giving medical instructions

Question
Hi Sandra

Before choosing whose brain I wanted to pick (as per what expert I wanted to choose, that is) I did some extensive reading on here and you won hands down. Now I am not sure what makes someone an expert on rats, but if there ever were such a title, the crown would go to you.
which leads me to the next question or series of questions.
I notice you give out a bit of medical advice, guiding people to give their rats over the counter medication or use the medicine they have at home. One of your answers has you asking someone if they have human grade antibiotics at home. I am not trying to corner you or put you on the spot, but I wanted to ask you at what point during contact with these rat owners do you feel it is justified to advise someone to give their rat medication, human grade or otherwise?
I know you can refuse to answer any of my questions and veto this message entirely, and I truly am sincere and do not mean to stir up controversy. I would ask any other so called expert on here but I chose you because of the fact you seem to be the busiest person on here.
Also, I have rats of my own and have a vet that takes good care of them and most of the treatments you suggest would be the same thing he does so I can tell you know your business and know it well. again, no trouble is meant to be caused, just honest questions to put an unsettled mind at ease.  

Answer
Hi Roger

No problems answering your questions and no, I do not see where you think anyone would assume your stirring trouble. I see a concerned rat owner that has observed someone who is not a vet giving advice to rat keepers and your simply asking me to justify some of my answers, which I will do with no problem at all.
For starters, there was a post a while back where someone wrote about a rat that had a pretty nasty infection going on in his foot and it sounded as though the infection was spreading to the bone, which can be deadly. The rat also displayed some necrotic tissue and also there was blood tinged pus that was draining, indicating infection. I suggested a Vet right away and was told that a vet was NOT an option. I cant force people to take their rats to the vet no matter how passionate I am about it. If I preach to someone how important it is to provide proper medical treatment for their rat and if they cannot afford to pay the bill, they should not have pets in the first place, they would probably just move on to the next person for advice...until they finally found someone that would help, and that may take too long and waste precious time that the rat does not have!!

I have seen signs at a Vet clinic that ways "If you cant pay for a Vet, don't get the pet!" While I support this 110% there are people that just will not, could not, should not take their rat to the vet, no matter the reason, and yes, his life is in jeopardy.
In my situation though, I am sitting here on a computer chair, possibly thousands of miles away from this rat and his owner and knowing this rat was in danger for his life, I could not just let it go.

I evaluated the entire situation and concluded that this rat would end up going into septic shock and dying if he got any worse. Since a vet was not an option and this person came to me for help, I simply did for her what a vet would do had the rat been taken in to be seen. Oral antibiotics and antibiotic ointment applied topically would be the obvious treatment and because she had medication on hand, I simply calculated the dose according to the rats weight and told her how to do it. Same thing the vet would do and probably the same medication or class of medications. If I did not make any suggestions, that rat would have probably died
from infection.
The other medical advice I give is simply normal protocol from what would occur when the rat goes to the vet and these instructions can be printed and brought in with the rat and his owner and presented to a vet that is a total novice when it comes to rat care. This is nothing new for me to do. I write rat care brochures and also have spoken to many vets on the telephone about various treatments for specific ailments. Sometimes a person will go to the vet and ask about a certain treatment for, say, a mammary tumor on a female rat.  The Vet may not be real up to par with rat care and has never heard of hormone injections using lupron so therefore he may contact me for more information about the drug, its side effects, the dose used and what to expect from it etc... or they can call the vet directly, but since the vets are so busy, I am easily obtained for situations for this.  Its what I "do" and never have I been shown any disrespect for it nor have I been told I am wrong. I do not treat rats medically in any way in "real life" except my own and 90 of the time I am following the INSTRUCTION of my rats Vet. If I take it upon myself to start to medicate my rats with medications that I have on hand at home that have not expired, I know enough NOT to do it if the rat needs any type of culture (s) since the readings may be false negatives etc... but if its for an emergency situation such as respiratory problems, it is better to get ahead of it if they should show signs of illness on a late Saturday night rather than let it go for another 48 hours waiting for the weekday to come so I can bring them in.  My vet knows that I am responsible enough to make the right decision.

Anyhow, I feel that I have justified myself enough at this point.  Hope this has put your mind at ease.

Have a nice day


regards

Sandy