year is, also, free of problems. However, the mature animals are but 14 months of age so not elderly!

Currently 'running-on' quite a number of young animals so if you want to consider them then send an e-mail _ [email protected] 

Regards. Lex


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## Carlie (Sep 27, 2006)

Hi Lex - sorry, I've only just seen your post. It's good to know yours are ok, and I have somebody to pester should I decide to keep and breed Multis again. Let me know if you discover any problems in the coming months as I keep Multis as pets, so I have to endure any horrors of bad genetics. 

Sadly, I don't expect a single one of my Multis to live a long and healthy life, so as I see the emergence of growths, I'm euthanising them. 

*The images that follow are disturbing, and I'm sorry if this is upsetting to anybody. Scroll down at your own discretion.*


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## Carlie (Sep 27, 2006)

I'll start with the ones that weren't so bad. 




This guy was euthanised because of his eyes and his ear. He isn't related to the other two in these pictures.



















I discovered these growths after euthanasia. I think these would have continued to grow had I left him be.












Agouti Male, again with growths on face. 










Found this after euthanasia:





















I euthanised this girl today, who is mum to the agouti chap above. She was around 18 months old and started having a problem with her eye about 6 months ago. She failed to respond to 2 different types of antibiotic eye drops, so I think that's where the growths started, which caused irritation. 

Her condition is horrible and had I realised it was this bad I'd have put her to sleep weeks ago, so please don't look at these pictures and think that I knowing let her suffer. 

A view from the top, and what I usually see when she's out and about - not so bad you'd think...










And the horror I found after euthanasia. 










None of these mice were handleable, so I could only go by what I saw on top. 

As these guys were from two different lines, I'm inclined to believe that this goes on more than anybody realises. If this is an environmental thing, and it's entirely possible, suggestions of what might be affecting them are welcome.

Euthanising feeder mice is bad enough for me, but having to put down pets is just down right shitty.


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## x Sarah x (Nov 16, 2007)

Same growths witnessed in the two of mine i had to cull... don't seem to have had anymore though...

If you are getting it more regularly i'd be inclined to cull the lines and start again, just in case it is genetic.

They are fairly common in fuzzy mice too


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## Carlie (Sep 27, 2006)

x Sarah x said:


> Same growths witnessed in the two of mine i had to cull... don't seem to have had anymore though...
> 
> If you are getting it more regularly i'd be inclined to cull the lines and start again, just in case it is genetic.
> 
> They are fairly common in fuzzy mice too


Absolutely, culling the line is the only way forward in my view. I still have a few without any symptoms, but the minute I see a lump or a bad eye they'll be culled. There's no need to wait until they're bad.

With them being bred for food and keepers not seeing them live past 12 months, I think this will be easy to miss in a lot of lines.


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## Jamiioo (May 8, 2010)

I'm curious as to what this is, a long time ago when i had a hamster, she had a few lumps which looked exactly like those. We ended up taking her to the vet who suggested it was most likely cancer and she was pts, they didn't seem to take very long to develop either from what i remember.

The lumps were exactly like the ones in your images, although some of them had black crusting in them. Looked horrible.


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## Carlie (Sep 27, 2006)

Well, in my unqualified opinion, I guess they're skin tumors. I didn't get the impression that they had spread internally. Aside from being itchy or sore, they seemed ok.

And you're right about them appearing quickly. My favourite Multi, that I could cuddle without getting savaged, was ok then 4 weeks later he had quite a few and I had to cull him. I cried like a baby.


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## verity123 (Sep 1, 2010)

I have never seen anything like that in any of mine and they came from at least 3 different breeders.
Having said that, like you said, I breed for food so I don't have any that reach the ages you are having problems at. 

How can you have them as pets, they are pure evil :Na_Na_Na_Na:


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## LEXCORN (Feb 9, 2007)

Not good Carlie & I can sympathize with your loss knowing that you keep your rodents as pets rather than pure feeders.

The 'tumour' area on the original female is quite extensive, however, I couldn't give an absolute on the condition - only biopsy results will provide that detail.

As for the Multimammate being pure evil..........

They do, certainly, like to bite given half the chance. Ours are cleaned out thoroughly every 3 days so are used to being handled in some manner! The kids are collected by hand as a group & placed into their fresh accommodation - it's the adults that are inclined to be rather protective & two 'tags' in over 14 months is not a bad avoidance success rate for me :whistling2:

All the Best. Lex


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## Jamiioo (May 8, 2010)

To find out if they were just skin tumours, would pinching the skin under them not reveal this? That way you would feel if they are rooted beneath the skin layer or just present on the skin? 

When i was on a placement and a guinea pig came in with a lump, that's what the vet did anyway before declaring it was just a fatty lump present on the skin. :lol2:


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## Carlie (Sep 27, 2006)

Yep, they move about as the skin is moved and they're not rooted beneath. As the masses grow, they tend to die off in the middle as if there is not enough of a blood supply. Other masses seem to hollow out and contain keratin. 

Multis haven't been with us as pets for as long as Rats and Mice have. Some, if handled regularly from babies, can be very quiet when picked up and never bite. Hopefully as the generations continue, they may become better tempered. 

They make delightful pets when they're well tempered and socialised. Very clever and entertaining. Check out "Pauli" on YouTube playing fetch. pauli plays fetch - YouTube and "Puck" learning to jump jumping ASF rat - YouTube


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## hogsonkeisha (Aug 4, 2014)

I think skin tumors is not that life-threatening so it can be really cured right away.

------------------------
Keisha


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## elmthesofties (Aug 24, 2012)

hogsonkeisha said:


> I think skin tumors is not that life-threatening so it can be really cured right away.
> 
> ------------------------
> Keisha


I've not heard of any successful treatments, though.
zombie thread, anyone?


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