Rat with tumers need help

Question
Hi my name is Lacey and I have a problem with my rat Holly. I got her from a shelter last year and they said they thought she was well over a year old which now makes her I'm guessing over 2 years possibly even 3 who knows. About 9 months ago she developed a tumer under her back leg. I took her to the only vet in my area that does rat surgery and they said they would do it for no less then 600 dollars which I could not do. I looked everywhere and with all the same results but finally found a small town vet in Luray va which said he could do it for 100 dollars. He was not a exotic vet but said he had done about 10 of these surgeries. After the procedure I called to pick her up and he says that she is not awake.  He kept her overnight and she woke up 12 hours later which he says had happened to him before with another rat. Anyway she recovered well after that and now almost a year later she is pretty bad off. She has a large tumer under her arm and another under her bottom area. She Is eating fine but is having a hard time moving her back legs. I don't know if I should go ahead and put her down or have the same vet as before try to operate on her. Do you think she could possibly make it through that again? If she had that much trouble waking up then wouldn't it be worse on her now? I love her more than anything and wish I had more options but 600 dollars is just not possible for my family. Thanks for your time I don't know where to turn to at this point.

Answer
Hmm...this is so hard because of her age...but I would not put her down just because she had a hard time walking.  Chances are she would recover but I would NOT go to that other vet. 12 hours and not waking up is totally absolutely NOT normal at all...your very lucky that your rat survived. Chances are she wont make it if that vet operates. He needs to keep his hands off of rats to be honest. DONT let that vet put her to sleep when its time, either. There is a proper procedure used on small mammals and he needs to do it or the rat suffers in horrible pain and they should not feel a thing.  Please see my website, sandyscrittercity.com and check out the pages on vets and also saying goodbye and how to put them to sleep.  I wish I knew how old she was. If she was 3 I would say not to operate but if she was 2, I would find a new vet and try. I can try to find you a decent vet if you want me to look. I have a database I use;