Rat spay survival

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B

Bunny

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2013
Messages
76
Location
Texas
Hi all,

I have recently been thinking seriously about getting my two girls spayed since I have heard of the health benefits of it, but I have many concerns. I have not been able to find much info on spay survival rates so I hope maybe some of you with experience can help me. :mouse1np1:

Both my girls are about 7-8 months old and healthy right now. I will need about another 1-2 months to save for the surgery, and there is only one specialist in my area. I have not talked to her about it yet, are there any important questions i should ask the vet? Rats are not too common in my area so I am worried that she may not have much experience with this even though she is a specialist.

Have any of you lost rats to spay surgery? That is my biggest fear right now, I love my rats dearly and hate to lose them over something that I am hoping will prolong their life. Any advise is appreciative. Thank you!
 
I never lost a rat to a spay. It is important to make sure the vet you use has done surgeries on rats before and uses the right methods of anesthesia. I wont say we never lost a rat to a surgery we have there are always risks involved in surgeries but we have had probably 60 surgeries done if not more. So we have more of a rate to have losses with.
 
I have lost a few girls during spays to a vet who was very experienced with other animals (cats and dogs) but not with rats. I have also used a different vet who has spayed 8 babies approx 7-8 weeks old, and all were fine.
 
I once lost a rat to a spay. She did fine during surgery, by a vet who is very experienced, then died very suddenly two hours later. The vet was able to do an immediate post-mortem check, and there was no obvious reason for her death. We think it might have been a pre-existing heart condition.

I have had probably 35 other rats spayed without problems. Of course, I always worry. Can't help it.
But the odds are very good.
 
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Thanks guys, seems like the majority of experiences are positive. Still a little scared but I think I will do it. I'll just have to make sure the vet has good experience spaying rats. I really wish there were more exotic vets in my area so I could at least make comparisons. :(
 
Your vet should be able to provide you with figures and success rates, too, if you ask. :)
 
Thanks for the advice all! I talked to my vet last week and took my girls in to get spayed this morning. I hope everything goes well! :3
 
One of my boys, Stump, is getting neutered today! We can be worried together. :p Hope everything goes just as planned and it's nice and boring. XD
 
I'm thinking of getting my two girls spayed as well. I know there are many benefits to spaying them. Can anyone give me an approximate cost or is it completely dependent on the vet?
 
I got two of my lovely ladies spayed (and neither of them got a single tumor in their whole almost 3 years!!!). My vet gave me a "deal" since they were both coming in, she did both of them for $175 which included everything, the meds, exam, etc. I think that's pretty cheap? A normal small pet exam at my vet costs me $35, if that helps!!

The only time I ever lost a girlie to a spay was when we thought she was just going in to get spayed but turned out she had a rock hard tumor in her bladder and they couldn't operate on it, it was blocking her ureters. So, the vet called me in the middle of surgery and talked to me about it and we decided it was best if she didn't wake up (she was only about 1-1/2 years old, too and such a spunky lady!).

:-( Sad, but that's the only issue I've had and I had 5 girls spayed!

Good luck!!
 
Thank you everyone. Sadly only one of my girls survived. My poor sweet hairless girl Mini passed away just a few hours ago. I really don't know what happened but she was having a harder time from the start. Last night I stayed up all night to keep giving her water and trying to feed her and kept her warm with blankets and a heat lamp. I honestly thought she was going to pull through but suddenly she started to sort of "hiccup" and passed away very quickly. It seemed painless and I hope it was, she had been given pain medication earlier today from her follow up visit. I tried to give her cpr but she just slipped away. She was such a special girl to me, I really am regretting spaying her, all I wanted was for her to have a long and quality life and I really thought this was the best decision for her.

Thankfully Kiki is getting better very quickly, she even started to eat later the day of her surgery and is eating and moving regularly now. Mini never was able to eat on her own since surgery, only drink. Now I have to worry about getting a cage mate for Kiki, but its very painful to think about at this moment. :(
We are having a small funeral for her in the morning. I will really miss my beautiful girl.

The picture is a bit silly, but thats how I want to remember my funny girl.
13119502143_00d64fcc6b_z.jpg
 

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