Surgery is Always Risky

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I am finding more and more that surgeris for rats are always risky. No matter how much experience vets have, no matter how good they are ..when I joined over a year ago, and my boy Bruno passed away in recovery from his neuter ..and Tucker had a neuter complication a week after surgery and passed in ER sugrery ..everyone was blown away ..yes my vet is still learning as he goes for some things ..newfoundland is not full of people who own rats like everywhere else, they are not common at the vet here .
IMO surgery on any animal is a risk ..
 
I have had a lot of rats go under the knife with Dr. Munn, and only TWO losses in all that time. Emma who was going to be let go anyways after exploratory surgery, who was very old and Truffle, also very old, who stopped breathing.

A good experienced surgeon is important and will help minimize deaths during and after surgery. Your vet is new to the vagaries of rat surgery, and how sensitive they can be to anesthetics, etc. and is trying his best, but its a process.
 
Bruno took a heart attack in recovery while waking up, and Tucker had internal bleeding 7 days after and when he went in for ER surgery ..as Dr. D. was sewing him up he went. These has been Dr.D's only two that he has lost in surgeries.

I guess your right ..he is learning, and becoming much better in time ..I have had 10 neuters,1 spay, exploratory, small and large turmor removals and an eye removal!
 
True, which is why people have to sign a release.
But the risk is minimal with an experienced careful surgeon experienced in rat surgeries
I have had rats undergoing surgery with my vet for years and have never lost a rat due to surgery with him.

Godmother and I did lose Nicole when a vet in town resutured her after she had pulled out her stiches. This vet, whom was suposed to be experienced with rats, burnt Nicole so badly with a snuggle safe that she suffering greatly and died.
:sad3:
 
Poor girl :(

My vet is the only exotic vet here on the island ..he has seen rats for years, but not many ..since people here don't treats rats the way they should they just consider them a $10 pet.

Over the past 2 years my vet has learned a lot from me and my rats.
 
I've also noticed you have had losses to surgery, and was going to say to stop letting your vet op for now. Its obvious you love your rats, maybe driving 6+ hours ferrie whatever should be concidered more now when it comes to another surgery for them.
 
Abazoo, loosing two rats in surgery, one during an emergency surgery, out of all of the surgeries she's had, plus the other surgeries her vet has done, does not mean she needs another vet. Sometimes there are factors that can't really be accounted for with rats even with a great surgeon, we can't exactly do pre-anasthesia bloodwork. In this case, her vet hardly sounds negligent.
 
abazoo said:
I've also noticed you have had losses to surgery, and was going to say to stop letting your vet op for now. Its obvious you love your rats, maybe driving 6+ hours ferrie whatever should be concidered more now when it comes to another surgery for them.
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WOW ..a bit harsh don't you think?

My vet is great! just because I have lost two rats from surgrey out of the 20 + I have had dose not mean he is a bad vet.
He is learning just as much as I am learning ..and for the experience he has I think he is doing wonderful.
 
Dazzle87 said:
Abazoo, loosing two rats in surgery, one during an emergency surgery, out of all of the surgeries she's had, plus the other surgeries her vet has done, does not mean she needs another vet. Sometimes there are factors that can't really be accounted for with rats even with a great surgeon, we can't exactly do pre-anasthesia bloodwork. In this case, her vet hardly sounds negligent.
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Thank you :)
 
My family and I have had well over a hundred rats go through surgery... And only one unexpected loss.
With my vet, I don't see it as high risk.
 
I guess its everyones own opinion ..

My vet will get better in time ..but you can't learn without having experience ..and I'm giving him that.

Rats are not common here!

The next vet I could go to is a 12 hour drive ..and then a boat ride to NS!

I'm happy with my vetand a respect him ..he has done a lot for me over the past 2 and a half years! I have no complaints.

20 surgeries in 2.5 years ..2 losses ..one which was a freak of nature the other one was during emrgency surgery
 
Surgery on anyone or anything is risky...
I had a very simple procedure done a few years ago, and one risk was a Pneumothorax (collapsed lung), but I was told that risk was basically 1 in a million, and that they would take xrays after to be sure I was ok...
Well, surgery went ok, xrays were good, I got sent home (it was just an out patient thing). The next day I woke up in crazy pain, and I went in to see the doc, and I'd ended up with a pneumo and spent 3 days in the hospital. My surgeon had done this surgery thousands of times, and somethings just don't go right. You can't worry about it, you just have to worry about doing what you think is best for your rats.
 
My vet knew little about rats when he started treating my rats in 2005.
He is an amazing vet and surgeon, careful, and if he doesn't know something he consults with others.
Between Godmother and myself alone, he has done close to 90 spays and neuters.
He has done many other types of surgeries on rats such as tumour removals, tooth removal, eye removal.
He has many many other rat patients besides ours.
To my knowlege, there have been no "unexpected losses", even when he was/is learning.

Surgery always has risks.
Like Jorats, I consider surgery with my vet to be low risk.
 
Like handmeafish said, any surgery, on any being, can potentially go wrong for whatever reason. You can have a doctor with lots of experience, and the surgical candidate can be healthy and unforeseen circumstances can still arise.

So surgeries should never be gone into lightly, and you always have to weigh the benefits vs the risks. Getting Darwin neutered so he could live with his sisters was worth the risk, while sending Nani in for mammary tumour removal when she is 2+ and the tumour has stopped growing and isn't hindering her isn't (to me).
 
I agree with Moon ..I only will be doing surgeries if they are needed ...just because any surgery on any person or animal is a risk no matter how good a doctor you have ..unexpected things happen..no matter how careful you are.

I will only be neutering if needed due to hormones ..I won't be adding anymore females to my colony ..

My vet also consults with other vets before going in for a surgery that he is not 100 percent sure on!
 
All my females will be spayed unless they aren't in the best of health. The only reason why I'm not having my new 3 boys neutered is because they are older and they are doing pretty good as it is. But in the future, when I get new young males, they will all be neutered.
 
If I planned on getting more females, they would all be spayed because spays help them so much.

I don't really see any huge benefit on neutering males - hence why I'll only neuter if hormonal.

I don't plan on adding anymore rats to my colony.

I am bringing my number down to 4 ..and I am going to just stick with males once my females are gone.
 

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