Fast growing lump - surgery???

Question
QUESTION: I have 2 rats, Gizmo and Gremlin. They're twins, about a year and a half old.

About 2 1/2 weeks ago I was playing with Gremlin, then a day or two later, I felt a little lump on her side. I made an appointment with the locally recommended exotic and wildlife vet and brought her in the next day - the lump was bigger. I told the vet I thought (and hoped) it was an abcess.

It was sore to the touch, swollen, and painful. Gremlin would cry when you touched it, and didn't much care for the vet visit. I left with a ten day prescription for baytril. She loved the banana flavor - and I thought the lump seemed to get smaller.

After ten days on the medicine, she was feeling much better (but the lump was still there!). She wasn't sore, didn't hurt, and even would do her usual fun gymnastics (spider rat!). The lump wasn't tender, or really soft anymore - more solid.

The vet told me to check back with her after the medicine - to see if we should try to put a needle through it and drain it, do xrays, or possibly have to do surgery. Because of where the lump is located, she has to be sedated so not to puncture her lungs (lump is over her ribcage, and she's scared of the vet).

In a few hours she gets dropped off with a bag of goodies at the vet's. They'll call me afterwards. I'm very nervous.

Does it sound like an abcess or a tumor? The vet found bite and scratch marks on the lump (the girls got in a fight a few days earlier over a toy). It just looks like a lump covered in fur. Nothing gross.

After the medicine she seems to feel much better, but obviously she'd feel best without a lump.

She and her sister have always had perfect health, but get into spats over where they want to keep the toys at bedtime.

Are there any things I should do for when she returns to her sister after the visit/surgery?

She doesn't like to be separated, and it'll be tramatic enough spending the day or possibly overnight at the vet's alone.

ANSWER: Send her sister with her.  The vet should have absolutely no problem with this. She will have to be alone while she first wakes out of the anesthesia, but the rest of the time she should be allowed with her.  I always send my rats in pairs, even when my boy had his eye removed. Rats usually do NOT disturb the other rats stitches etc...despite what fears vets have about this. I have studied rat behavior for years and not once have I had my own rats or clinic rats yank out the other rats stitches unless you have one super aggressive rat and if thats the case, the other rat would not really want to be around the aggressor in the first place.

I am not real comfortable with your vet though. If you have read my old questions and answers on here, for the past two years I have been here at allexperts people have learned the difference between a vet that knows what they are doing and one that has to learn by trial and error at the rats expense. Your vet should know just through experience the difference between a mammary tumor and an abscess simply by feeling it. There is a huge difference just in the way that the mass feels. A mammary tumor is a solid mass unless it becomes abscessed and you can still feel if it is attached to the tissue or a free rolling mass.  Any vet that has to xray or aspirate the mass to find out the difference is not experienced enough, not just my opinion, but a fact.
Either that, or you have already spent big bucks or are about to spend big bucks on this.  You should be able to bring the rat in, have it checked and either schedule surgery for a tumor or you will know if its an abscess that very second.   Many vets that see exotics and wildlife are not really exotic certified so you really need to watch for that. If you want to go private, you can tell me the vets name and I can check the credentials. I do this often, dont worry, nobody will know, know hurt feelings, nothing....just to let you know the vets credentials before you allow the rat to be operated on.

I would do this if I were you regardless, esp if nothing was said about pre surgical blood work being done to check liver function and heart before using anesthesia on a small mammal like a rat.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: After the vets:

Gremlin went in at 8am with a bag of food and some snacks, toys and chewies.

I got a phone call at 1030am, the head vet calling (who runs the practice). They had sedated her to try to aspirate the lump, and found it wasn't an abcess (like I hoped). She said it was a tumor, and the problem being that it was directly attached to Gremlin's ribcage. Removing it would require putting my rat on a breathing tube and the surgery would be tricky considering where the tumor was located. She said it would be difficult to remove the entire tumor, based on their x-rays. Also, it could possible just regrow, and spread through her chest cavity.

She recommended, based on the likeliness it would return, and the risk of the surgery, as well as her age, for me to not continue with the surgery.

I told her I'd call back, discussed it with my boyfriend, and had him call to cancel the surgery.

Her lump is located on her side, just past her shoulder blade, closer to her spine than her stomach. It is hard and doesn't move when her skin/muscles move.

Gremlin was just fine after I picked her up from the vet, and happy to be reunited at home with her sister and her toys and food.

They called the next day for a follow up to see how my ratty was doing.

Should I be concerned that I should have looked for a second opinion?

I'd rather not have put her through the pain of surgery, and possibly lose her in the process, if she'd have a better and more comfortable life with her lump.  

Answer
The vet said based on her AGE she would not do the surgery?  Your vet thinks a year and a half is old?

I have seen rats recover without any problem at the age of 2.5 and 3 years, no problem.  

If you dont want to do the surgery, I support that, but your vet is copping out. Its obvious she is not capable of removing this tumor. Mammary tumors are subcutaneous, they are not invasive and are not near vital organs. Think of a wart and how they are on the outside of the body. This is basically what mammary tumors are like.   Just for kicks though, can you make this private and let me know the name of your vet to see if she is a certified avian/exotic vet or just a vet that has a special interest in exotics and has gone to some extra workshops etc...