Tumor girl and her friend- Home! Minerva RIP sweet girl.

[hopefloats]

Got an email this week.........

Hi there,

My neighbor had two pet rats that they were getting rid of, Actually her kid told my daughter they were going to let them go or give them as snake food. So I took them in and said I would find a home. The problem is that one of the rats has a large tumor so finding a home has been impossible. She gets around fine still. I think they are over a year old but I'm not sure. Would you be able to help me find them homes or maybe they just need to be put to sleep?

Thanks,
Tara

She actually has 2 tumors one between her back legs and one on her front legs.

This cage is adorable

I will try for better pictures later. She is starving half to death. She instantly started eating on the blocks when we put them i n there and hasnt stopped. I gave her some ensure so I will see how they are later. Nice girls it seems but the one is a little thin from the tumors. I will see about having the tumors removed we have had a few come in this week so this is number 8 for the intakes lately.

 

[mamarat]

Kudos for taking in the ladies. Sending healing vibes.

 

[jorats]

So pretty! And lucky girls.

 

[dspch911]

:heart: :cuddle: Healing vibes from us - what is wrong w/people?! :cuddle: :heart: I am convinced Sebastian was starving too, how do you not notice your pet cannot eat????

 

[Joanne]

I'm so glad they came to you. Here's hoping tumor girl can say goodbye to her baggage and get to live the rest of her life out with a full belly.

 

[hopefloats]

I wish I would of gotten her sooner. I am so worried about tumor removals now. These are like Ella's were but they are smaller she seems younger than ella was. I am unsure about removing them or not. Any ideas or thoughts?

 

[dspch911]

They look pretty nasty and cannot be comfortable. I would go w/removal, she cannot be getting around very well with those.

 

[hopefloats]

She gets around well but the blood supply scares me. I am worried about losing her. The last 2 beige girls that had tumors passed away after surgery so i am terrified.

 

[Joanne]

I guess I would look at it this way:
How much time do you think she would have without surgery?
If she's not going to have much time, then surgery, even with its risks, is her only chance at a life.
Maybe they could do one at a time?
How good is your vet?

 

[hopefloats]

I trust my vet completely. We have had good success with most surgeries. We have had losses but it was the trying to save them part. So they were pretty expected.

 

[Petunia]

oh poor girl! :hugs:
those tumors look nasty

It's great you have a vet you can trust.
that being the case, I think I'd just ask the vet if she could pull thru the surgery ok.

 

[YorkieLove]

I have to agree that you should try the surgery. It would be so sad if she didn't make it but her quality of life with those can't be all that good and those will be restricting her movements soon. :heart: :heart: I am so sorry you didn't get that beautiful girl sooner :hugs:

 

[amanda1472]

Poor Girl. They cannot be comfortable, i would also go forward with the surgery. I wish you luck on making a decision.

 

[Aida]

The way I see it is you can do the surgery now, or not at all- in a few weeks, it may be too late to try a surgery.

Personally, I would try to remove- but you know the girly better than us, so just go by your better judgment.

 

[dspch911]

I know you want to save them all and losing her would be devastated, but sometimes you need to let fate takes its course. She found her way to you for a reason - that reason could be because you could help her or at least could try. You need to try and if your vet say no, then you still tried - you took her to the vet! :cuddle:

 

[Godmother]

Such a tough situation. You'll have to talk to your vet to see what the odds are likely to be. Nasty tumors.

Wishing you and the ratties all the best. Even if the girl with the tumors has a short life, at least she is safe and well loved.

 

[hopefloats]

I have my doubts on if she will survive surgery. She seems to have a bit of breathing or heart problems with the tumor size i am sure. I am taking her to the vet on saturday morning so my vet can listen to her heart and so on. Give me an idea if they are to attached for surgery or what the odds are.

We named her with the help of Shelagh. The beige girl is now Athena and the Gouti girl is now Minerva who is Athenas counterpart in Roman mythology. They are enjoying ensure a few times a day and are in the large martins playpen right now for a romp around.

I will keep everyone posted on if we decide to just let her live her life out or chance the surgery.

 

[Joanne]

Best of luck! I will be checking to see what the decision is.

 

[RattusNorvegicus]

Every case will be different with varying results but I would say go for it and spoil her greatly before the surgery just in case.

At the age of around 33 (give or take) months, Emily had her tumors removed. She had advanced respiratory disease with a very barreled chest- emphysema and lung abscesses. Her breathing was heavy and no doubt the tumors made it even harder to breathe. I went with surgery anyway because I knew she was not happy with the tumors. She couldn't move around like she wanted and she got frustrated easily. What I could gain by risking surgery outweighed what I could lose. Money was obviously an issue for a $400 surgery, but in the end I knew it wouldn't matter. I originally decided that I wasn't going to have them removed due to her poor respiratory health but when they got worse and my options were limited I took her back in and my vet said she was willing to give it a shot.

Emily did fantastic. Post-op she showed no apparent pain and absolutely NO discomfort on Metacam and Buprenex. She was euphoric and probably happier than she ever had been in life. It bought her 3 extra months until her respiratory failure became too much that I let her go last month. It is a decision I will always be happy I made. I fought hard until the end. We both did. :heart:

My little zombie:

My vet did a great job and I was very pleased with her incisions. I thought they would be much larger than that. The blood supply always is a worry. I am sure if it's TOO large your vet can abort the surgery, or maybe just debulk.

A not so great photo of them before removal. I felt so bad holding her like that.

Here are Emily's actual tumors.
[spoil:3ozb3pqy]

][/spoil:3ozb3pqy]

 

[Joanne]

Wow, those were huge! Your vet did great work!

I am hoping surgery will be an option...