My rattie has tumors

[RattiPatti]

Hi all,w
On January 1 of last year (2010), I purchased 2 female rats from our local pet store. What an experience this has been! First, my daughter contracted streptobacilius moniliformus (a.k.a. Rat Bite Fever) one week after we got the rats. The 'new home sneezes' released the disease directly into my daughter's system. After a month of misdiagnoses, and numerous visits to several specialists, she was put on the correct regimen of medication (2,000 mg. of penicillin daily for two weeks) and she successfully kicked the bacteria out of her system. Against the better judgment of everyone, we decided to keep the rats because the only other option was having them euthanized. Thank goodness there has never been a recurrence of RBF. We ended up purchasing a hairless rat, also. They do make such endearing little pets. One of our girls has 3 increasingly growing mammary tumors and I am asking for advice. She is about 1 year and 10 months old and the vet wants $700 to remove the tumors. Can someone guide me as to what my course of action should be here? Thank you so much for any help. Patti

 

[victoria]

Where in the states do you live? There may be a cheaper alternative in your area.

Sadly, some mammary tumours are that hard (and therefore expensive) to remove or there is not a cheaper vet option. If you can't afford it, you can make her comfortable until her quality of life diminishes and then euthanize her. Keeping her on a low fat, low sugar diet may help slow the growth of the tumours.

I'm sorry to hear your daughter got RBF from your rats, but I am happy to hear you stayed committed to the rats nonetheless.

 

[lilspaz68]

Find a different vet for sure. They either like the idea of highway robbery or they want to price it out of range since they aren't comfortable doing the procedure. how big are the tumors and where are they?