Why are rats always sick? Where are the vets?

Question
Why do rats get sick so much? I love them as pets, and my wife and I have a great set up for them with their own room and all but they are always sick usually by the time they turn 1 years old and older. It is sad when they die and there are so many vets that are clueless about what they need to be well. I have been reading all of your answers on here and I have never known anyone to know all of the things you know about these rats yet your not a vet. Rat owners need about 1000 more of you but you need to be a vet. lol
Why are there no vets out there for our rats?


Answer
I am sorry about your rats having problems,unfortunately, our rats are prone to such things as tumors and mycoplasmosis, kidney and heart disease too.  There is no real blame to place really unless we want to point a finger at specifics such as diet (high protein causes kidney disease) weight (obesity can contribute to heart disease) and of course, mycoplasmosis is something all rodents carry and are born with and unless they have a super immune system, they will see some kind of flare up during their life time. Proper husbandry, good diet and overall proper care of the rat may help ward off an attack, but it is still not a guarantee. If the rat is born with a less than healthy immune system, such as feeder rats and poorly bred rats in general are, it is inevitable they will become sick. Tumors are estrogen fueled in most cases especially in females and aggression can be blamed for higher than normal testosterone levels in males. Happily though, I can say that the more vets take an interest in exotics, the more we learn about our rats and their care and the healthier they become. Its impossible to stop buying rats from pet stores but more and more people are breeding rats "properly" by knowing their history and genetics and not just putting one rat with another and letting them mate. Proper breeding assures a healthier rat with a more even temperament. However, that doesn't resolve the mass amounts of feeder rats out there at pet stores being sold as pets left and right and being bred by people that do not realize what they are doing and thus in turn creates more sick rats. Its a no end situation unless we STOP buying rats from pet stores. Many people are doing just that since more and more reputable breeders are popping up everywhere. Maybe some day they will stop selling pet store rats and shelters will no longer be crammed with unwanted rodents that are euthanized, sadly. The insanity has to stop.
Good news is more vets are taking interest in exotics mainly because there are so many traditional vets already out there and to be honest, there is more of a demand for specialists now. People are willing (for the most part) to go to the ends of the earth for their dogs and cats and even the non traditional pets such as reptiles, birds and small mammals too. The traditional vet needs a few more years of schooling to qualify to take specialty boards in exotics or other expertise. Too many vets say that they are small animal vets but rat owner BEWARE, the title SMALL ANIMAL VET pertains to a regular vet, but it leads us to think they mean "small animal" as in rat, ferret, mouse etc...but in the world of veterinary medicine it simply stands for traditional house pet such as dog or cat. Some vets have a "special interest" in rodents/exotics, but this does not mean in any way that they have the additional education to call themselves an exotic vet, so people need to realize this. If more people went to an exotic vet for rat care, the rats would possibly have a better chance at recovering, but sadly, there are just not enough vets with this specialty and some states have just a few exotic vets and believe it or not, a few states have NONE! I drive 45 minutes (in traffic) for my exotic vet but its worth it.

Anyhow, there you have it, my so called "humble opinion" on why rats get sick....

If you need a breeder in your area or a vet, please allow me to help find someone.  

regards

Sandy