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rats and tumors HELP!!!!


clarkacademy
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Every rat I've ever had that lived a normal lifespan ended up with tumors.  You can have them removed- I did on a couple occasions- but it can be costly, and there's no guarantee the rat won't just grow another tumor.  Pet rats are very, very prone to tumors.  I've heard it has something to do with the way they were bred for use in labs, but I don't know if that's true or not.

 

Anyway, with the rats I had, if the tumor wasn't in an awkward place and wasn't causing the rat any discomfort, I waited and kept an eye on it.  If it was causing pain, and the rat was still quite young or I was extra attached and couldn't bear to have him or her put down, I had the surgery done.  If the rat was older and the tumor was causing it pain or making it hard for the rat to get around or eat, or if the rat had multiple tumors, I had the vet put it down.

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I'd go to a vet that specializes in pocket pets and talk to them about it.  Around here (St. Louis) that visit won't be crazy expensive.  You'll have a better idea of what to do then.

 

We've had a tumor removed before.  Again, it wasn't crazy expensive.  Like Mergath, it was a younger rat.  When an older rat got a tumor, we let it go because the rat had so many issues that it was really too fragile for the operation.  She lived a few months with the tumor, and eventually died of old age.  FWIW, we also had a young rat develop a tumor and immediately become so sick that an operation wasn't possible; she passed away within a few days of our noticing the tumor which was growing at an incredible rate.

 

Our current vet does spaying on young females, which supposed cuts down on the incidence of tumors.  OTOH, our old vet though spaying was expensive and fiddly on rats, and not really worth it.  Dealing with rat surgery is tough -- the entire business of putting them on anaesthesia can be dicey, plus afterwards you have to keep them from picking the incision apart.   A lot really depends on the vet, too -- how comfortable and familiar they are dealing with rats and surgery, be it for tumor removal, spaying, dealing with an injured eye, or whatever.

 

The biggest hurdle for us has been finding a vet we trust.  You need a vet that really knows rats.

 

We've had more female rats that haven't developed tumors than those that have.  Maybe we're just lucky that way ... or maybe our rats just tend to die of weird stuff.  Our biggest problem is respiratory issues.

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