About Shadow and Bandit

Question
Hi again. My dad wants to know if there's any way we could just get the antibiotics without seeing the vet, because he says it costs too much to see the vet. I told him I wanted to take money that he was going to spend on me for my birthday and use that, but he says we still won't have enough.

Answer

If you have never seen the vet with the rat, the vet legally cannot prescribe anything without an established Doctor-patient relationship first.  Laws vary per state but they are pretty much the same no matter where you go.  This is of course to prevent lawsuits. The vet will need to know what is wrong first, how much the rat weighs in order to know the proper dose of medicine and of course the vet needs to also know what is wrong with the rat first before prescribing, even if we are sure its a respiratory infection or ear infection etc....it can be frustrating for rat owners but laws are made to protect both the patient/client and the vet as well.