# I feel like the worst rat mom ever



## frodo&sam (Nov 3, 2016)

I feel like the worst rat mom ever. I blindly trusted a vet who said she had experience with rats and seemed extremely confident when examining them. I will NOT make that mistake again. She prescribed them each one 100mg tablet of doxy a day...luckily after a couple of days of having a horrible time getting them to take their meds (fortunately it was so difficult they never got their full dosage) I did more research and was horrified at the dosage she prescribed. I feel so angry and guilty. My poor little guys. The one silver lining is I now realize how crucial it is to be an informed advocate for your rat's health. I am sure you all are smarter than I, but never trust a vet blindly. I am off to wallow in guilt and anger.


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

Same thing happened to me with a rabbit, he died. I now ALWAYS go with a dozen printed pages on which I underlined the main points...It's a different vet, and I think he's very good but you always need to be careful. Take that as a lesson to always be actively aware and informed with what's going on with your pets. You got lucky, it could have been a disaster. You're not a bad mom, he/she is a bad rat vet.


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## Rattielover965 (Apr 26, 2016)

Sorry that happened


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## rottengirl (Mar 16, 2016)

That is a very hard way to learn, but I am glad that you learned from this experience and know that it is not your fault for trusting a Doctor. It is their job to take care of animals, and if they can't or don't know how, they should refer you to someone who does. 

Sounds like you are definitely a good rat parent! Keep learning about your little babies


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## Andromeda (Apr 28, 2016)

This is one of the worst parts about owning 'exotic' pets. You kind of have to become your own vet. :/ So glad to hear that you caught it in time, and don't beat yourself up over it! We all expect professionals to know they're stuff and give us the right advice. That's why we pay them so much. xP You didn't do anything wrong, so don't feel guilty.


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## Grotesque (Mar 19, 2014)

The fact that you genuinely care about your rats means you are a great rat Mom! We all make mistakes and we all learn from them. I have a great vet and when she prescribes Metacam for pain after a surgery, she always mixes it so that the dosage is .1 ml once a day. One time after a surgery, the vet tech came out with the meds and told us to give 1 ml once a day. 

I immediately caught it and asked, "Are you sure it's 1 and not .1?" and she said, "Yes, 1, not .1". Sure enough I look at the bottle and the dosage was actually the .1 that it always was. If I had not been paying attention or knew what I was doing, I could have easily overdosed my girl going by what the vet tech said.


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