# Vet Sedated Rat Because He Didn't Want To Hold Her



## Emilie

My friend recently had to take her rat to the vets, the weather was really bad and her usual vet was closed.

Her rat has bubble foot, and it needed to be cleaned. The vet was having a hard time holding her rat and was complaining about having to hold her. He had my friend hold her rat while he gave her an injection of sedative. Then had my friend continue to hold her sedated rat while he cleaned the foot.

So, firstly, this vet can't handle rats. My rats are really squirmy at the vets, they run, claw and struggle but all the vets I've been to have managed to keep a grip. It seems to me like he didn't WANT to handle the rat, because you know "rats are gross, ew"

Second, why not an oral sedative? Did the vet not have any on hand? Did he not know that rats should be sedated orally? Either way it's pretty ignorant. Rats have such tiny bodies, it can be hard to give an accurate injection. Pretty much the only thing the vet did right was the injection spot.

I'm so peeved, I've been trying to convince my friend to get at least a partial refund but she doesn't want to start any conflicts. She finally agreed to never go back there again though.

The vet is located in Barrie, Ontario by the way.


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## Emilie

Update: I sent an email the the vet, telling them how stupid they are, and they wrote me back claiming "They did not prescribe a sedative". No, you didn't send her home with sedatives, you gave her rats sedatives at the clinic. Plus, my friend was THERE, she saw everything happen. The vet TOLD her he was going to sedate her rat. and the rat WAS sedated after the injection.

I'm not going to bother writing them back, because my friend doesn't want her name/her rats name mentioned and that's really the only way I can prove it.


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## Daize

Did you make the Vet aware of this post, so they can "reply" to your comments?

I mean, you posted the info about the Vet. You should give them a chance to reply.


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## Jaguar

Unhandleable animals sometimes have to be sedated - that's nothing new, but whether or not it was justified in this case I can't say (for bumblefoot I doubt it). Have your friend leave a review on Google or such if you really must, but coming here with second hand information for the purpose of harming this vet's career could be considered libel and is not something the forum likes to deal with.  I removed the link to their site.


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## Finnebon

She didn't even mention the name of the vet or the name of the vet's practice though? Isn't this the rants and raves forum? Seems to me like she was just venting about an ignorant vet.


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## Hedgian

even if you rant//vent about someone you should keep the anonymous. Even if they only put the vet clinic and not the vet that handled the rat there could be lots of trouble. Vets that work there ((That could properly handle a rat)) could potentially be made jobless over the ignorance of one vet.


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## Finnebon

True, but the closest she came to mentioning any specific information was the city. I'm sure there are a lot of vet practices in Barrie, Ontario.


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## Hedgian

Jaguar said:


> Unhandleable animals sometimes have to be sedated - that's nothing new, but whether or not it was justified in this case I can't say (for bumblefoot I doubt it). Have your friend leave a review on Google or such if you really must, but coming here with second hand information for the purpose of harming this vet's career could be considered libel and is not something the forum likes to deal with.  *I removed the link to their site.*


Because Jaguar removed the link.


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## artgecko

Whether or not the vet had good motivations is not for us to say (we weren't there and your friend might not have been extremely accurate in recalling the events).. If the vet was afraid to handle the rat for fear that it could be injured or for fear that he would get bit, I could understand it. I would not condone him charging her extra for it, but as long as the rat was not harmed, I don't see why this is such a big deal.


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## Hedgian

I think the problem here is that the vet was seemed to just be acting lazy and not wanting to do their job. Then they used a needle which could have been avoided if they sedated the rat orally. Like they stated earlier, rats have such small bodies that getting an accurate injection is difficult and if there's a way to avoid it then to do that.


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## Grawrisher

I highly doubt for bumble foot any pet rat was truly unhandle-able, I took aris to the vet for what wound up being an absess...on her FACE

Aris was (is?) A bit of a problem rat, Hedgian has living breathing proof of that (patches has a scarred face) she's aggressive toward people, she doesn't take kindly to other rats being near her cage (after intros IN the cage is fine, NEAR is never acceptable, she hates people, her and I have bonded but she doesn't let anyone else near her, my vet openly admitted to not being very experienced with rats, one vet at the clinic will not treat rats, but the one who will, handled aris just fine, poked and prodded at her face, took a swab from her ear and it was all well and good, if you are a vet and you don't want to treat rats, I understand, but at least let people know

Or go with the oral sedative if it was indeed needed


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## kksrats

A vet sedating a rat is neither lazy nor uncalled for depending on the situation. Let's face it, our little fuzz butts can be extremely difficult to handle at times. Yes, we have an amazing bond with them and they allow us to handle them, but any vet is instantly at square one with your rat and the poking and prodding doesn't help. If I was a vet and believed that in order to help an animal to the fullest extent they needed to be sedated, I'd do it. A rat that's flopping, scratching and trying to get away is not going to receive the best treatment, regardless of how easy the treatment might seem. Before bashing a vet that 1. you didn't even see and 2. did what they though was best to treat the animal, consider this: the vet gave an injection in the right area and at the correct dose; that tells me that that vet knows what they're doing. Just because someone doesn't do something in the way that you think is correct, doesn't mean that they're wrong.


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## nanashi7

Just for the record, I find "sedative" misleading. We dont give injectable sedatives in surgery to small animals because of the tricky dosage; this sedative is a complete K.O.. However, a sedative that "relaxes" an animal, is completely different. 

When needing to medicate a really sick rat, I've requested a sedative so I was able to do so to a relatively fussless rat - Remus needed it because he was literally on 5 different medications and over 5mls of fluid (typical dose of meds usually doesn't exceed .5mls). They've also given it to my rats pre-procedures like X Rays/fna, or even gave it to Caius right before she was put to sleep to calm her (she was dying due to breathing problems, panicking made it worse). As to assisting the vet or vet tech for injections, sometimes this is best. As long as you're not in charge of the meds (with some exceptions), you being the "restrainer" can be safer and calming to the animal. I restrain my extremely anxious dog at all vet appts as she can bite or seizure if others do. I have restrained rats for shots too, and my bird for force-feedings.

I will say that my previous vet had only one hand and managed my ratties just fine in exams alone.


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