Male rat with tumor; let it go or put him down?

Question

I have two male rats that I got from a rescue about a year ago. They were siblings from a litter that was born from two other rats that a guy got at a pet store.I've had them for about a year now and they are about 1 and a half years old. One of them has a soft, kind of large lump on his belly right next to his hind leg. It seems about as big as two grapes put together. I just noticed it today. I'm not going to lie, I really don't pay much attention to them any more, but watching him, he seems to be moving around just fine and is playing with his brother as usual. I don't know if it will get any larger, but it seems to have come on in the last month. I'm afraid to take him to the vet because I've never taken either of them there before, plus I don't have the money to have it removed, and probably not even any to have him put down. Once again, he has a fine appetite and is moving around like normal. What should I do?

Answer 1

I WOULD BUT HIM DOWN, DONT MAKE HIM SUFFER  AND EVEN THO HE IS MOVING FINE IT DOSENT MEAN HE ISNT HURTING                              

                  sorry bout caps left it on sorry :)

Answer 2

my friend had to put hers down cuz she was in so much pain i think it would be best to put him down...

Answer 3

No!! just because they have a tumor DOES NOT mean you should put them down. atleast wait till he starts to be affected by them. my late rat had tumors but it took 6months?? for them to actually interfer with her life. when i was forced to put her down it only cost 15 dollars and i go to a really expensive vet once he start being affected deffinatly go to a vet. and if your not giving them attention maybe find a new home. rats thrive on human attention and need to be out of there cage for atleast 15 minute prefferably 1 hour!!!

Answer 4

take it to the vet see wat they can do.

Answer 5

love him while u got him let him die natrally make his days fruitfull

Answer 6

since he seems fine, ask your vet if it will affect him at all, and if it won't like it seems, let him be.  If it doesn't bother him, it is better to let him live, also seeing that if you had him put down his brother would bbe very lonely.  If they've been together forever and play and eat together, the brother would get very depressed by losing his broother, and he could die too!

Answer 7

I wouldn't let him suffer i'd put him down h**l be with his bro agian im sorry for you'r loss i recently had a chorkie get hit by a car and she was put down

i 'm sorrry

Answer 8

You better leave him alone for the time being. Depending on the type of tumor, it might keep growing, or it might slow down once at a certain size. The placement is a bit unfortunate. I imagine it gets rubbed on the floor as he moves around? That might get pretty painful if it does get larger, but for now, let him be. Since he is still acting like his normal self, it can't be that bad for him. Only euthanize when you know his life quality is not what it used to be, and he is constantly suffering.

But, there is a possibility is is a abscess, not a tumor. I sggest you take him to a vet for analysis, but if not, read up yourself and try to distinguish it as best you can.

tumors: http://www.rmca.org/Articles/tumors.htm

abscess: http://ratguide.com/health/integumentary...

The other thing, please start paying mroe attention to them. I appriciate your honesty, but these are your pets. They are like babies, they will die without you. They need you to live. And especially if one dies, and the single one is left alone. He will need a few good hours of socialization with you every day!

Answer 9

see if its malignant,if it is,euthanize him

Answer 10

As long as it is not affecting his movement or appetite, then just leave it alone for now.

You do want to start saving up for a future vet visit, though. If/when the tumor increases to the point it steals too much nutrients from him, causing him to lose weight, and restricts his movement.....he'll need to be humanely euthanized.

Answer 11

My Shin Chan had something like this, but on his neck. I thought for sure it was a tumor. But he was in no pain. And everything I looked up online said the ratties are in pain when they have tumors. So I was just figuring to let him live till he was in pain then put him down.

BUT.... one day I was trimming his nails and the "tumor" exploded on me!!! Ewwww right? Yes, it was nasty and it smelled foul. In fact, at first I thought he had farted! But it was this greenish brown pus coming from the  supposed "tumor". Anyway, it ended up being a cyst and he got some baytril from my exotic vet and he's fine now.

So don't just kill him off, he might have a cyst or abscess.

Good luck.