hairless rat cancer

Question
I hope you can help. My rat Gracie is about 1 and 1/2 yrs old. She has developed a tumor underneath and we took her to a specialist he said it was cancer and to operate would be $250.00. I don't have that/ She doesn't seem to be in pain. She acts like nothings wrong the tumor is getting larger. IS there anything holistic I can try. Does she need pain medicines. I don't want to put her to sleep unless she's suffering. Please help Thank you Sherrie

Answer
 Hi Sherrie!  Unfortunately your vet is right, it is likely a mammary tumor and that cost is fairly reasonable for an operation.  I'm not an expert on holistic medicine, but I don't believe there is anything that can be done to get rid of the tumor.  Perhaps slow its growth, but certainly not remove her cancer.  For more about holistic medicine I recommend you join this Yahoo group, they are dedicated to holistic rat care: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/holistarat/messages?o=1

 She likely isn't in pain, it's just an overgrowth of tissue and shouldn't be hurting her.  The only reason they should be removed as early as possible is that they will usually grow quickly and if they grow too large not only can they interfere with walking or even breathing, but they can get quite vascular and require a lot of the rat's nutrients and blood to keep growing and can be difficult if not impossible to remove later on.  Even if they are removed, there is a fairly high chance another one will pop up, sometimes even in the same spot.  Usually mammary tumors are benign, but if they are malignant the cancer can spread to other parts of her body and become fatal.

 At this point, it's all right to leave her if there is no way to do the surgery.  She isn't in pain, and she's able to get around just fine and act normally.  If you can, try to save up to do the surgery later as it could put several months to a year onto her life.  Hopefully the Holistarat group can help you further, but I don't know how effective (if at all) holistic medications can be against a tumor.

 Well let's hope for the best!  Keep me updated on her condition, if you don't mind =)  Good luck!