Death of my rat during routine surgery

Question
Hello Sandra,
Last week my boyfriend noticed small tumors on two of our female rats (both of them were around 14 months old--the time, I've read, when mammary tumors tend to surface). We immediately took them to our local Exotic Vet, who we have been to before for URIs and therefore trusted them. They recommended both our girls get surgery to remove the tumors while they were still small, and I agreed. I didn't want to see them lose their mobility or health if the tumors got any larger. They went in a few days later for this routine tumor removal surgery. The doctor assured me that since they were both just under the skin (not attached to any arteries), the surgery should be smooth and non-problematic. As I dropped them off the morning of the surgery, I felt uneasy. I asked the girl working there what the risks of anesthesia were (I just had a bad feeling-- I wish so badly I listened to it). She said the clinic hasn't lost any pets due to anesthesia in a few years, and that the surgery would be attended to by a nurse as well as the Doctor in case of complications. I felt satisfied with this and dropped them off. Several hours later I got the call that my beloved rat, Angel, the first one they did surgery on, had died. They said the surgery itself went perfectly, they had stitched her up..then as they were attempting to wake her up, they noticed she had stopped breathing. They tried to revive her with CPR and Epinephrine-- she went into cardiac arrest and they couldn't save her. the thing that bugged me was they said she was probably not breathing for about 10 seconds before they even noticed (who knows how long it was). I couldn't believe it. Angel was my favorite ratty and I am devastated to say the least. Next they did her sister Kim's surgery. They called us afterward. She almost died also, twice, in the same way Angel did-- stopped breathing-- during anesthesia (they used Isoflurane on both of them by the way), but after the surgery itself was over. They had to revive her twice-- thankfully she pulled through and she is recovering at home now. The Doctor said it's extremely rare for this to happen (for them to stop breathing or go into arrest for this routine kind of procedure), and she's rarely seen it before (though I'm not sure how often she works on rats though), so she was very surprised it happened to both of them. The only answer I was given is it was probably a "stress reaction" in both cases. What does this mean?? Is it possible they were negligent in some way, and did not perform the anesthesia or wake-up process correctly? I miss my Angel dearly and I guess I don't like the idea of her waking up, having a "stress reaction", and dying in pain or fear. My hope is that she died while still under and went peacefully. Also, do you recommend I go back to these vets in the future? I have 4 other rats I am sure I will need to treat in the future. Maybe this truly was some weird fluke, I don't know, perhaps I"m over-analyzing the whole ordeal, I'm just trying to make sense of it. Thanks so much for any input.


Answer

I am very sorry for your loss. I hope your heart heals fast.


I really do not like to say this but it seems someone was off a tad on their math. Even being off a tiny bit when calculating dosing these tiny mammals will cause overdose.  Isoflurane is very good, sevoflurane is even better. Sevo is so much better, in fact, that some vets dont like it because they can wake up to fast if not gassed down properly.
Losing one rat is bad enough, but almost two?  Thats a red flag right there.   I have to ask though, is this vet a true certified exotic vet that sees only exotics at the clinic and has all exotic sized instrumentation including the proper monitoring tools etc...to use during surgery, from a heated table to a mini doppler? Doe the vet keep the rats over night after surgery? Did they do pre anesthesia blood testing?
Some vets are not certified in exotics but have what is called a "strong interest" in exotics, which can mislead many rat owners into thinking they have left their rat in the hands of a certified exotic vet that has all the credentials, but thats not the reality.  Please let me know the name of the vet your currently using.  If you go private nobody can read this.  Also I can find another vet if you want because I would not go back there at all, esp if they almost lost two of your rats.  Please let me help you!  This kind of stuff scares me.