Rat with mammary tumour

[asgm12]

Hi!
My rat has a tumour that is growing fast and only appeared a few days ago. I have had rats previously but never had the tumours irritate the rat. She is licking at it at the teat and it looks red and sore. I am giving her metacam to try reduce any discomfort but with it being bank holiday weekend I can't get her to a vet till Tuesday. Will a saline solution soothe and treat the sore area and is it fair to operate to remove the tumour on a 20month old rat? She is otherwise healthy than this tumour.

All my girl ratties got very lumpy from about 20 months onwards, none of them were irritated though.
Try the saline solution to clean the skin, and stick something like lansinoh over it to protect it from her licking.
Anaesthetic is very risky in small mammals, as I'm sure you know, I'd not want to put her through that, but it's a personal choice.
When you see the vet perhaps ask if a course of antibiotics would be beneficial in case it is an infection from where she's been fussing it.
I hope you can find something to ease her discomfort.

If she's otherwise well then I would consider surgery. I had a tumor removed from an almost 3 year old rat in the past - she had 4 more happy months with us.