Lumbs

Question
QUESTION: Dear Sandra,

I would like to apologize in advance for this rather long and complicated question, I live in Denmark and English is my second language so sometimes it can be difficult to keep it short and clear! I hope that You can make sense of my posting despite this.

You have been so kind to help me in the past with a behavior related problem. That worked out well, I'm happy to report.

This time my problem is medical. I have a rattie girl called Grace. Grace is 1 year and 8 months old, she is intact. Grace has never been sick and as always healed fast from cuts and scrapes. I took Grace to the vet three weeks ago because I could feel three small lumps on her body, one on the right side of her body and two on the lower abdomen on each side. The vet did not think that the too "lumps" on the back were anything but normal "strange" tissue. He did a biopsy on her and concluded that she only had one lumb on her, the one on the right side. Grace underwent an operation that removed the lump, it was not cancer (I don't know the English word for it but directly translated it is called "a fatty lump"). She was well almost immediately after the operation. There has been some complications after the surgery and I have taken her to the vet 5 times to have a swelling drained, this last time (today) it was opened to allow it to heal from the inside out, the swelling consisted of blood and fluid, there no infection in it. She gets baytril daily to prevent infection. Despite this complication she has remained active and in good spirit through the whole process.

Shortly after the operation the two bumps i felt in her abdomen started to grow, the vets initially stood firm on them "not being lumps". Today, however, they started getting worried and performed a biopsy on them, and they are in fact lumps of the same kind as the first ones. The vets are a little carefull about recommending another surgery, because of the complications following the first one. The two lumps have grown from pea size to the size of small plums in less than one month, so I am scared that she will have to be put down in a matter of weeks if they are not removed.

The vets i go to are considered some of the best in Denmark when it comes to treating rats. However none of the Danish veterinarians seem to have the same experience and knowledge as exotic vets in USA, we are rather undeveloped in this area!

I would love to hear You views on the situation. Do You belive it be fair to have the two lumps removed or will I only be setting her up for a bad prognosis? Your evaluation of the situation would mean a lot to me, I only want to do what is best for my little girl.

Yours

Maria

ANSWER: Hi Maria!

Your English is better than many Americans, trust me, so please dont apologize!!  :)

About your rat..she is the prime age to develop these tumors which are called Mammary tumors. Please read about them on my website here:


I believe your rat has a seroma in the area where her first tumor was removed. THis is no uncommon to occur. The vet may want to think about inserting a little drain in that area for a while to finally get rid of all of the excess fluids that continue to collect there.


Also, she wont need put down within weeks if the tumors remain. They are usually benign (non cancerous) so thats good that they cant spread that way.  However, if you read my site on mammary tumors you will see what can happen when they remain long, but we are talking months, not weeks so dont worry, you wont have to put her down that soon if at all. She can have them removed again. That doesnt mean a seroma will form again.

Where is the seroma at? Sometimes it depends on the site of the surgery.

I do think you should remove them. She is still so young. I had my 3 year old rat go through surgery a few times for lumps and she lived to be nearly 4 years old.

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

QUESTION: Hello again,

Thank You so much for Your reply. The tumor she had removed was on her right side about half an inch behind her right front leg. The two new tumors are positioned on each side of her lower body. They are very strange and change on an almost daily basis. I have been to the vet twice since I wrote (two different ones). They both feel that it will be very risky to have go through another surgery because of her problems healing from the first one. The vet explained that this operation will be much more invasive then the first one. Both vets recommended letting her live with the tumors (they are not cancerous, he did a biopsy) until they start bothering her. If the two tumors start affecting her life then he might consider doing another operation. I don't know if I should keep "pushing" the vets to operate or follow their advice and let her live with the tumors and take her to the vet again if they grow to much...

Answer
I agree with the vets if that is the case.  Let me tell you a story if you dont mind....

I had an older rat, Holly. She was a wild rat that I trained from a baby and I loved her so much. She was close to 3 when I found her first tumor and I had her go through a few surgeries as the tumors kept growing back in different places which is typical. However, like your rat, she had been through enough so I decided to let her live with the last few she had until they started to take away her quality of life and I would put her to sleep when this happened.
The thing was, the tumors got huge, kept her from walking good yet she still was full of life. She began to lose alot of weight which is typical once the tumors start to feed on her body, and her organs were going to fail due to lack of proper nutrition.  I finally took her in to have her put to sleep but felt terrible about it. The vet looked her over and said she still seemed so full of life.....he had a hard time wanting to put her to sleep too....so we decided that we may as well try the surgery despite her frailness....only giving her a 5% chance of survival.  Much to my shock she lived through the 90 minute surgery which is long for a frail old rat, and she recovered really well. Holly lived many more months and passed away close to 4 years old, so her life was extended for nearly 6 more months!  

I would wait and play it by ear!