# Rat lump removal operation



## thedogsmother (Aug 28, 2008)

Im going to do a little diary of a rat lump removal so it hopefully helps anyone else going through this, Im hoping its going to be straight forward but you never know. Two weeks ago I spotted a small lump on Itsy (female rat), over the last two weeks Ive watched it grow to about the size of a large grape so I made the decision to have it removed if possible. Itsy is around 19months old and a generally healthy, happy rat. So this morning is I dropped her off to have the lump removed. This was her this morning.

















In this picture you can see the lump ( just behind her front leg, it looks a bit like a roll of fat but she is a slim rat)









The operation went very well and she is back home now and in a very bare, boring cage with her best friend Cookie to look after her, if I find Cookie is grooming the wound sight I will have to pop her back in with the other girls and leave Itsy on her own though. This is her post op, the wound sight looks pretty horrific and bigger than you might expect. She is due to go to the vets in a week when she will have the stitches removed if everything goes to plan.


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## Petitepuppet (May 30, 2009)

Bless her. My Puffin had her lump in the same place and it was removed with no problems at all but sadly it grew back so fast and got sooo large that she had to be pts. I really hope that is it over for your girl x


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## thedogsmother (Aug 28, 2008)

Petitepuppet said:


> Bless her. My Puffin had her lump in the same place and it was removed with no problems at all but sadly it grew back so fast and got sooo large that she had to be pts. I really hope that is it over for your girl x


Cookie had a very similar lump in the same place and she had it removed, it hasnt returned yet so Ive got everything crossed for Itsy, the vet said it was definately a mammory tumour as was cookies .


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## LostGirl (Jan 16, 2009)

I think this would be very interesting to read and see her progress

It looks huge on her body tho bless her glad she came through ok
And is with her best friend x


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## simplysardonic (Sep 1, 2009)

Oh bless her, hope she has a speedy recovery xx
The next time I have a girl with a mamm lump I'm going to enquire about a spay at the same time as apparently it decreases the incidents of lumps (had too many come back after lumpectomies, poor Shadow went through 2 ops & more grew within weeks )


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## thedogsmother (Aug 28, 2008)

simplysardonic said:


> Oh bless her, hope she has a speedy recovery xx
> The next time I have a girl with a mamm lump I'm going to enquire about a spay at the same time as apparently it decreases the incidents of lumps (had too many come back after lumpectomies, poor Shadow went through 2 ops & more grew within weeks )


I asked about this with Cookie, apparently once they reach sexual maturity its too late for a spay to have any effect , I would have been tempted to get all my girls done if I thought it would have helped, unfortunately before I found out about it all my girls were sexually mature, Im not sure I would put a baby through an operation though when there is a chance they would never get a lump anyway.


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## spoiled_rat (Mar 24, 2008)

thedogsmother said:


> I asked about this with Cookie, apparently once they reach sexual maturity its too late for a spay to have any effect .


Research has shown it helps at any age.


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## thedogsmother (Aug 28, 2008)

spoiled_rat said:


> Research has shown it helps at any age.


 Can you link me to that research please, it was the vet who discouraged me from having Cookie spayed as she said it wouldnt help.


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## spoiled_rat (Mar 24, 2008)

It seems quite a few vets still compare rats with dogs in terms of spaying.

It's common sense that spaying reduces the incidence of both mammary and pituitary tumors as both are related to hormone levels. 
The ovaries are the primary source of estrogen, so spaying pretty much cuts out the effect of these hormones as the ovaries are removed. Estrogen stimulates the growth and activity of pituitary gland when not counteracted by progesterone.

As female rats grow older and reach 'menopause' (supposedly around 16-18 months) their progesterone levels drop very low, which allows the estrogen to act more strongly on the pituitary gland which then makes the pituitary gland produce prolactin, a hormone that stimulates the mammary glands among other things, and can cause more tumours and incidence of your typical PT (Pituitary tumour) 

If you remove the main source of what lumps and pituitary tumours feed on, far less chance of issues happening at any age.

Some studies listed here and general info worth showing your vet: Tumors and Spaying
the Rat Report
He/she should be able to get access to the studies listed, free.

I will dig out some more when I am on my other PC.


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## thedogsmother (Aug 28, 2008)

spoiled_rat said:


> It seems quite a few vets still compare rats with dogs in terms of spaying.
> 
> It's common sense that spaying reduces the incidence of both mammary and pituitary tumors as both are related to hormone levels.
> The ovaries are the primary source of estrogen, so spaying pretty much cuts out the effect of these hormones as the ovaries are removed. Estrogen stimulates the growth and activity of pituitary gland when not counteracted by progesterone.
> ...


Ive got to go back in a week to have her stitches out, I'll take the info with me, not happy about this though


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## simplysardonic (Sep 1, 2009)

thedogsmother said:


> Ive got to go back in a week to have her stitches out, I'll take the info with me, not happy about this though


A lot of vets are still inexperienced with rats & other small mammals, you might have to see a different vet to have a spay, personally I'd rather my vet said they weren't confident with it than pretended they were


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## thedogsmother (Aug 28, 2008)

Day 3

Itsy is acting a lot more like her usual self today, she slept virtually all yesterday and I was getting quite worried about her, The wound looks pretty good and shes being a very good girl and not biting it at the moment, anyway this is her today, the photos are a bit poo because she is back to her usual self, and wanting to explore so I had to be quick getting these ones before she ran off.


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## simplysardonic (Sep 1, 2009)

bless her, glad she's feeling better


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## thedogsmother (Aug 28, 2008)

Well todays visit to the vet didnt go as well as I hoped, I had noticed she was panting (not respy, more a painful pant) and I mentioned it to the vet, she has put her on metacam but shes worried too, she has to go back in a week unless she gets worse and shes lost weight too . Im hoping she pulls herself together soon as this isnt like her at all. The vet is now worried that it might be a malignant cancer which apparently takes a higher toll on the animal, shes pretty confident she got it all though which is good.


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## simplysardonic (Sep 1, 2009)

thedogsmother said:


> Well todays visit to the vet didnt go as well as I hoped, I had noticed she was panting (not respy, more a painful pant) and I mentioned it to the vet, she has put her on metacam but shes worried too, she has to go back in a week unless she gets worse and shes lost weight too . Im hoping she pulls herself together soon as this isnt like her at all. The vet is now worried that it might be a malignant cancer which apparently takes a higher toll on the animal, shes pretty confident she got it all though which is good.


Sending healing vibes to her hun xxxx
Shadow had a malignant one removed from right in her groin at the same time as 3 small benign ones, she pulled through OK but she did lose some weight, although she could afford to as she was quite chunky


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## thedogsmother (Aug 28, 2008)

simplysardonic said:


> Sending healing vibes to her hun xxxx
> Shadow had a malignant one removed from right in her groin at the same time as 3 small benign ones, she pulled through OK but she did lose some weight, although she could afford to as she was quite chunky


Thanks hun, shes not a big rat unfortunately, my largest female Skye would make four of her (although Skye would make two of most rats:blush, so Im hoping she gets her appetite back soon.


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## simplysardonic (Sep 1, 2009)

thedogsmother said:


> Thanks hun, shes not a big rat unfortunately, my largest female Skye would make four of her (although Skye would make two of most rats:blush, so Im hoping she gets her appetite back soon.


Do you have any Nutri-Cal or malt paste?
I keep some handy for post operation weight loss & its yummy so tempts even the picky rats


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## thedogsmother (Aug 28, 2008)

simplysardonic said:


> Do you have any Nutri-Cal or malt paste?
> I keep some handy for post operation weight loss & its yummy so tempts even the picky rats


They will literally kill for malt paste normally but shes turning her nose up at that, I even went to the chinese last night and got them some prawn crackers, they normally adore a bit of prawn cracker and because its not healthy its normally a mega treat but she isnt even eating that . She must be eating something because shes pooing but I certainly havent seen her eat. Im going to give them some spag bol tonight, if I plonk her in the middle of it she can at least lick herself clean.


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## simplysardonic (Sep 1, 2009)

thedogsmother said:


> They will literally kill for malt paste normally but shes turning her nose up at that, I even went to the chinese last night and got them some prawn crackers, they normally adore a bit of prawn cracker and because its not healthy its normally a mega treat but she isnt even eating that . She must be eating something because shes pooing but I certainly havent seen her eat. Im going to give them some spag bol tonight, if I plonk her in the middle of it she can at least lick herself clean.


aww no
Another thing mine love that I put their meds in when the malt paste doesn't work is Nutella, but it's soo not good for them, nothing but sugar & fat
I find there's some rats that prefer sweet to savoury & vice versa, the 2 lads that came from Clacton are a nightmare to get to eat healthy food, I think because their mum was fed exclusively on cheese & wafer thin ham, I cringed inwardly when I collected them & their former owner was pushing that muck through the bars for them


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## thedogsmother (Aug 28, 2008)

simplysardonic said:


> aww no
> Another thing mine love that I put their meds in when the malt paste doesn't work is Nutella, but it's soo not good for them, nothing but sugar & fat
> I find there's some rats that prefer sweet to savoury & vice versa, the 2 lads that came from Clacton are a nightmare to get to eat healthy food, I think because their mum was fed exclusively on cheese & wafer thin ham, I cringed inwardly when I collected them & their former owner was pushing that muck through the bars for them


Hmmm cheese and ham, very balanced diet that. I have some nutella in (well obviously with kids in the house ) so I will give her a go with that, anything that will get her appetite back will be good.


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## simplysardonic (Sep 1, 2009)

thedogsmother said:


> Hmmm cheese and ham, very balanced diet that. I have some nutella in (well obviously with kids in the house ) so I will give her a go with that, anything that will get her appetite back will be good.


My first ever rat, believe it or not, didn't like chocolate
He used to sleep with it & it would melt all over him


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## thedogsmother (Aug 28, 2008)

simplysardonic said:


> My first ever rat, believe it or not, didn't like chocolate
> He used to sleep with it & it would melt all over him


Non of mine do, having said that Ive only ever offered them dog chocolates, I was told that chocolate is a poison, even to people, although its such a weak form of that poison that its not likely to cause any harm, even so I never wanted to risk them with it (over protective mother alert :blush


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## simplysardonic (Sep 1, 2009)

thedogsmother said:


> Non of mine do, having said that Ive only ever offered them dog chocolates, I was told that chocolate is a poison, even to people, although its such a weak form of that poison that its not likely to cause any harm, even so I never wanted to risk them with it (over protective mother alert :blush


I don't any more, back then I didn't know better 
they go mental for those rat chocolate drops though


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## manic rose (Mar 12, 2011)

huge hugs to Itsy. hope she pulls through ok. is cookie still in with her?


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## thedogsmother (Aug 28, 2008)

manic rose said:


> huge hugs to Itsy. hope she pulls through ok. is cookie still in with her?


Thanks hun, yeah Cookie is looking after her, Itsy is still very subdued today, Im going to give her some metacam again in a minute so hopefully it will do the trick and help her to feel happier.


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## thedogsmother (Aug 28, 2008)

Well Itsy is looking a lot better today, shes got that sparkle back and is playing with Cookie. She looks much more like her old self so hopfully the panting and lethargy was because of the heat.


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