my dying rat is in pain

Question
My rat is just over 3 years old, and she's had two tumors growing for maybe a month now. One is under her right arm and the other under her left leg. Until recently she's seemed alright. My roommates and I feed her foods high in fat and protein and try to make sure she always has enough to eat. But I know she's at the end of the road.  We don't want to put her down quite yet.  She's been alone in her cage since her childhood friend died almost a year ago.  I know it's cruel to keep a rat alone, and I want her to spend her last week or so with a friend. But she's in a lot of pain now. And she makes a deep squeaking noise sometimes when she gets active, and her back legs are so weak. I don't know how to make it right for her.
My roommate has a remaining prescription of hydrocodone from when he had pneumonia. Is it safe to try to sneak in a crumb with her food?  I know it might have non-narcotic pain killers in it, so I couldn't risk it.  What else could I do? Her vet lives a hundred miles from us, and he's the only one I trust to put her down.

Answer
Hi Wallace

Sorry for the delay!  My computer crashed yesterday and I couldnt get on till today.

For starters, rats should never eat a diet high in fats and proteins. This causes kidney disease and heart disease along with tumors in some cases. Their protein intake should be no more than 15% daily intake.
She is at the end of life now but please keep this in mind for next rats you have. You can read up on my website on proper nutrition here:

http://www.freewebs.com/crittercity/ratsandahealthydiet.htm


As for her pain, what has happened is the muscles have wasted away due to the tumor and so as you have said, it is causing her to not be able to walk around and move around. Rats can safely have narcotic pain medications but the mix of hydrocodone and APAP (tylenol) may be to much for her kidneys since her kidneys are probably pretty stressed from trying to deal with a high protein diet.  I can give you a dose of valium to give her just to keep her calm for transport to the vets office.  My vet mails me medications rather than have me bring my rats in to avoid further stress. Do you think this is an option?   you can still have them removed though. She may be 3 but if she is healthy otherwise, if you plan on having her put down, why not risk surgery? I did that with one of my very old rats that was well over 3 years old and she surprised us all by making it through with flying colors.

Is she losing weight?  Usually when rats start to lose weight alot despite the fact they are eating well, you know the tumor is starting to deplete the body of nutrients that rat needs to sustain healthy vital organs.  What kills the rat is the fact they die from either organ failure . Also, if the tumor should abscess internally, they can die from sepsis which usually claims the rats life within 12 hours.

I am so sorry she is going through this (and you too) I would ask the vet about the use of lupron to shrink any benign tumors.  Lupron is a hormone that stops estrogen production and since estrogen is what is responsible for the tumors growth in the first place, success with this drug is high.  Something to think about!  I have had success with this drug too.  Check out my site also on mammary tumors too.

Hang in there

Sandra