Question about Mammary Tumor

"Pipeline" is my 1.5 year old female mouse, who today I realized has a
mammary tumor. At least I'm pretty sure as it is round and right under her
left armpit.

Poor Pipe is living on borrowed time as it is, because last fall she had a
stroke, and for several days walked in circles with her head upside down,
and really could barely move. I literally had to feed her and give her
water every couple of hours for a few days - she was that bad off. She has
recovered remarkably well but has neurological symptoms as her whole body
shakes when she walks - even when she "runs" on the wheel. I don't think
she sees well either.

What I am saying is, I wouldn't think she would be a good candidate for
surgery given her age and health history. Am I right? I am just wondering
how I should handle this - would a vet visit do her any good, other than
completely stressing her out? (She HATES, and has always hated the scent of
humans and gets super stressed when being held). Is there any chance she's
in pain? The tumor is the size of a small marble. I am assuming from what
I know about rats, that this tumor will just keep growing and growing. How
do I handle this in an aging, fragile mouse??

Thanks.
Meghan

I'll probably get cussed out by somebody for this, but here is my completely
honest, and in no way professional opinion:
Either go to a vet and pay to have her put to sleep if she seems to be in
pain, or, let her live out her life, and do what you can to make her
comfortable.
Unless you happen to be taking the injectable form of morphine for some
reason and are willing to skip a dose for her. If that's the case, skip the
vet.
I've only had one mouse who developed a tumor, but I basicly paid a vet a
bunch of money to be told that they couldn't do anything, and then more
money so that they could hand me a little white cardboard box, and send me a
sympathy card a week later, with Saki's name misspelled.
Murri

"Meghan" <meghan112rats DeleteThis @ncia.net> wrote in message
news:kZL_d.32$b_5.4471@newshog.newsread.com...
> "Pipeline" is my 1.5 year old female mouse, who today I realized has a
> mammary tumor. At least I'm pretty sure as it is round and right under
> her
> left armpit.
>
> Poor Pipe is living on borrowed time as it is, because last fall she had a
> stroke, and for several days walked in circles with her head upside down,
> and really could barely move. I literally had to feed her and give her
> water every couple of hours for a few days - she was that bad off. She
> has
> recovered remarkably well but has neurological symptoms as her whole body
> shakes when she walks - even when she "runs" on the wheel. I don't think
> she sees well either.
>
> What I am saying is, I wouldn't think she would be a good candidate for
> surgery given her age and health history. Am I right? I am just
> wondering
> how I should handle this - would a vet visit do her any good, other than
> completely stressing her out? (She HATES, and has always hated the scent
> of
> humans and gets super stressed when being held). Is there any chance
> she's
> in pain? The tumor is the size of a small marble. I am assuming from
> what
> I know about rats, that this tumor will just keep growing and growing.
> How
> do I handle this in an aging, fragile mouse??
>
> Thanks.
> Meghan
>
>