Tips for when your rat has a tumor?

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It has been a week now and I haven't really noticed any growth, maybe very slightly. (Compared to the first one that grew very fast and was the size of her hip within a week) I have cut all sugary treats out of her diet (mainly that means no more Cheerios-her favorite :(), should I cut out fruit as well do you think? Now the main treat I give her is broccoli which she really enjoys and I read helps slow the growth of cancer.

Her main diet now is mixed seeds & nuts with some dried veggies and fruits, grains and extra nutrient bits thrown in as well. Then every so often, I give her some fresh fruits or veggies, I try to do so at least once a week. Any other recommendations?

Tumors are so freaky. I like to think I carefully check my pets for health things but these tumors really took me by surprise. It really feels like one day there's nothing there and the next bam lump.
 
Glad it is growing slow :)

As far as I know, it is just added sugar you have to worry about, so fruit is good to feed her

Hope you can find an alternative to the cheerios .... mine enjoy organic kumut puffs (a cereal too)

The recommended diet for rats is a good quality block (Oxbow or Harlan Teklad 2014)
plus daily vegs and occasional healthy treats such as berries, fruit, cooked grains, organic pumpkin seeds etc

So I would be concerned as to if she is getting proper nutrition ..... I don't know a lot about nutrition but I would suggest fewer nuts and seeds and a wide variety and a lot of vegs, and fresh or frozen/thawed vegs and fruit - some types of vegs need to be cooked such as cooked sweet potato ....... and mine love baked squash, etc

hope this helps
 
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Thanks that is very helpful, I didn't know they should be having veggies so often! I will add more to her diet.
 
Thanks that is very helpful, I didn't know they should be having veggies so often! I will add more to her diet.

Mine love baby kale, broccoli, cooked sweet potato, mixed greens, baked squash, frozen thawed peas, small pieces of raw organic carrots, cooked carrots mashed into cooked sweet potato, a few cooked chickpeas, a few cooked kidney beans, and they like it when I make homemade vegetable soup (no added salt) containing legumes, split peas, barley, and vegs.

Mine also love cooked oatmeal with wild blueberries
 
Lola has been doing well!! Her chest tumor still really has not had any noticeable growth. However I noticed she's gotten kind of chunky so I worry about there being tumors inside....though her behavior is still normal.

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If she's chunky, that's most likely she's eating more. Mammary tumours are always on the outside. I'm glad it has not grown much.
Good to know! Probably the extra veggies and fruits I've been giving her whoops. She celebrated her 2nd birthday recently! Still goin strong. I'd definitely recommend that implant I think it really helped!!
 
I'm so glad that you had a good vet. I don't think that the one I took my first two girls to was experienced enough with small animals - just fine with lower level stuff like URIs, but didn't seem as comfortable surgically. They were both unspayed and developed mammary tumors at a really young age. They were definitely strong enough for tumor removals and spays, but he recommended euthanasia. Knowing what I know now, it breaks my heart. But it taught me a very hard lesson about advocating for your pets and ensuring your vet can take care of them to the fullest extent.
 
I'm so glad that you had a good vet. I don't think that the one I took my first two girls to was experienced enough with small animals - just fine with lower level stuff like URIs, but didn't seem as comfortable surgically. They were both unspayed and developed mammary tumors at a really young age. They were definitely strong enough for tumor removals and spays, but he recommended euthanasia. Knowing what I know now, it breaks my heart. But it taught me a very hard lesson about advocating for your pets and ensuring your vet can take care of them to the fullest extent.
Oh my gosh that's so awful I'm so sorry for you and your rats I'm very relieved everything went well, it is so hard to find experienced small animal vets and I was granted the extreme luck of having one 5 mins away from our new house.
 
Lola is now 2 years 1 month old! 2 days ago while holding her I noticed another tumor. It was very small & basically in her armpit and felt the same as the first 2. It's been 2 days and unfortunately it feels like it's practically 3 times the size, so I may have just gotten lucky with that other tumor she got on her chest not growing any further.

I'm not sure what too sure what to do about this :(
 
Oh no... that does sound like a typical mammary tumour. They can grow quite fast.
The growth slowed down a ton. I think it's because I had started cheating with her diet and giving her Cheerios again. When I cut them out (again) the tumor stopped growing. It's been weeks and hasn't increased in size from that initial growth spurt, or if it has has barely.
 
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