Tumor in my wild mouse

Question
HI, I went to the vet about 2 weeks ago because i was worried about a lump forming on my wild mouse's back. I had found this mouse crawling in the garage floor, and he was the only one i was able to save. Its really tame now, and i dont think it could survive in the wild. Anyway, They said it was definately a tumor. Then i went on a family vacation for about 2 weeks, when i came back it had grown.. A LOT. I dont think there is anything the vet can do about it, and even though hes a mouse.. shes part of the family. Is there anything you suggest to try to slow the growth rate of the tumor?

Answer
Hi,

There is nothing to be done about a tumor in a mouse. Mice get a kind of cancer which is not removable. You operate on one tumor and more appear very quickly.  All you can do is make the mouse as comfortable as possible.  There is no way to slow the growth.

Up until the point where the tumor makes mobility, eating, or drinking difficult, the mouse isn't really suffering. For all she knows, every mouse goes through this strange phase, and there is no reason to believe she is in any kind of pain.  Once it becomes burdensome to her, however, you might think about euthanasia.  It's really a hard decision, and all you can do is try to figure out if her quality of life is worth it.  It's not cheap to put a mouse to sleep, though, unless you find a friendly private vet who will just charge you for the poison, of which they only have to use a half a milliliter, instead of charging the same fee as for a dog or cat.

I wish her the best.

squeaks,

Natasha