# Cost to neuter/de sex a rat... warning before you consider such a thing



## 461537 (Nov 15, 2015)

I'm considering getting a boy rat to add to my female mischief, mostly because I reckon it would add a certain dynamic and maybe add to the social lives of my two girls to have a boy around. I really don't want to start breeding rats, so I asked how much to get the new boy de-sexed... well...

The rat would cost me $20 to buy from the boutique petshop - I would use these guys because every pet they sell is thoroughly checked by the on site vet before it leaves the shop, so no chance of introducing anything nasty into my mischief, cutting out quarantine times. De-sexing said rat would add another $200 to the cost - it costs ten times the cost of the rat to de-sex. 

This is definitely something to consider before planning on adding to your mischief...


----------



## rats-alive-at-55 (Jul 16, 2015)

I was able to adopt a male that had already been fixed. But recently, a friend checked about in the Denver area and found the Boulder Humane society would do it for $75! You might check your local shelters too.


----------



## crow (Nov 18, 2015)

Yeah, after coming to this forum I was shocked to discover that rats can be costly animals. Now I understand that to maintain any living person, it's going to cost a lot, and rats are people too.


----------



## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

You've also got to take into account the welfare of the rat when you plan things like this. Neutering is generally a fairly straight forward operation if using a vet who knows what they are doing when it comes to rat neuter, but it still involves knocking them out so carries risk and needless to say any incision in that location has a fair chance of infection. Get yourself a vet who hasn't done many neuters before and it can be bad. I've seen rats with fairly horrific looking op sites, where too much or too little has been removed (I met one guy who had only been half neutered once!), these have increased infection risk and prolonged and painful healing periods.

There's also the age factor, its quite unfair to do such a big op on a youngster, not only is it a lot to put them through when they are essentially babies, testosterone has a major part to play in helping them grow and build muscle. Whilst I'm not against elective castration by any means (it does carry health and longevity benefits) I wouldn't recommend it before 6 months old, in order to let the rats grow properly. Its not something I personally do, however if I've got a grumpy or unhappy rat, or one whose a rubbish alpha, I do neuter earlier than some.


----------



## moonkissed (Dec 26, 2011)

Yeah all vet care for rats usually runs quite higher than it does for cats & dogs. I had one vet that charged $85 just to see the rats where it was $50 to see a dog.

The biggest reason is that rats are considered exotics so they need someone more trained in that and have just an overal exotic fee. Plus they spay/neuter is a bit more difficult on something so much smaller. But be aware that not all exotic vets are the same. Some may have zero experience even seeing a rat before much less the experience of working with/on one.

But..ugh it kindof kills me when people have that mindset....it is just a $20 pet so somehow it is not worth hundreds or thousands of dollars in vet bills like a cat or dog would be. It is still a living, breathing animal that you made a promise to care for when you bought it.
(not saying you were saying that...but I do see people say that very often)

The cost to purchase a rat is terribly inexpensive. But the proper cage, food, toys, bedding, and vet care are all going to run quite high. That is why researching before getting a pet is always the best idea!

As for your situation, you could look around at local rescues and see if they have any neutered males available.
But I really do not think your girls need a neutered boy for the group. They are quite happy as a girls only club. They are not missing out on anything. And him being neutered is not going to give them much a having a boy around experience lol


----------



## Nieve5552 (May 20, 2014)

The NZ rat rescue sometimes has neutered males up for adoption, depending on where you are. The neutered animals are priced about $10 more than unfixed animals, they try to neuter and spay as many rats as they can with the donations they get and from selling rat related products. 
It takes only about NZ$37 to get a rat checked out at the vet, so if you get a neutered rat from the rescue and get him checked out yourself it will end up being way cheaper 

Also call around all the vets in your area to find the cheapest place that does neuters. I was originally thinking of neutering my boys (decided it wasnt necessary) but I called around the vets in my area and found a vet that does small animal neuters for less than NZ$100


----------



## Nieve5552 (May 20, 2014)

moonkissed said:


> But..ugh it kindof kills me when people have that mindset....it is just a $20 pet so somehow it is not worth hundreds or thousands of dollars in vet bills like a cat or dog would be. It is still a living, breathing animal that you made a promise to care for when you bought it.
> (not saying you were saying that...but I do see people say that very often)
> 
> The cost to purchase a rat is terribly inexpensive. But the proper cage, food, toys, bedding, and vet care are all going to run quite high. That is why researching before getting a pet is always the best idea!


I agree, but I think I do kind of understand where people are coming from when they dont want to spend a lot of money on an animal that was obtained cheaply, especially since many people think that small animals tend to be cheaper. 

I think it would be great if people treated rats like dogs.. well they pretty much are like little dogs, being so smart and genuinely loving our company! 
If we treated rats like dogs (in terms of medical care etc) then we could just think that we are lucky to be able to get awesome animals like rats without having to spend a few hundred or a thousand dollars. If we saved up money for rat care the way people put aside hundreds of dollars just to buy a dog, it'd be normal to be spending up to a few hundred dollars for rat healthcare, regardless of how much the animal cost


----------



## 461537 (Nov 15, 2015)

moonkissed said:


> But..ugh it kindof kills me when people have that mindset....it is just a $20 pet so somehow it is not worth hundreds or thousands of dollars in vet bills like a cat or dog would be. It is still a living, breathing animal that you made a promise to care for when you bought it.
> (not saying you were saying that...but I do see people say that very often)


Oh, definitely - no animal should have its existence solely measured on cost, that is just too cruel. I go to extreme lengths to keep them healthy, but was simply stunned at the cost.



moonkissed said:


> The cost to purchase a rat is terribly inexpensive. But the proper cage, food, toys, bedding, and vet care are all going to run quite high. That is why researching before getting a pet is always the best idea!


Yeah... I spent $100 on groceries the other day and half of it was rat related  It'll last them a while, but I go for a very large array of foods to keep things interesting. $100 is a lot of groceries for me as I grow all my own veggies and tend not to eat a lot of meat. Ilsa and Aino has a fluffy egg pancake with fresh peas, roasted kumara and yams, a chicken nugget, and some melon juice with icecream and strawberries for desert. Both of them then proceeded to fall asleep


----------

