one of my furbabies (Skitz) just had hers removed this past week. she had 2, one about the size of a golf ball under her left arm and the other a bit smaller under her left leg. When I got her, she was tiny, the store told be about 3-4 months old... and while that's possible... I suspect she was closer to 2 months. That being said... I had her for only 7 months when the 1st tumor appeared seemingly overnight. we noticed it in the morning and that night she had quite the play scuffle with her cagemate. I took her to the vet worried she was wounded because it seemed her upper arm to the elbow was swollen (about 3/4in ball). they told me it was a mammary tumor and that sometimes they stay that size but they can grow... they recommended letting it be for a month cos it was so small and watching it to see if it grew. That was in September, we assumed her to be between 9 and 11 months old. By late December that tumor was slightly larger (about 1in) but another appeared in the groin area of her left side. They didn't seem to bother her at all and the growth was so slow if at all so we left them be. In February all was the same but, my family got sick and we quarantined, planning 2 weeks after the last of us had symptoms, that date was March 19th. In that time we noticed Skitz's tumors were starting to grow, she would now be about 14-16 months old so we figured we should have it looked at again after we came out on March 19th, but on March 16th my state shutdown. We waited 6 months... so what're another few weeks? well, we all know that story and by late May after she fell from a height in her cage because she did not have the mobility of her left side the way she should... I was calling every vet I could find. She had her surgery on June 15th, guessing her to be at about 18-20 months old. The upper tumor was now wider than her body, the lower tumor about 1-1/2 inches.
Her regular vet was not open, but during a call to them, I was told "its a rat. they have short lives, and they get tumors. let nature do what nature does" I could not believe it! would it be different if it was my dog? Eventually, I found a vet that had an 'exotics dr', and the surgery was done on the 15th (7 days ago from my posting this) and I've learned a few things I feel the need to pass on to other rat lovers dealing with mammary tumors.
1. and Most importantly... make sure the Dr or vet has your rats life as Priority #1! Skitz stopped breathing when they started the anesthesia. but they were able to perform CPR and informed me that she was not breathing for about 1 full minute. I fear the regular vet I use would never have tried to save her.
2. As per #1, Rats and Anesthesia do not go together well. And the older they are, the more dangerous it is for them. At most, Skitz was 20 months old and the anesthesia put her right down before they even started on her. Know your rats age and be true about it to the vet as this is what will determine their methods and choices of drugs.
3. Mammary tumors can happen under 14 months old. it might be rare, but it happens. Think of it like this... in human females, we start our 'cycles' about age 12... some may even be 13-16... but there are more than a few that are as young as 9... and cases reported of even age 7... everyone is different... this is no different in rats.
4. Skitz's underarm is healing well... but we've returned to the vet now 4 times to have the lower incision closed. Rats pick and chew... so stay on them, manage their pain, take preventative measures (bitter cream, sweaters, etc), or keep them preoccupied with something more interesting because we are now dealing with a large open wound that can no longer be closed and runs a huge infection risk... not to mention our total cost with all the revisits, new stitches, changes in meds, and everything else... it's over $800. so plan for problems
I apologize for this great wall of text, I found these forums via a google search looking for options to stop her from picking at her open wound. She has been given a stronger dose of pain meds more often, she is also on sedatives to slow her down and make her sleep it off long enough to not mess with it, an antibiotic cream that is supposed to be so bitter she won't lick it but seems to enjoy the taste and everything I've put on it (from clothing to steri-strips) she has removed. Fortunately, her underarm is healing well... I think soon I will be able to put her harness on again and over a sweater, it might make it difficult for her to get to so easily while the harness prevents her from taking off the sweater.
