Monthly Archives: March 2016

Cancer in rats

Meet Nigel, a 2 year old male rats whose owners noticed that he had one testicle bigger than the other. After trialing some pain relief it was decided that castration would be the best treatment for him. Lucky we did as it turned out to be a cancer!

Both male and female rats can get reproductive tumors and in females they can get mammary tumours as well.

If you have a rat and would like to talk about desexing as a cancer prevention or any general health issues please call the clinic on 4655 0798.

Nigel is such a great rat and we wish him a speedy recovery.

Female rabbits

Female rabbits at very prone to developing uterine cancer. By the age of 4yrs old, 80% of female bunnies will develop uterine adenocarcinomas (a type of cancer).

The picture below is from a rabbit we desexed yesterday, there were no clinical signs but the owners were advised that desexing would be a sensible option given her age. Lucky we did!! As you can appreciate the uterine horns are lumpy and dark red - these are a combination of cysts and tumours. We have included a normal reproductive tract for comparison.

Clinical signs may become apparent in the later stages and can include haematuria (blood in urine), bloody discharge from the vulva, cystic mastitis and some times increased aggressiveness. This tumour does spread to the lungs if not caught early enough.

This bunny will be closely monitored for any respiratory signs and will have regular chest X-rays to check for any signs of cancer.

If you are worried about your bunny, please call the clinic and book a consult with one of our vets today.