Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Last night I found yet another tumor on Natalie.
All this time she's never gotten another one after her spay but now that she's 33 months old.. here they come.

The odd thing is that she's the same color & has the same markings that my brothers from 1999, Tiger Woodsrat & Fuzzy Zoelratter had.
Both of those boys started to develop tumors as they neared the age of 3 years.. I wonder if it has anything to do with that particular genetic makeup?
Probably so :::sigh:::

We'll do what we have to do but I really hate the idea of putting her through surgery now because she looks really old & frail now.
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PHRatz

I'm really sorry. I don't know how I'd feel about putting her through surgery at her age either, to be honest with you. Maybe you could decide in a couple of weeks since that's when the original surgery was scheduled anyway. She may just need time to bounce back and gain weight after the fire.
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~Rachel~

Ugh hun I'm sorry. It's such a tough call for these guys. I've had older rats who've done amazingly well with surgeries and had some who I wouldn't risk it. I know you'll make the best choice for her though...you're a wonderful rattie mom! We'll send lots of good thoughts and prayers your way

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~Meg~
~~(XX)8:> Have you hugged a rat today?

Rachel & everyone I've been beefing her up & I do like the idea of waiting for a bit as I do this because she is gaining weight.
We have her on an antibiotic now too just to cover all bases & so for the last couple of days I've noticed she's more active & seems to be feeling better than she did a week ago.
I still don't know if I want to put her through a surgery since the tumors don't seem to be that much of a bother yet but if she'll continue to feel better & look better then maybe we'll do it.
I just don't know at this point but right now she's happy & comfortable so that's a good thing at her age!
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PHRatz

I used to have a rat I got from the pound. I bred her a few times (keeping no babies since I didn't know her background)and she was getting old so I stopped breeding her in hopes to avoid tumors. Then a month later a tumor formed. Thank goodness I have a vet friend and she removed it for me. 2 months later it came back. I euthanized her when she started to look bad. All of my rats now do not appear to have the tumor gene. I have not had tumors in my colony in years. I loved that rat. Her name was Lush because you couldn't leave any alcoholic drinks in her reach or she would be in them drinking as fast and as much as possible. Even straight vodka. I wonder what her previous owners did? She was well over 1 year old when I got her.

Hi, so sorry to hear about the tumor. We are struggling with the possiblity that Stella might have a brain tumor. I konow exactly how you feel!
Alot of you will most likely get upset with me but heres my take... even tho we love our animals so much and can't envision life without them in it, we still have to weigh our decision on what would be best for that animal. If she is old and you don't think she can make it thru another surgery, than I wouldn't put her thru it. I know people that have had cancer and went thru multiple surgeries and ended up just not being able to do anymore and truly enjoyed the remaining time they had.
I could go on and on, but my 2 cents are turning into 5 cents.
Robin
Harm None.

Robin, ITA with that.
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~Rachel~

Oh Robin I hope Stella doesn't have a brain tumor.
I had Miss Kitty Rat several years ago & she did have a brain tumor.
What happened with her was she lost her motor skills. She got to a point where she couldn't hold her food, she would try to eat but she couldn't hold it in her hands.
She finally lost all her ability to move her legs & then we did a necropsy & actually did find a tumor on her brain.
Those are the worst because there isn't anything you can do about them. I hope that's not happening with Stella!
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PHRatz

Her motor skills haven't been affected yet. She is always bobbing, twisting and turning her head, she loses her balance very easy. The vet thought it might be a brain tumor. At first I thought she was addicted to the meds she was on for the pneumonia, it wasn't that. But she never acted this way before the meds. I think the meds some how messed up her sence of balance.
I don't see her improving at all. We got a seditive for her, so maybe she'll just have to stay on that.
This is so frustating, not knowing what to do and what not to do.
Robin
Harm None.

Hmmmm Robin that sounds odd.
Now it's been a while since I read it so I'm sorry but I don't remember why was she on the antibiotics to begin with. Did the vet say for sure that she did not have an ear infection?

I've had 2 that were left disabled after ear infection- off balance for the rest of their lives unless their feet were solidly on the floor, yet they learned to live with the disability and lived a normal life span.
I hope that your furbaby will also live a normal life span.
I hate it when they get these odd problems that are hard to deal with!
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PHRatz

She was on meds for pneumonia. We also found out she has a tumor in her stomach/ liver/ kidneys not sure which organ.
The vet looked at both ears, no infection.

I hate to say this but it may come down to just keeping her as happy as we can for as long as we can and then doing a necropsy to really find out.
My vets really good with rats too, her daughter has them.
Robin
Harm None.