tumors and lumps

Question
My female rat has a lump under her front paw sort of on her chest. The vet said that there is nothing that can be done and that I should put her to sleep soon as she will suffer greatly from the cancer.
She is only 19 months old and I do not want to put her to sleep. I have read that these tumors can be operated on. Why wont my vet do that?

Answer
Hi UR

First off, I am sorry about your rat having problems. The good news is this is very common and also easily treated. I am not sure why your vet has basically given your rat a death sentence because it does not have to be that way at all.
The area that your rats mass is sounds like a classic mammary tumor which unfortunately are very common in intact (unspayed) female rats that are near or already past menopause age, which starts around 18 months of age.
These tumors are estrogen fueled and often more grow back after surgery, which is probably why your vet feels the situation may be doomed.
However, good news is, there are many ways to treat this problem.  The easiest way is to have your female rat spayed before puberty to prevent growth of these tumors later in life. If the female is not spayed and starts to develop these tumors, spaying may or may not prevent new growth once some are removed.
My advice is to seek out a vet that is skilled with rats and surgery etc...and have this tumor removed before it develops its own blood supply and becomes highly vascular. Waiting for it to get bigger only makes the surgery more risky due to possible bleeding if the tumor becomes super vascular. It also prevents the tumor from robbing the rats body of nutrients needed to sustain the health and proper function of vital organs. If this happens, the rat will lose weight and become weak as time goes on. Doing surgery before this takes place means the rat will be stronger for the surgery.

Once the surgery is done, the rat can be given monthly injections of a hormone called LUPRON.  This hormone helps greatly reduce the production of estrogen, which as said before, fuels the growth of these tumors.
Surgery is usually non invasive and once again, if done early enough, the tumor will not have taken over alot of the rats flesh and will allow for extra skin to be used for an easy closure, which means less pulling of the skin and the surgical site will not be uncomfortable. A tight surgical site makes stitches pull and pinch which is one reason why rats will start to pick and pull at their stitches.

Please feel free to print this response and share it with your Vet. I cant tell you to go against your vet but I can suggest that you find one that is willing to worth with your rat and not just simply give up so quickly. I have seen rats go on for many months after surgery and also while given treatment using lupron. Sometimes an entire year is gained, sometimes 6 months...but what is important is the quality of life sustained and in my experience, I have seen rats thrive wonderfully after treatment.  Bottom line is: there IS hope!