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skigod377 wrote:
I hope the vet can just remove it. If its benign they will probably just tell you to leave it be. Its not as big as all that… I cant even see it in the picture. 🙂
Well I havnt taken a picture of the tumor- those are just general pictures of him. I cant look at it long enough to take a photo, I start to freak out. But thank you. 🙂
ddvm wrote:It may be a benign tumor known as a mammary gland fibroadenoma. Even male rats get them – they are extremely common. In spite of the fact they tend to be benign it should be removed – they will often keep growing until they are half the size of the rat. I’ve seen rats with tumors so large their foot on that side couldn’t reach the ground!
The other possibility would be an abscess, usually from a bite but they don’t look as if they fight.
I love rats. Two of my favorite pets were hooded brothers – Hope and Cosby. I had their mom and she had a litter of two. So I handled them from the time they left the nest – they were great rats!
If your vet isn’t comfortable handling rats or doing surgery on one you might ask for a recommendation for one that is – or ask the rescue lady.
I hope its one of those big beign tumors. I had both my rats fixed when they were old enough by a doctor that was recommended to me by the rescue lady, so I’m going to go over there. He knows how to handle them, she takes all her rats there. Its a long drive but I dont want a vet touching them who dosnt know what they are doing or is afraid of them.
Thanks you guys for all the kind words, hes going to be heading off the vet here pretty soon, I’m keeping my fingers crossed and I’ll let you all know.
Ddvm and Barrdwing are right. Many small animals can get benign tumors. Make sute you get a vet that is comfortable with rats. It’s a good idea to have a vet that does exotics.
I know with Sugar Gliders and Hedgehogs, my regular vet doesn’t really fool with them. So I have a special vet that takes care of my special pets.
Some small animals will pick at their surgical wounds, it is a good idea to have an Elizabethan collar for your pet ready to go and be comfortable putting it on, before you have surgical proceedures.
Here is a link on how to make an e collar for a rat. E collars can save your pets life after a surgery…many of these small non domesticated exotics will chew their wounds back open. Not to scare you…but having one is a great resource.
http://www.ratballs.com/RatTails/Tails084.html
Good luck, best wishes and I hope your little guy does well.
Well wishes to Nibs, and personal wishes that Alberta would allow us to have pet rats instead of sending in the Rat SWAT to obliterate them!!! 😯 All good to keep the problem ones out but even the pet’s that are spayed/neutered? 😕
Aw! Nibs is adorable, he reminds me of my hamster, Gracie! I really hope he’s ok! My dog has a large tumor on her side, it’s about the size of a baseball, we took her to the vet and he said it was nothing to be worried about. I know, Rats and Dogs are totally different, but I hope your vet says the same about Nibs!
ddvm is right on the money!
Rats make great pets. It’s sad that they are so prone to this type of illness. It’s hard to find rats with good genetics due to the fact that so many are inbred and some breeding ‘stock’ came from people unwittingly breeding lab test rat offspring.
Also I wanted to really commend you for rescuing/adopting the rats!! I always encourage everyone to try to find the pet they are looking for via adoptions or a responsible breeder before they support pet stores with their money. Most people don’t realize it but there are pets of nearly every species out there that are in need of homes. 🙂
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My art: featherdust.comJennifer wrote:ddvm is right on the money!
Rats make great pets. It’s sad that they are so prone to this type of illness. It’s hard to find rats with good genetics due to the fact that so many are inbred and some breeding ‘stock’ came from people unwittingly breeding lab test rat offspring.
Also I wanted to really commend you for rescuing/adopting the rats!! I always encourage everyone to try to find the pet they are looking for via adoptions or a responsible breeder before they support pet stores with their money. Most people don’t realize it but there are pets of nearly every species out there that are in need of homes. 🙂
Yeah! Great comment! All of my babies are rescues, except the hedgies. It is much harder to take on exotic rescues or things that some people don’t care for, like rats.
I love rats! And congrats to everyone who adopts a pet! Again, Best of wishes with your baby and they are both adorable rats! Please let us all know how this turns out and so glad you have a vet who is comfortable with your pets!!!!
Perhaps it is an abscess and just needs to be drained. However, if it’s a tumor, Im sure the right vet can take care of it with minimal recovery time for Nibs and good post op meds. You seem to have excellent advice and support here.
Im a spiritual person and have already lit a candle in honor of Nibs. A specific spiritual prayer circle (which encompasses every faith out there, not just my own), has been started for you. This kind of circle weve created reaches thousands of people around the world and isnt just within my own known circle of friends. If you want more of an explanation of exactly what Im talking about, feel free to PM me. Others here that have had ailing or missing pets, already know what Im talking about such as “darjeb” and “eaglefeather.”~ both with happy endings 🙂
Yours will be too. Big hugs to you and respect for mothering a stereotypically “unloved” species.
XoXoGood luck with Dibs, I hope he gets better soon! Regardless of the species a pet is a pet and is deeply loved by it’s human family!
keschete wrote:Ddvm and Barrdwing are right. Many small animals can get benign tumors. Make sute you get a vet that is comfortable with rats. It’s a good idea to have a vet that does exotics.
I know with Sugar Gliders and Hedgehogs, my regular vet doesn’t really fool with them. So I have a special vet that takes care of my special pets.
Some small animals will pick at their surgical wounds, it is a good idea to have an Elizabethan collar for your pet ready to go and be comfortable putting it on, before you have surgical proceedures.
Here is a link on how to make an e collar for a rat. E collars can save your pets life after a surgery…many of these small non domesticated exotics will chew their wounds back open. Not to scare you…but having one is a great resource.
http://www.ratballs.com/RatTails/Tails084.html
Good luck, best wishes and I hope your little guy does well.
Yeah I always make sure to take them someplace that is rat friendly. We’ve been having a hell of a time finding a rat friendly vet that can see him though, everyone is so busy. I finally found one and got an appointment for 5:30pm today so we’ll see how it goes. And thanks for the link! I’ll have to try that!
PhoenixTears wrote:Perhaps it is an abscess and just needs to be drained. However, if it’s a tumor, Im sure the right vet can take care of it with minimal recovery time for Nibs and good post op meds. You seem to have excellent advice and support here.
Im a spiritual person and have already lit a candle in honor of Nibs. A specific spiritual prayer circle (which encompasses every faith out there, not just my own), has been started for you. This kind of circle weve created reaches thousands of people around the world and isnt just within my own known circle of friends. If you want more of an explanation of exactly what Im talking about, feel free to PM me. Others here that have had ailing or missing pets, already know what Im talking about such as “darjeb” and “eaglefeather.”~ both with happy endings Smile
Yours will be too. Big hugs to you and respect for mothering a stereotypically “unloved” species.
XoXoThank you so much, I really appreciate it! So does Nibs! He seems to be doing alright despite the fact that hes carrying this huge thing around. And I would like to hear more about your circle- could you PM me?
Jennifer wrote:ddvm is right on the money!
Rats make great pets. It’s sad that they are so prone to this type of illness. It’s hard to find rats with good genetics due to the fact that so many are inbred and some breeding ‘stock’ came from people unwittingly breeding lab test rat offspring.
Also I wanted to really commend you for rescuing/adopting the rats!! I always encourage everyone to try to find the pet they are looking for via adoptions or a responsible breeder before they support pet stores with their money. Most people don’t realize it but there are pets of nearly every species out there that are in need of homes.
They do make great pets- they are so sweet and social. And I’m glad we adopted him too, I was just scared of buying from pet stores because pet store rats are notoriously unhealthy. I really admire the woman who runs the rescue, its right out of her own home- there was a pet hoarder a while back in the area who had 1300 rats in his studio apartment and this woman took in as many as her place could hold and fixed them and found them homes. The organization is called Rattie Ratz.
Lupin wrote:Well wishes to Nibs, and personal wishes that Alberta would allow us to have pet rats instead of sending in the Rat SWAT to obliterate them!!! All good to keep the problem ones out but even the pet’s that are spayed/neutered?
Wow I had never heard of that before- any idea why they do it?
Jennifer wrote:Also I wanted to really commend you for rescuing/adopting the rats!! I always encourage everyone to try to find the pet they are looking for via adoptions or a responsible breeder before they support pet stores with their money. Most people don’t realize it but there are pets of nearly every species out there that are in need of homes. 🙂Mos def!! Any other pet I get will be a rescue. Too many in the shelters… rats and rabbits, too!
*hugs* Let us know how it goes. I’ve had a few friends with pet rats and was pleasantly surprised at how freindly and smart they were. I hope your guys are ok. 😀
VampireBiscuits wrote:Wow I had never heard of that before- any idea why they do it?
The idea is to keep Rats out of Alberta. We are a Grain producing area and the government wants to keep the ‘pests’ away from that potential food source. To that end we have a ‘Rat SWAT’ that patrols the borders and checks incoming shipments for Rats, and goes to places to exterminate them when called. I think that there is a health concern angle too. This squad was set up eons ago, way before people started to look at rats as pets. I do believe that some labs are allowed to keep rats, with strict security so they dont escape, and I have see rats at pet stores but they must be fixed.
the funny thing is that there are areas of Calgary that have rabbit problems. People have let domestic bunnies loose and they did, well what rabbits do and with few predators and lots of nice gardens and lawns for food, theyve become real pests. The town of Canmore, about an hour from here, has even taken to trapping and putting down the bunnies. They have a real problem because the bunnies are attracting wild coyotes.
So the definition of pest depends on your point of view
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