Lumb in female rat

Question
Dear Sandra,

My female rat Frida is 11 months old. She has a grape-size lump on the one side of her belly. I took her to the vet in the hope that the lump could be removed. The vet did a biopsy on the tumor and unfortunately it turned out to be cancer. He told me that they had very bad results with that form of aggressive cancer and he thought that the best option was to leave the lump and let her live as long as she stayed happy. He believed that the prognosis would be very poor if they removed the lump and that she(because of the nature of the cancer) would have a hard time healing from the surgery.

I live in Denmark and have no access to an exotic vet. The vet clinic that examined Frida are known as the best in treating pet rats. The vets have previously successfully removed lumps from my rats so i am inclined to trust their judgement in the matter.

Is there anything that can be done to try to slow the growth of the tumor? I have read about the two hormonal drugs that you recommend, unfortunately my vets have been unable to get these ( The Danish laws are very restricted and conservative when it comes to veterinary medicine).

I know that I leave You with very little to work with, but I would very much appreciate Your input on the situation...

Best Regards

Maria Petterson

Answer
Hmmmm.....this is tough because every suggestion I want to make has already been said that it cannot be used.

Steroid injections may slow the growth of the tumors down, so it may be worth a try asking the vet for this.

Since your so limited there as to what you can and cannot use for rats, thats the best I can do.

I wish I had a better answer for you:(