Tumor on stomach. Need an opinion

[Amityphotos]

There is a little ball on my rabbit's stomach, the Vet later said it was small and considered it pea-size. I read a couple horror stories online, then called the vet immediately.

Well, I just got home from the appointment. A little confused at the whole situation. First, they went right into talking about surgery. They said my rabbit probably won't stay still for the needle/biopsy & since we would have to use anesthesia, we may as well cut it off at the same time. 'The Bun' is 8 1/2, happy, and normal as can be right now- I know he is pretty old for a successful surgery.

After I brought up that I know it is pretty risky, the vet agreed, and said that we can hold off see if the growth gets much bigger- she then said that it has room to grow.

I agreed to 'wait' and then the assistant came in with the rundown of costs for the surgery. Not TOO bad, but the risk is pretty great, plus if the tumor is 'bad' (as they put it)- it could be too late already.

I don't know where to go from here. Do I chance just 'keeping an eye on it?'

I just had my little girl- Dimi - pass about 6 weeks ago after going through tons of medications and vet appointments without knowing what was truly wrong with her.

 

[ladysown]

is it a tumor or is it an abscess? rabbits with abscesses handle the cleaning of them rather well without anesthetic.

BUT a tumor... I don't know. If it's cancer the long term prognosis is not good so you may wish to consider what you want to do financially with your bunny....

 

[Nancy McClelland]

If it is a tumor, I'd explore removal option for sure.

 

[Bunnylova4eva]

I would definitely start off by just having a FNA (fine needle aspirate) done. They just poke it with a needle and get some cells to look at on the microscope. From that, they can get a pretty good idea as to whether it is cancerous and whatnot. My guess is that that is what they were saying she might not sit still for. I think there should be a way of some sort to restrain her, maybe just stick her in a bunny burrito. It is usually not that hard getting a FNA. In my experience, I have hardly seen an animal (companion animal that is) that needed anesthesia just for a fine needle aspirate.

Then, if it truly is cancer, then I'd look into surgery at that point. Maybe then though they'd also want to do xrays to check for Metastasis; if that were the case and it had spread all over, then you'd probably want to just try and keep the bunny comfortable.
Also, as others mentioned, you want to be sure it is a true tumor, not an abscess.

Is your vet truly rabbit savvy? It's important to have one who sees lot of bunnies on a regular basis and has a lot of experience with them.

 

[woahlookitsme]

I agree with the aspirate! If your vet doesn't feel comfortable determining the cells then I have seen our docs send off slides to a specialist.

 

[Lynslee]

Please checkout the HOUSE RABBIT SOCIETY web page. They list many bunny SAUVY vets "o)

http://rabbit.org/