Experiences with tumor removal in rats with chronic URI?

[acwellen]

Have you ever had a middle aged rat with chronic respiratory issues go through a tumor removal? How did they cope?

One of my boys developed what seems to be a benign tumor (oval with no pitting, just under skin and very mobile, no scabbing) near his armpit several months ago. It started extremely small (grain of rice sized, vet didn't even want to do a fine needle aspiration because she doubted she'd be able to get a sample) and has grown very, very slowly--two-ish moths on it's maybe the size of a small bead and is only observable if felt for. Earlier this week he was started on a longterm doxy/baytril regiment for chronic respiratory issues under vet guidance but it's just symptom management as every time he's come off the meds he's back to heavy congestion within a few days and worsens from there.

At this point he's a year and eight months old and I'm torn between removal or letting it stay as long as it doesn't majorly accelerate in growth rate given the risk of anesthesia and that recovery might stress him badly enough his respiratory issues will worsen, especially since he's definitely on the higher strung side and isn't the easiest keeper weight-wise (he's at an OK weight right now but it's more of a keeping him above thin situation.) I'd really appreciate hearing any experiences you've had with tumor removal/surgery in general for rats with chronic URI, especially older ones.

Goofy boy sticking his foot out of his space pod to lighten things up.

 

[kaseyb]

my very skittish and high strung 1.9 yr old rat with a chronic uri just had a slightly larger tumor than your rats removed, and hes taking it really well. his uri sounds less severe than your boys does though. if theyre under 2 i usually think it really is better to get it done at a small size in my experience. they just perk up so much faster than if the tumor was large. the pain is much less severe and the incision is a lot smaller. a lot of rats who get a tumor will have another one pop up at some point as well so i like to take care of it right away just in case it happens again.

if youre worried about his weight you could add some healthy fat to his diet for awhile before you take him in to see if he can put on a little, and keep giving it to him after the procedure. when my rats have lost too much weight i usually feed them some avocado and coconut or coconut oil.

obviously you know your rat best though so you should make the call in the end.