Lymph-Node Cancer

Question
QUESTION: My pet rat Petey (Female, 1.5yrs old) has a rather substantial lyph-node growth on her neck/chest; its about the size of a golfball, if not abit bigger. Its inoperable and is steadily growing. However unlike some cancer in rats, she is showing no signs of illness/stress/unhappyness and is hooning about like she normally does. Various vets have told me various things but the main undertone is to "just leave it until it gets a problem and then do the deed" (as in putting her to sleep). We've tried many remedies, anti-cancer herbs and natural anti-cancer things (i.e.apricot pips) I hate seeing her with such an evil lump, should I have her put to sleep before it gets to be a major problem and she gets stressed or should I wait until she shows signs of unhappiness? Am I making a selfish decision keeping her alive? Either way, it's going to be a horrible decision :( Do you any experience/advice in this lumpy matter?
Thanks for your time,
Becky

ANSWER: Hi Becky

Yes I have alot of experience with tumors in rats...but
before I continue, I have two things that I need to know:

Why is this tumor not able to be removed and how do you know its cancer?

Was a biopsy done?

Cancer in rats is not very common and this area on her where the mass is located is classic mammary tumor and this is the exact age they begin to grow.  They are fueled by accelerated rising of estrogen that occurs after the estrus cycle stops, which starts from 18 months
and older. These tumors pop up anywhere a mammary gland is located and the area your rat has her mass is where a mammary gland is. These tumors are almost always benign and even if they are malignant, 99 percent of the time they are encapsulated and are not known to invade the internal organs and spread.
They can grow at an astonishing rate and can get the size of an egg before you know it. Removing them before they do is best so they are not super vascular but the surgery is almost non invasive as these tumors literally peel from the rats body.

I am not sure about your vets credentials but what I am sure of is this mass can be removed and there is no reason to end your rats life   before its time.

Please let me know these few things I asked above so I can further advise.  Aside from surgery, there is also a hormone injection that your rat can get that actually halts estrogen production thus in turn it shrinks these tumors or halts the growth in any new ones.

hang in there... I think I have some good news for you that will really save you from ending your rats life prematurely.



Sandra

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

QUESTION: Hi Sandra,
Thanks so much for your advise. In answer to your questions;
1. Both vets said it was a very tricky area to work on, as there are major veins/arteries and the windpipe located around the area of the lump. Also we were told, the fact that it is near/on the lymph-gland means that it is likely that the cancer has already spread to other parts of the body.
2. The Holistic vet took a sample of the lump via needle and send it off to the lab. The results came back saying that the sample contained traces of "lymphoma" cells which means maligant tumors of lymph-nodes or lymphoid tissue.
Both the vets came highly recommended by the local SPCA animal centre (where I work on a Sunday). Now you have this info, I look forward to hearing from you.
Regards,
Becky

ANSWER: Hi Becky

This one is a doozy of a letter, so you better sit back and prop your feet up and get ready to read for a bit. :)

Thank you so much for writing back and providing me with that information. It is very helpful since I have no idea the current status of your rats health. I guess I am just a bit more aggressive with tumor removal since I have worked along side many surgeries with tumors in this area and although the risks are higher when there are tumors that are highly vascular, it depends on the skill of the surgeon and the quality of the implements being used during the procedure etc... I also have worked with rats that have had the misfortune of having cancerous tumors and were treated with tamoxifen after surgery and had great results. I dont mean to be aggressive about this with you, its just such a part of what I do for a living every day it just comes natural.
These tumors can grow at an accelerated rate (and here I am going to suggest one more type of treatment,I just cant resist, she is just so young yet) which is called LUPRON.  This is a hormone that helps decrease the production of estrogen, which is what fuels the growth of these horrible tumors. It is worth a shot to ask the vet about this. You have nothing to lose really. The injections are monthly and the side effects are few, if any.
******
With that, I will stick with the original question (and shut my pie hole, I promise ;)and help you as much as I can.  
I am really sorry your little  girl is going through this. I have come to despise mammary tumors and for that reason I have vowed to never own another female unless I am prepared to have her spayed at an early age (between 3 and 4 months old) so I have all males for the time being.

I am not sure if your rats tumor is encapsulated but I will take an educated guess and say (and hope) that it is since in many cases they are. If so, this will help prevent the spread to her major organs before its time.  
One good thing is the area it is in will not really affect her mobility as much as it would if it were directly on her stomach or under her back leg or front paw. Most rats dont care and they learn to be mobile despite the mass. I have had such brave rats learn to propel around on their bellies at great speed ( I had them on the bare plastic of the cage with soft fleece on the opposite end) and away they would go, to their food dish or litter box, not letting a mass the size of an egg stop them!
Keep in mind your girl may look worse than she feels for the most part. You seem like you are well versed in rat care so I am sure you know when your girl isnt feeling well.
I will be totally honest with you now and tell you what to expect.
As the tumor grows and becomes vascular, her appetite may increase. She may demand more food than she ever has before but she may start to be on a decline as far as weight goes. Slowly she will lose weight despite her ravenous appetite, which is common with this condition. Many rat owners assume this is a sign of well being, and in many cases it is, but it also means the vascular tumors are starting to deplete the rats body of nutrients which in turn causes her to be more hungry.
As her body is being robbed of the nutrients she needs to sustain the function of her vital organs, her organs will eventually begin to fail.  She will become weak and continue to lose weight. Sometimes the tumor ends up abscessing internally which can lead to sepsis. This is often the cause of death in the rat. Other causes would be total organ failure or simply heart failure. However, before this occurs, your rat will have several good months ahead of her despite the possible rapid growth of her tumor. I am a firm believer that I do not consider euthanasia until my rat has no quality of life. Once she stops eating and caring about her surroundings, that "spark" of life that every rat has in their eyes is gone, and we know it is time for our rat to become an angel. Many times they chose to leave on their own, all too often we are faced with the tough decision of helping them along. I prefer the first option, but unfortunately it doesnt work that way for many rats due to the fact they have a strong will to survive.
I want to share with you a story about my wild rat, Holly. She was over 2.5 years old when her first tumor grew. We removed it right away and more grew even before her stitches had dissolved. I was devastated. Right away we started her on Lupron and happily, many of the small tumors shrunk, but one stubborn one remained. While it had gotten smaller, it had already become vascular and started to take its toll on her already tiny body. She was a wild rat I had rescued several years back from the dog pound and she was much smaller than the domestic fancy rats, although she had no idea she was small, because she had the strongest personality and one heck of a will to survive.  The tumor was the size on an egg on the inside of her lower thigh. Over time she became frail and very thin. She would propel herself across her cage and ate, drank and used her litter pan like a champ. One day she just stopped walking. The tumor had taken is toll on her muscles and was putting pressure on her spine to the point of severe nerve root compression. With that, I knew it was time to let her go. However, she had that spark in her eye. SHe would groom me, groom herself, eat, drink, potty in the box, brux, boggle her eyes, all of it.  My rat was not able to move yet she had so much life in her...it made me sick to let her go. At the vets, we both sat there, sick over the idea of me letting her go. Finally, my vet, who is a certified exotic specialist, said to me "I cant do it" and I agreed. I asked if he had the nerve to remove the horrible tumor and he just looked at me. He made sure I understood that there was probably just a 5 percent chance she had the strength to endure the surgery let alone recover at all. What is the difference? I said.  We are going to let her go anyhow..if she doesnt make it through the surgery, we were going to put her down anyhow.  With that, I kissed her goodbye, thinking I would never see her again.  Holly was close to 3 years old and only weight about 180 grams at that time.
The surgery went bad within the first 3 minutes. The tumor was so vascular, despite his tremendous magnifying goggles the vet wears, he carefully tried to avoid a major blood vessel but hit another and blood started spurting everywhere. He was certain this was the end of Holly.  AFter a few more scares and 90 minutes later, my Holly was alive, but critical.
Long story longer, she made it through and was on the road to a long recovery. Holly stayed at the clinic for 10 days and we also had her on lupron. The huge tumor was gone, but Holly never learned to walk again. Too much damage had been done to her spine from the crushing egge sized tumor.  However, she was still able to propel around with ease and had no tumor weighing her down.  The lupron helped keep any existing tumors from getting bigger and my girl lived another 10 months, passing away 2 months shy of her 4th birthday. I almost let her go when she was just 3 and because of that "spark" she had in her eyes, I couldnt do it.
I guess the moral of the story is, despite what these rats go through as I described above, the time to let them go if they are too stubborn to do it on their own is only something YOU and your rat will know.
It is not fair for the vet or for me, as a rodent consultant at an animal clinic, to really tell someone to let their rat be put down when they still have the will to live.  A suffering rat that gives up on life will not have that life in their eyes and so this is when it is time to let them go.  Everyone is different, however. Some people prefer to not even allowed their rat to get to the point that they lose their will to live and everyone has their own opinion on it.
My own opinion, coming from my heart, is that these rats have been robbed of a long life expectancy. We cherish every moment we have with them on this earth. I want my rat to have a good quality of life, but how do we determine what is good or not? Holly looked hideous after surgery.  Her fur never really grew back in after surgery and she did gain some weight back but she was also very old, too. People thought I was inhumane by not letting her get put down yet this rat still came out to play, laid on my chest and would groom me till she fell asleep....you get what I mean, I am sure.

I have to ask you, how do you feel about what I have shared, above?
How do you feel about allowing the rat to live out her life until she has lost the will to live or do you prefer she doesnt get to that point?
Its really an individual choice,but I do want to know how you feel about it.
And with that, I need to get some kleenex. This was a pretty emotional thing for me to write. I hope I didnt upset you by being honest about everything and also forgive me for this mini novel. I always have alot to say when it comes to this subject.

Hope to hear from you soon

Sandra

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

QUESTION: Heya Sandra,
What an emotion story, you had me welling up aswell! Bless little Holly, what a trooper! You must have writers cramp after all that. Thank you so much for taking the time out to help me, I really appriciate it. I've had previous vets not even want to look at some of my rats in the past. They don't understand how wonderful rats really are and what awesome lil friends they can be. I think this reply is gonna be abit of a marathon aswell, haha, get ready...
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All my rats have been brilliant but Petey is like none I've ever had. I emmigrated to New Zealand from England with my parents about 18months ago and I got Petey the 1st week I was here. She was my only little friend in a strange country. I had 6months of waiting before I could get into University so Petey got my attention 100% of the time as I had nothing better to do. I've never had such a close relationship with a rat. She was so tiny when I got her she fitted perfectly on the end of a teaspoon. She spent the first 2 months of her life down my cleavage!! I used to cruise around the house doing housework with her fast asleep in my bra!! Now shes a happy, healthy, beautiful tan and white hooded rat- minus the lump that is!
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It is a shame I can not send you a photo of my little Petey so you could actually see where the lump is, unfortunatly it has gotten so big that she can only eat with one paw clamped to her lump, she used the lump itself as another paw, clever lil thing. Its more situated on the left side of her chest, kinda like shes got one giant egg sized boob, bless her.
I agree with what you say, rats let you know when they're not feeling good. I've grown up with rats and they've generally always been around me.
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With regards to surgeory, because of where it is, it's risky. I agree with you in your situation with Holly that it was time for her to go anyways, so either way she ready to leave. But I feel that Petey hasn't gotten to that point yet. I'd hate to have her die on the operating table and think "she could have had another 3months of happyness if I hadn't risked it" With to allowing her to live out her life, I totally agree, I want her to have as much pf a happy time as possible. Until she gives me a sign that shes really unhappy/struggling I don't think I could do the deed.
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With the Lupron drug, I suppose anything is worth a try. However I don't know if we get it over here in New Zealand. Some drugs just arn't available but I will ask the vet next time we speak.

Honesty is the best way to be Sandra! I need to know the cold hard facts. Even if they are kinda heartbreaking, but atleast I know what to expect.

Thanks again!
Becky

Answer
I hate to see Petey go through this....I despise these tumors.

Right now a reader just wrote about her little girl that was spayed a year ago and she has a horrible (possibly fatal) infection of the uterine stump.  This upsets me because it should NOT happen. It only means the entire contents of the uterus was not properly removed...so here she is thinking her rat is safe from any reproductive disease that normally causes serious problems with our rats and now this.

Anyhow, hopefully your vet can get lupron. It is worth a shot. I only wish there was some safe way to clamp down on the arteries and safely remove that tumor from Petey...but it is risky, most highly vascular areas are.  We nearly lost Holly a few times because of bleeding but the vet was determined to keep her alive, and he did. It was really a miracle and I usually dont believe in miracles.