what to feed Clair now that she's got a second tumor

[Petunia]

my 23 mo old girl now has a second tumor, and is losing wt fast.

Is it time to switch her off the low sugar, low fat protein diet and just let her have whatever she wants?

does she need to have something like Ensure or will it not make any difference?

she still looks pretty good otherwise, still getting around ok and her inguinal tumor is not interfering with her bowel function at all, so.....

I've lost three girls to tumors and once they started to lose weight, it seemed like they went downhill fast....

is there any way to slow things down?

Clair is my #1 :heart: rat....

 

[eagle]

You can give ensure and baby cereal as much as she wants to eat. Give her some veggies also if she wants them. You can also crush up some of her block and mix with the ensure.

 

[jorats]

You can keep her diet no sugar and low fat but increase the good fat like that in olive oil.
But it's really up to you, if you feel it's time to spoil her to pieces then do that. :cuddle:

 

[Petunia]

ok thanks guys!

so you still stick with the low protein?

Eagle, she doesn't have any trouble chewing, I am guessing the baby cereal and crushed blocks are for rats that are reluctant to chew?

do all rats stop being able to chew their food as well, as they age? or do they just get too tired/reluctant to do it?

she'll be chewing on stuff when she's half asleep, so there's no worries that she doesn't *want* to eat :giggle:

she's just losing weight in spite of what she is eating, I thought that meant that now the tumors were taking most of the calories and you needed to increase the calories they were given?

My only other experience is with my dad, who had cancer so widespread that he literally starved to death because no matter how much he ate, it all went to feeding the tumors.

of course, as a person and not a rat, he was on a high calorie, high fat diet, "as tolerated".

Also now that I've written this out, I am wondering, do benign tumors act the same as malignant ones, in regards to how they "feed" off what you are eating, so to speak?
Clair's mammary gland tumors are probably benign, right?

so tumors of any kind, in rats, will lead to weight loss eventually?
or is she possibly losing weight because I'm feeding her better? (fewer treats, better staple foods- I had been giving a lot more cereals, and fruits, now it's more veggies than anything else, plus lab blocks, I mean)

 

[jorats]

Some rats do eat a lot less as they age but then some continue to be very good eaters. My Davis was 41 months old and he loved his hard blocks right till the end.
Yes, I do believe that benign mammary tumours do take it's toll on the rat's health.