Heredity & Pituitary Tumors

[crumbilina]

Hopefully someone may have experience with this to provide a bit of insight.

I have a 2 year old rattie (Cocoa) who has a small mammary tumor. I am thinking of having it removed (and possibly a spay at the same time). I will be speaking with a vet on Friday about this whole thing, but thought this would be a great place to start/continue my research.

Cocoa came to me with her litter-mate Pop. Pop passed away in January (about 1.5 years old) because of a pituitary tumor. I know for a fact that the 2 were siblings.
Does anyone know if the chances of Cocoa having a PT are higher since her sister had it? Is there a pretty good chance that she will get it? I just can't find any information on rats and PT occurrence in litter-mates.

I am just afraid that if I put her under the stress of anesthetic and a surgery that this could "trigger" the growth of a PT. The mammary tumor she does have is extremely slow growing and I have been monitoring it over the past 3 weeks. Now that it is visible and not just palpable, I figured its time to see a vet and consider surgery. But the mammary tumor is the lesser of the 2 evils and I really would not want to trigger a PT.

I don't know, I am just trying to weigh all the possibilities before I make my decision come Friday. I would like the surgery done ASAP if I am in fact going to do it.

Does anyone have experience or know anything about the heredity of a PT? ANY insight/information would be most helpful because right now I have a big question mark

Thanks in advance!

 

[LA]

I'm not to sure about Heredity, but I believe that it can be more prominate in family members. Both of those tumors are estrogen based so if you have an unspayed girl you will have a higher chance of getting either. I don't think that the surgery can 'bring on' PT. If it's there it will come.

 

[jorats]

When one of my rats get something like that, my vet always warns me to watch all the siblings, just in case. It's a high possibility they could have it too but I wouldn't say a definite hereditary.

 

[crumbilina]

Hummm, I guess I will really have to research this.

Sometimes just the stress can bring on illnesses - not sure if it applies to tumors, but better safe then sorry. Stress can do crazy things to a normally healthy body.

I will talk to the vet and book the surgery if he thinks it is a good idea. I can still cancel if I feel it is the wrong decision

BUT I will have to look up some papers on PT in rats. I'll post some here if I think they are interesting!

 

[SQ]

As previously said, both types of tumours are linked to estrogen so unspayed girls are more likely to develop pt then spayed girls.
Stress can bring on respir problems but I have never heard the stress of medical treatment linked to tumours and cancer.

PTs are very common in rats.
I too always keep an eye on family members when one develops an illness.

 

[LA]

To be honest I don't know how stress can cause PT to show up. It's a tumor, it's there or it's not.

 

[crumbilina]

I will keep an eye on her and talk to the vet about my concerns. Hopefully he will be able to provide some insight.

A couple studies I have read have said that stress can influence the growth of tumors, I just don't know if it can influence the growth of this particular tumor. I would have to research many different topics and pathways. Right now, I just don't have the time...