Being a good person really has nothing to do with a vet being competent. If you wish to take my post as an insult to your vet then that's your choice. I hope your rat will be ok but if not then perhaps this will be a learning experience. Unfortunately some of us did learn the hard way by losing one before we stopped taking the issue lightly.

i think everyone on this thread needs to take a breather from it.


one you have a sick rat
two you asked advice that opens people up to all kinds of things
three others have went through similar things
four its not an issue to take lightly
five  no one is insulting in my veiw your vet  all vets need to continue their training and stay up to date but you have felt that way so bid
six. if you trust your vet fine  then do what he says  others my self included  have said you neeed to see another but ULTIMATLY  THAT IS YOUR CHOICE


so with this said everybody take a breather and calm down  and keep this place what its for advice and help.

not a yelling match because that does no one good.





sorry off my soap box may not be my place but have managed forums(no more) before and tempers can flair when two people veiws dont match.



BIG DEEP BREATHES AND PRAYERS and healthy  recovery

She was implying that I was taking the situation lightly, which I can tell you I am not. I've been making myself sick the last few days with worry. She was also saying that this would be a learing experience for me, which for someone who has lost some beloved rats, is insulting.
I am going to the best exotics vet in town. I've been too all the other vets that treat exotics, and they almost wound up killing my rats because they didn't know what they were doing. No, I don't know why he doesn't do spays, but I do trust him. He told me straight out that it could be a tumor, but that it could be an infection and he would rather try treating for an infection first. I'm not going to him to save money or anything, he's more expensive than my last vets. And as I've said many times, I could take her to the only vet in town that does spays on rats, but I don't trust him within a mile of my rats. I've heard too many stories about him not knowing much about rats. And it's impossible for me to drive 4 hours to Austin. If I had a job and money I would, but I don't. I am unable to work for health reasons, so I depend on my mom to pay me for doing work around the house.
The only advise I asked to begin with was what could cause the bleeding, so i could run them past my vet. I did, and he said it's one of two tings, a tumor, or an infection. He chose to try the least dangerous treatment first.
I have never taken the health of my rats lightly, nor will I ever. Whenever one has gotten sick I was at the vet immediately.

Believe me, thats one piece of advise I already promised myself. Unless I am better off in the future, and live in a town that has a vet that does spays, I'll only have boys.
I'm not holding my breath, but Buffy does seem to be doing much better. I haven't seen any bleeding for the past few days, not even on her hammocks or liners, and she's eating, drinking, and playing as usual.

Thanks so much for the possitive thoughts, there very appreciated.

Why not ask your vet if he's open to consulting other, more experienced vets about spaying rats?

Thanks for keeping her in your thoughts. The thing is, I probably live in the worst city to own a pet rat. I live in Corpus Christi Tx, and the closest rescue is in Houst on Tx (5 hours away). There are only 4 vets in town that treat exotic pets. One is Banfield in Petsmart, and that vet killed one of my first rats. My rat had a minor URI when I took him there. He didn't give him the right meds so it quickly developed into a major URI, plus my rat became dehydrated. He then gave him meds to pull the liquid out of his lungs, which would up killing my rat.
I then switched vets. I had a boy last year that had a pitutary tumor. I knew it was a pitutary tumor, but oh no, the vet was positive it was an eye infection, so he treated him with meds. It got so bad with my boy that he started having very bad seizures. Thats how I found my current vet. I took my boy there for a second opinion. My vet took one look at him and said it was a pitutary tumor, and should have been treated as such from the beginning. It was too late so he had to be put down.
The only other vet in town is the one I don't trust. It used to be a great place, but the main vet retired and it's now very dirty and the vet there says he knows so much about rats, but people I've talked with says he doesn't and has made some very tragic mistakes.
One of the nurses at my vets clinic used to work in Houston with a vet that treated many exotics. She says that my vet is the best she's ever worked with. He knows alot about exotic pets, and has worked with them for years. He just doesn't feel comfortable doing a spay on such a small animal. He says it a dangerous surgery on dogs and cats, but with a rat it's double that because their so small.
He doesn't think it's pyometra(sp?) because the blood she had coming out has no odor to it whatsoever, and she was in no pain, even when he felt her abdomen.
All other vets in town and surrounding towns here the word rat and they either laugh or give you a funny look.

Tonivan's post made me think of something.
Could your vet swab and test the blood?
Wouldn't that be able to tell you if it was pyometra?
And maybe an xray?
I'm not very familiar with pyometra, but wouldn't it show up as a mass on the xray, where an infection would not?

Ok guys... I think it's understood that a spay is an option.

Watch her VERY closely and treat immediately if you should ever see more bleeding!!  Good luck with her and keep us updated.