Vet assistance please

Question
QUESTION: Hello Sandra!

I am just delighted to find this resource, thank you Google! We  are brand new to rat ownership (2 days) with two sweet 7ish week old little boys, litter mates. I don't have any really pressing questions but I have read several times your offer to try and find a GOOD small animal vet in a persons area. We are in the 23452 zip code. I guess my only question is how imperative is it the rats go to a vet and how soon should be their first visit? Thank you for the info on what your vet costs per visit in a previous answer btw, it helps to have a ballpark figure.

Well, one more question since I said I have no real questions... lol. Should we neuter the boys, are their any benefits, and at what age is best if so?

Thank you for being here!

ANSWER: Hi Brandi

Welcome to the world of rats! I love rats both male and female but you did good by choosing males to start with mainly because females are prone to mammary tumors that can only be prevented (about 80 percent) by spaying at a young age, around 3 to 4 months, which is also a pretty invasive procedure.  7 out of 10 intact females will develop at least 1 mammary tumor in their adult life. Males are not exempt from them (they have mammary tissue, minus the nipples) but since high estrogen levels are the reason, its not as common for the males to get them.

Your very responsible to want to secure a vet now before any real ailments pop up and I must say your very lucky because the vet I suggest below is one of the best in your area and has a fantastic facility for exotics, from common ailments to surgery, they have what is needed to accommodate the rat, just like I always say is necessary!!

As for neutering the boys...there are no health benefits at all other than prevention of testicular cancer which is not common in rats and in my opinion, is unnecessary to risk surgery to prevent something that has a slim chance of occurring. Of all the males I have had over the years, only one had a problem and that was a testicular abscess so he just simply was neutered on the spot and that was that.
However, some people just dont like the looks of the back view of an adult male. I dont make it a habit to look so I dont think about the little guys "rug runners" but some people are just funny like that and want them gone. Poor ratties. :(  LOL  Also, as the males age, they tend to grow in a more coarse fur and they lose the very soft baby fine hair a rat has. When a male is neutered, he keeps the softness but it does stunt growth some. My intact males tip the scales at 2lbs and take two of my hands to hold them (I am a petite woman so that doesnt say much) My neutered males that were neutered only due to severe aggression never made it past 1 lb.
Also, males that are intact may mark you with urine at first...they usually outgrow this, but it can bother some people. Again, I say its worth just investing in scent free baby wipes to keep handy to wipe off any dribble rather than put them under anesthesia and spend money on neutering them over dribbles of urine that only truly mean they love you and are marking you as their property!  And...finally, aggression.  Aggression in adult males is not usually seen until the rats hit puberty, around 6  yo 8 months old. At the age  they are now, they may play fight and they may even disturb you enough into thinking they are really fighting because they can get into a rolling ball and really go for it...but keep in mind this is totally normal baby rat behavior. Next minute they will be in a ball sleeping together. If they are bred properly, there should not be true aggression as they get older.  A perfect example of male aggression is my two males I purchased when they were about 4 months old. They not only attacked each other, but they went for me as well and anyone else that tried to handle them.  Once neutered, it took a few weeks for testosterone levels to even out, but after that they were the sweetes little guys ever, but they still had a hint of "tough guy" in them that they could not resist and every once in a while they would have a shoving match over something silly, perhaps a treat...who knows.  LOL
So I guess to sum it up is NO, you should not neuter your males just because of a few things that they do by nature, but the choice is yours if you think you will have issues with anything I mentioned above.  Anesthesia carries a risk, as well as recovery from the surgery itself. It can be painful and there are some risks such as testicular abscesses or infection in the surgical site despite the skill of the surgeon, so there are risks AND depending on the vet, it can be anywhere from $100 per rat to $175 per rat or even higher, but most vets give a discount if its a pair or rats.

Be sure to check out my website about rat care. The link is on my profile here or if you want just go here:

http://www.freewebs.com/crittercity/allaboutratcare.htm

Next thing you asked is how soon should you see a vet?
If you have the funds, I would call and make an appointment now and bring in their stool samples to check for internal parasites just to be safe.  Where did you purchase the rats from, btw?
Anyhow, if you can, I would go soon just to get a feel for the vet and take a tour of the clinic too.Also, be sure you ask about after hour emergency care too, which unfortunately is sometimes needed. They also sell regal rat food which is TOP NOTCH and low in protein and fats but it is only to be for rats 4 months and older unless that has changed.
Hope this helps you and again, welcome to the world of rats! They are the best little pets anyone can ever own!  Keep me posted on the vet visit if you should decide to make an appointment for a simple exam and stool check.    I want to know what you think of the facility!

Dr. Peter Fisher
Pet Care Veterinary Hospital    
5201-A Virginia Beach Blvd
Virginia Beach VA 23462
Phone:    757-473-0111
Website: www.petcarevabeach.com

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Well, I'm very grateful and absolutely gutted to say I really need this vet information now. First, let me say they already have an appointment as I type but second, the super sweet one, Garu, was injured this morning.

I was carrying them both on my shoulders while getting breakfast for my sons when my youngest started choking on a banana. I quickly leaned over to help him and unfortunately Garu went flying. He has since been favoring his right back leg and squeaks a lot when moved. He wants to be on my neck, for comfort I guess, and is still pooping and eating so I hope that it's not too serious. The vet believes these are good signs too but they cannot get him in until tomorrow afternoon. I feel sick about the whole thing.

Incidentally, we will probably not neuter them, they do not show signs of aggression yet, I practically own stock in baby wipes anyway, and we don't mind the "carpet draggers" I'm surrounded by boys already so what's wrong with a few more! :-)  I will say though that their size ratio is astounding, no wonder they breed so prolifically!  

Answer
Oh no!!  Thats terrible.  

I will make a confession...I do NOT feed my rats anything "gooey" at all, and will warn you in advance NO PEANUT BUTTER!!!! I have sadly watched rats be raced to the clinic while the peanut butter was suffocating them. Sadly, they did not make it. THis has happened several times in my career. I learned from that and made sure never to use it, and at the time I had no need to use it anyhow. Bananas are sticky and gooey...same for gooey noodles etc..I once had a rat choke on a noodle from chicken noodle soup.  They LOVE people food so much that they devour it like maniacs and that scares me (my rats do this, that is) so their diet is pretty boring and if I do give in and give them a scrambled egg, its MUSH by the time they get it. Rats cannot vomit as you may know, so its pretty scary when they get something stuck in their throat.  There are a few things you can do, but its hard to explain on the net and it can hurt the rat so it should be done ONLY when the rat stops breathing
Nice huh?  Just enough to freak you out.
I also dont carry them on my shoulders even though I am just 5 feet tall.  For starters, I have cats, many cats, and these cats would LOVE to "play" with my rats....and if one would slip off it would be like feeding him to the sharks. Accidents happen, such as the rat getting underfoot, stuck behind a door, sat on *yes sadly we have rats brought in with crushing injuries* and one rat bit his owner and her first reaction was to fling the rat away and.....well....nuff said.

I keep my critters safe inside a fenced in play area in their rat room  and I dont even let them roam the room even though its contains two rat cages and a few hermit crab tanks and my bunny rabbit who is up high, because of all the stuff they can get into. Cords to the heaters on the hermit crab tanks, lamp cords, you name it. In fact, a friend of mine that is a member of my forum recently watched his beloved rat bite a cord that was plugged in and he swore he had the cords all out of reach....but he forgot just one, and SCampers found it. Her mouth was burned inside and so was her tongue but luckily, it did not cause heart problems etc...but her face was so swollen she looked like a chipmunk. He and his wife nursed this sweet rat back to health, spoon feeding her cool foods for days, giving her medication for inflammation and pain...and happily she pulled through but this was a total MIRACLE.   Now babies could slip through the play fence I have, so I tell people with babies to get some nice flat cardboard or use flattened cardboard boxes and be clever and fit them together to form a circle. Add some toys like cardboard boxes with holes cut out, another box with rolled up (CLEAN PLEASE! LOL!!) socks with cheerios hidden inside and watch the little buggers dig for them...and of course you can sit in there too and supervise. They cant scale cardboard very well....but they can jump so it should be at least 3 feet tall.  Just an idea in case you dont have a safe play area and nothing is safe for rats really as you have found out.

I would keep the injured rat very still today. Keep him as immobile as you can in case it is a fracture. If you have a single story cage, put him in it so this way he wont have anything to climb like ramps and levels etc... keep food and water low and nearby so he can reach it easily and keep him bored, he will just sleep that way.
How old would you say he was?
Also, if he does have a fracture, dont worry, if needed, the vet can actually place a tiny pin in there to make it stable. I have a cute picture for you if you click this link:


Please keep me posted. I am sure all is well...bumbles bounce, so they say. I assume the banana dislodged over all of this confusion?
Sometimes a rat may have something stuck but its not blocking their airway and they drool and become a bit withdrawn etc...but they work it out in the end...but again, sticky gooey stuff...I avoid it like the plaque for this very reason. I had a rat choke on an english muffin once (it was gooey buttery) he drooled it out eventually but it scared the heck out of me.  NEVER AGAIN!

I am sure he will be ok but it does worry you!!

Sandra