stomach tumor in rabbit

Question
My rabbit was being treated for GI stasis but it turned out to be a stomach tumor. It had metastasized by the second diagnosis and they said it was too late for surgery. I was shocked to hear he had cancer because I thought he was improving. (He had been on syringe feedings for about a week and his bowels had started moving again.) Could the tumor have been diet related? He never seemed to like hay or drink much water, but I gave him greens everyday. He also got a few baby carrots daily because he seemed to love them so much. Also, his cage was in a very bright room and I've heard there is a relationship between light and cancer. I had him for about a year and was originally told he was around 2, but the x-ray revealed he was more like 7 or 8.  But I'm wondering if I could have done something to prevent him from becoming sick.

Answer
Dear Cheryl,

I'm sorry about this bad prognosis.

I'm not sure how your vet could tell the rabbit's age from a radiograph, but if you've had him for only a year and he's much older, then there's no way for anyone to know his history before he came to you, and to what carcinogens he might have been exposed that could trigger this cancer.

If only we could know what causes cancers in every case!  It's easy if a person is a smoker or works with carcinogens.  But I've known people who live the healthiest lifestyles imaginable--and they still got cancer.  We are just living in a toxic world, and if any of us has the added misfortune of a genetic predisposition for certain types of cancers, then all bets are off.

I hope you can take come comfort in knowing that it was not the bright light (sunlight can cause skin cancer, but not the type of cancer you describe here) you gave him, nor is it likely that anything you fed him caused this problem.  Processed pet foods can have cryptic carcinogens, but there is practically no way to know this without constant, expensive assays.

That said, I have never heard of stomach cancer in a rabbit.  I'm not saying it's impossible, but that it's very uncommon.  It might be a good idea to find another rabbit-experienced vet for a second opinion, to be sure this is really what you're dealing with.  You can find one here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

Let's hope the news will be better.  I'm sending healing thoughts.

Dana