poor rat and expensive vets

purpurpurea · #1 (**permalink**) 13-02-2008, 04:04 PM

We were supposed to have baby rats by now, our female was due last night she went in to labour and we thought she would lay overnight, no luck so booked a vet appointment and took her down there, the vet told me that they would keep her in for observation overnight and that they would induce her and that we have probably lost the babies.

I explained to the vet that being a students we dont have much money and I asked for an approximate total, vet told me £50 for everything... just got a call from my OH saying that the vets have done an x-ray that costs £50 by itself and asked weather we would like to wait 24 hours to see if her being induced does anything or should they just operate on her, needless to say we took the wait 24 hours route.

Sorry for the rant it just makes me mad that the vet says one thing after being told that we are tight on funds and goes ahead with a flipping £50 X-RAY grrrr vets make me sooooo annoyed when they don't listen.

saxon · #2 (**permalink**) 13-02-2008, 09:43 PM

How do you mean in labour??
Was she actually trying to push??
Was there any blood or discharge??
I think sometimes the vets are too quick to interfere.

That's rather expensive for an x-ray as well. I only pay £35 to x-ray a giant breed dog. I'm not so sure he can charge you if you didn't give permission for the x-ray I'd look into that!!!!
Also the PDSA may help if you get in toch with them. They have a website and they do deal with private vets sometimes.

I hope your little rat is ok.

purpurpurea · #3 (**permalink**) 13-02-2008, 11:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by saxon

How do you mean in labour??
Was she actually trying to push??
Was there any blood or discharge??

I hope your little rat is ok.

Yes she was trying to push, and there was a bloody discharge.

Called the vets earlier to check up on her and the x-ray was to find out if there was any thing in her birth canal, if there had of been they would have operated with out asking us. They have given her something to induce the birth but if they dont come out by tomorrow afternoon they will operate on her its that or have her put to sleep, which is something i really dont want to do.

Im going to look about for a different vets as the total so far without the possible operation is £82.65 the operation will cost approx £60.00.

Thanks for the support I will keep you posted on her progress

Grumpymouth · #4 (**permalink**) 14-02-2008, 01:30 PM

Ah, I know what you mean. For some reason it seems that little creatures are as expensive to treat as larger ones, it must be because the vet has to be more delicate as they are small and this takes more time. It's heartbreaking as you want to do all you can for them but realistically money only goes so far when you've got other expenses. Just remember that you're doing the best you can and that's all you can do. I hope the babies survived, and that momma rat gets better soon

purpurpurea · #5 (**permalink**) 14-02-2008, 04:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grumpymouth

Ah, I know what you mean. For some reason it seems that little creatures are as expensive to treat as larger ones, it must be because the vet has to be more delicate as they are small and this takes more time. It's heartbreaking as you want to do all you can for them but realistically money only goes so far when you've got other expenses. Just remember that you're doing the best you can and that's all you can do. I hope the babies survived, and that momma rat gets better soon

Thank you, she still hasn't given birth but has livened up a lot since yesterday so the vet let us bring her home, fingers and toes crossed that she has them and they are all ok we are keeping a close eye on her

Her total bill is £90.34

but they let us split it up so when we next get paid they will have the £54 for the x-ray.

We think that the cat may have scared her, and that is what caused this, not particularly happy with the cat right now.

Grumpymouth · #6 (**permalink**) 14-02-2008, 04:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by purpurpurea

Thank you, she still hasn't given birth but has livened up a lot since yesterday so the vet let us bring her home, fingers and toes crossed that she has them and they are all ok we are keeping a close eye on her

Her total bill is £90.34

but they let us split it up so when we next get paid they will have the £54 for the x-ray.

We think that the cat may have scared her, and that is what caused this, not particularly happy with the cat right now.

I'm glad she's feeling better and hopefully all will be well when the pups are born

. That was good of the vet to let you split the cost until next time, though that does seem pretty steep. What we do for our babies, eh?

What really ticks me off is that no 'pet' insurance will cover rats, they are classed as a 'liability' as they live for a relatively short time and are prone to illness and cancers (thanks very much, science, for breeding them for testing purposes and thus creating the predisposition to tumours!). Sorry I was ranting but that gets to me. I really hope mum and babies are doing well!!

purpurpurea · #7 (**permalink**) 14-02-2008, 06:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grumpymouth

What really ticks me off is that no 'pet' insurance will cover rats, they are classed as a 'liability' as they live for a relatively short time and are prone to illness and cancers (thanks very much, science, for breeding them for testing purposes and thus creating the predisposition to tumours!). Sorry I was ranting but that gets to me. I really hope mum and babies are doing well!!

I didnt know that rats cannot be covered by pet insurance.... mum is giving birth as I type unfortunately they have all been dead so far

but at least the mum is well

slither61 · #8 (**permalink**) 16-02-2008, 02:07 AM

Hi all,

When you take on any animal you have a responsibility and part of that is vets bills.

We have just had our two male Rats put to sleep they had pneumonia we had an appointment for the following day but late evening they started to gasp for breath we had to call the vet out they were put to sleep.

It cost us £118 for call out and putting to sleep and 4 days earlier £42 for consultation and antibiotics.

Some people may say they were only Rats I would even say some members on here would have killed them and fed them to their snakes.

To me a pet is a pet wether it is a rat dog or horse they would get the same treatment.

I know we may grumble at the prices but we took the animals on.

slither61

slither61 · #9 (**permalink**) 16-02-2008, 02:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by purpurpurea

I didnt know that rats cannot be covered by pet insurance.... mum is giving birth as I type unfortunately they have all been dead so far

but at least the mum is well

Hi all,

I did not know rats could not be insured.

I do know a lot of insurances do not cover animals when welping or giving birth.

My German Sheperd is insured by avery good policy, but they have stopped doing that policy now, but my bitch is not covered for welping problems before yes and after with puppies yes..

Thats why for snakes they are not covered eg eggbinding I just put money away in an account for vets bills.

slither61

purpurpurea · #10 (**permalink**) 16-02-2008, 01:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slither61

Hi all,

When you take on any animal you have a responsibility and part of that is vets bills.

We have just had our two male Rats put to sleep they had pneumonia we had an appointment for the following day but late evening they started to gasp for breath we had to call the vet out they were put to sleep.

It cost us £118 for call out and putting to sleep and 4 days earlier £42 for consultation and antibiotics.

Some people may say they were only Rats I would even say some members on here would have killed them and fed them to their snakes.

To me a pet is a pet wether it is a rat dog or horse they would get the same treatment.

I know we may grumble at the prices but we took the animals on.

slither61

Quote:

Originally Posted by slither61

Hi all,

Thats why for snakes they are not covered eg eggbinding I just put money away in an account for vets bills.

slither61

Im sorry to hear about the loss of your rats

I agree a pet is a pet and you have to care for it no matter how much it may cost, the babies that will become snake food are never named makes it easier for me to remain detached.

My OH was worried about the possible cost of an operation on the rat (thankfully it didnt come to that) all because his friends dog had to have an operation on its leg and that cost them £200.
My OH keeps putting off getting the snakes insured

... im trying to get a fund together for future costs, didnt think a little rat could be so expensive and with an egg bound royal, and a GTP in our small collection we had better get saving and quick.

Thank you for the advice slither61, and thanks to everyone who posted kind words

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