My poor rat is NOT dying (thanks to you)

Question
QUESTION: My families precious rat Sugar was diagnosed by our local  vet with cancer in her Lymphnodes it started as one on her side in front of her rear leg and has quickly spread. she now has one in her neck and one between her legs. The first one got to be about the size of a large marble but she started digging at it and now it has a hole in it. She is an older rattie about 2-3 and the vet said that with the cancer she would probably only make it another 6months to a year..that was only 2 weeks ago. My question is this:
How can I tell if she is in pain? I don't want to make "that" choice unless she is in pain and would be the best ting for her...we love our sugar booger

ANSWER: Omg why dont you please find another vet?  Please?

Your rat has classic mammary tumors and they can all be removed easily.

the vet your seeing is off of his rocker. Please let me know where your located so I can send you to the right vet?

Meanwhile, its best you get educated about mammary tumors so you know what your dealing with.
Check out sandyscrittercity.com and refer to the page on  Tumors.  there is no need to let this happen.  Your rat can have them removed easily.   Dont let Sugar booger die because of some quack vet.  I have had it up to HERE with these vets.  He is just ridiculous!!!!!!!!

Oh, and by the way, I can almost promise you that NONE of these tumors are cancerous.Mammary tumors are usually totally benign.  

Please go private and let me know the name of your vet. I can check his credentials and show you  he is not worthy of treating rats and send you to  someone that is!!!

Did he do a biopsy to prove any one of these tumors were cancerous?  The reason he did not offer to remove them is because he doesnt know how to operate on rats.  Read my questions and answers to how many people have surgery on their rats tumors and see NONE of them are cancerous.

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Tumors   QUESTION: Thank you so much for the quick response we would love to help her in any way we can. The lump in her throat is what made me believe it was lymphnode tumors. He also diagnosed our dog with mammary cancer without doing any tests. He did offer to extract fluid and send it off but said the chances of extracting cancerous cells was like finding a needle in a haystack. If he cut the incision it would probably spread quicker. It is spreading quickly, but she has not lost weight and is still lovable and active as she can be with those lumps. She bit one open we cleaned it and she cleans it. I am attaching a few pictures for your review.

The Vet hospital is Chester Animal Clinic. 12021 Ironbridge Rd, Chester VA. Dr. Taylor D. Lyne. He works for his father it is a family practice that says they specialize in cancer.
Our contact information is Judy and Nathan Everson  if you need to contact us. JudyAEverson@yahoo.com
I have more pictures to send but this only accepts one photo

ANSWER: How are things going?

I did check on the vet your seeing and they have no certification in  exotics at all, which is why it is obvious they are suggesting that your rat has cancer.

Please contact this vet below for a second opinion:

Dr. Marissa Gonzalez
Lakeside Animal Hospital
5206 Lakeside Avenue  
Richmond VA 23228
Phone:  804 262-8697
Website: lakesideanimalhospital.com


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QUESTION: This section was cut off of the reply I sent to you a little while ago.

We also took our dog to Lakeside Animal Hospital and once again the things the vet at Chester Animal Hospital told us was incorrect. I may be able to accept he cannot work on small pets but he is a vet and everyone would assume he must know what he is doing in regards to dogs. I would like to take this a step further and file a complaint about his misdiagnosis on all 3 of our pets. Do you know which organization I can report this to. I am not looking to sue him or anything like that, I just want people to know about him. Last year we lost Sugars best friend and cage mate (Spice) because he said she had pneumonia and nothing could be done, charged me $145.00 and told me to take her home and she probably will not make it through the night. She made it a week, when she couldn't hold on any longer I called them to tell them I was bringing her in to be put to peace and stop the suffering. They put me %26 my sons in a room alone and there Spicey looked at us and waved goodbye and passed away while I was holding. We walked out with her brought her home and buried her. I feel so guilty now because I now know he was clueless and she would have been here now if he was qualified. I am actually angry with him and I really don't want anyone to lose their family members because of the vets at Chester Animal Hospital in Chester VA.

I hope this post is public for others to see they don't need to give up because one person said nothing can be done. Don't give up even the smallest life is precious and the love you get in return is more than money can buy.

Answer
You can contact the Virginia State board of Veterinary medicine and file a formal complaint. You have not one but several complaints.  They are pretty good about following up on this sort of stuff.  I am sorry you had to go through this.  One thing people need to know that just because the vet has a license doesnt mean he or she is that great at what they do.  It means they learned what they needed to know to pass a test to get a license in veterinary medicine but that doesnt mean they are good. It SHOULD mean something, but it doesnt.  I have such a bad taste in my mouth for not only veterinary medicine but human medicine is just as bad if not worse.
My good friend is a vet and a darn good Vet, so I hate to always bash vets on here but so many of them that say they treat rats need to keep their mits off of them and swallow their damn pride and admit they are not qualified enough to treat them.  Here I am, someone that has no formal training in veterinary medicine yet I am confident enough to call out a quack when I see one and I will go nose to nose with any vet that thinks they know what they are talking about when it comes to rats, because so do I, regardless of my lack of certification!!  I have studied rat health care inside and out and I know what I know because so many vets failed to learn how to treat small mammals. I felt the urgency to educate rat owners so they can be one up on the Vet they go to and can spot a vet that is clueless from a mile away. Slowly, it is working....but at least its working. I think I have stopped so many vets from killing rats I have lost count. Its not about a pat on the back nor is it about being right all the time....in fact, I wish I wasnt right half the time. It would be much less to worry about if Vets knew how to care for pet rats properly.  Not long ago someones rat was put to death over an EAR INFECTION! This quack vet INSISTED the rat had a brain tumor because an ear infection often mimics the same signs as a pituitary tumor.  What he should have done was TREAT it for an ear infection first and if it didnt respond, than you can say it may be a brain tumor. But instead, he just talked the owner into putting it down. She still had the rats remains in the refrigerator since it was snowing out, so I sent her to a vet for a necropsy, and sadly i was right, this poor rat died for NOTHING but an ear infection that could have been cured. The owner not only was so upset over this, but she was furious at the vet and is suing as we speak. Just yesterday someone wrote to me and said her vet said her rat needed put down because of a brain tumor and I found out he never even gave it medicine to try to treat it first, just went right for suggesting euthanasia.  Happily she took her to a vet I found for her and they agree it is an ear infection and she is on meds now.  I can go on and on and on.....but its too depressing.

I am glad  you went to this vet too. I just now sent you the info and here it was the same place I had picked (different Vet, but they are all qualified to treat rats there) I am happy she is doing so well.  I just knew that other vet was full of himself.....now you need to get on the stick and get this man to own up to his mistakes!! keep me posted!