Old Rat

[sheepFTW v2]

My rat Alice has had a large tumour on her side for over 6 months now. She has been the the vets and said that removing it was too risky considering how old she is and gave a very helpful "see how she goes". She has been "fine" up untill now. She is now around 2 years and 7 months old. She has been gradually loosing weight and has been having issues cleaning herself.

I had been giving her pieces of pasta as an enhancment to her diet to help keep her teeth down as she no longer seemed all that fussed about the block food the other 2 eat. Several days ago she seemed to lose all interest in this as well and seemed unable to eat. I would give her the food, she would not take the food in her mouth but would wait until i put it on the floor of the cage when she would then pick it up and bring it to her mouth but not eat it. This behaviour has been worrying me. She also seems to no longer get up out of where she sleeps to go to the toilet so her stomach looks sore and dirty.

So I decided to take her out of the cage with the other rats and put her into the smaller cage that I have so I can keep a better eye on her and help keep her clean. My mum suggested giving her something softer to eat so I gave her a slice of apple which she did eat. I assumed she was just getting to that point where she was ready to go. Today someone suggested she might not be eating due to having lost her teeth, which is not something I had thought about. So I had a look and she seems to have broken her bottom incisors. Also recently I had thought her face looked slightly odd and when i was looking at her teeth I also found that this was because she has a large red lump on her bottom jaw, which I hadn't noticed before because of her being increasinly hard to handle.

I really don't know what to do with her, I think the lump is likely some kind of abscess. Any advice on what I should do would be greatly appreciated.  

[Cowgirl-with-heart]

well,for food I would suggest some baby food,IDK if there is a specific kind,but I would be sure to try to get a kind with a variety,not all banana not all peas and so forth,you could try her on that and see if she improves (you could also add some water into the food to make sure she stays hydrated) if not it might be time to let the poor dear go,as sad as the thought is (I was in fact facing that,and got things ready just in case,but my girl got better) you can look up how to make a Co2 chamber if you want to do it at home,its cheaper and generally more suggested,here is an article about putting them down,it will tell you how to make a Co2 chamber,BUT the pics dont work,for me at least,if you are uncomfortable doing it on your own,there is also a list of tips in what to look for when having a vet do it,best of luck for the old gal,and please keep us updated!