while always making sure you have a vet lined up before you need them is a good idea not everyone thinks about it. i remember when i first got my very first rat. looking back on what i did and didn't do compared to what i've learned since and i cringe. it wasn't until after i couldn;t afford treatment for Pocket that i started routinely setting aside money for the vet. adn even now i'm not completely happy with the vet i have and am still on the market for a better one. but i also don't run to the vet over one isolated sneeze either or every little lump or cut. there is a lot that can be done at home first that the vet will tell you to do anyway. like monitoring the sneezes to make sure it an illness and not evironmental and watching a lump and using warm compresses to check to see if its merely an abcess. also watching their weight and habits to see if it change to indicate if the lump is cancerous or not.
and though everyone says to check if there is a payment plan in my experience very seldom will the vet actually let you do it. i've asked about it myself and was refused because i was too new to clinic and because they don't normally allow it (they probably also had less professional reasons as well but i can't prove them so i won't mention them).
in sum a lot of the owners here are new and just getting their feet wet in rat care. many of them are young and don't have the funds for it. getting into rats seems to be mainly an impluse rather then a well thought out and researched decision for most people. no one really thinks that the vet bill for a rat can actually cost over $100 in one sitting and over $1000 in only a few weeks. its just not something people think about when they get the "cheap" pet.
its can also be very difficult to find a vet that has had experience with rats, other then putting them to sleep. when i was looking around for a new vet when my current at the time was on vacation and i needed one i came across A LOT of vets that said if i wanted to put the animal down they could do that but nothing else. they didn't know what do it for them and weren't willing to learn. we have a lot of vets in my area to but so far only 3 of them will look at a rat for treatment and not just to kill it. its great that in your area that's not the case but its not the same everywhere. i'm sure it can be even worse in more rural or less populated areas (and my area isn't all that big either).
the judgement for some may be poor and the situations not ideal but they do what they can with what they have for the most part anyway. you have to keep in mind that we're all learning. it doesn't matter if we've had rats for a week or 20 years there is always something more to learn and a another way of doing things.
and though everyone says to check if there is a payment plan in my experience very seldom will the vet actually let you do it. i've asked about it myself and was refused because i was too new to clinic and because they don't normally allow it (they probably also had less professional reasons as well but i can't prove them so i won't mention them).
in sum a lot of the owners here are new and just getting their feet wet in rat care. many of them are young and don't have the funds for it. getting into rats seems to be mainly an impluse rather then a well thought out and researched decision for most people. no one really thinks that the vet bill for a rat can actually cost over $100 in one sitting and over $1000 in only a few weeks. its just not something people think about when they get the "cheap" pet.
its can also be very difficult to find a vet that has had experience with rats, other then putting them to sleep. when i was looking around for a new vet when my current at the time was on vacation and i needed one i came across A LOT of vets that said if i wanted to put the animal down they could do that but nothing else. they didn't know what do it for them and weren't willing to learn. we have a lot of vets in my area to but so far only 3 of them will look at a rat for treatment and not just to kill it. its great that in your area that's not the case but its not the same everywhere. i'm sure it can be even worse in more rural or less populated areas (and my area isn't all that big either).
the judgement for some may be poor and the situations not ideal but they do what they can with what they have for the most part anyway. you have to keep in mind that we're all learning. it doesn't matter if we've had rats for a week or 20 years there is always something more to learn and a another way of doing things.
