Mammary tumor removal

Good evening all!

Well, my old girl Lynn is pretty well healed up from having a mass removed from her leg. Unfortunately, a couple of days ago I noticed she has a small mass in the tissue behind one of her forelegs. Looks like it is probably a mammary tumor.

Lynn will be two next month. Is there a general rule of thumb on how old is too old to remove a mammary tumor, or is it all dependent on the rat?

Lynn is still pretty spry and I probably won't try to have the tumor removed until it starts getting big enough to get in her way, but I am concerned about the impact another surgery will have on her health as she advances in age.

It all depends on the rat. After having to euthanize one of my favourite rats who was bright and still full of life because the skin over one of her tumours ruptured, I decided I would always do the surgery if the rat was healthy enough.

My vet doesn't consider age a factor ever, only the health. If the rat is in good health, she will do surgery and I tend to agree with her... watching a rat live with a tumour is crushing. I once had a very large tumour removed from a 37 months old rat. He recovered very well and quite fast too.

Thank you, everyone, for your thoughts. As long as she stays healthy, I think we'll try to have the tumor removed in another couple of months (as long as it doesn't grow quickly).