Vet Visits - advice?

[Exodog]

Hey Shackers, just a quick question to double-check.

How frequently should I take the kids to the vets? They're not ill or anything at the moment, it's just been a little bit since I last had them in.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

 

[Kimber]

Personally if they are doing well I would hold off. Visiting the vet is a stressful experience, opens them to illness (transporting in the cold, sick animals there, etc) and you never know when something might go wrong and you NEED the money for an emergency vet visit.

That is my thought anyway

 

[temblabamomo]

I handle all of my boys at least once a day and do a very basic once over of them, but at least once a week I like to do the advanced health check outlined in ratguide http://ratguide.com/health/basics/advan ... _check.php

You know your rats best, and as long as you don't notice any physical abnormalities, I wouldn't bother with the time/stress/money of a vet visit unless something seemed off in personality. And odds are if you can't catch it during your own examination of your kids, a vet won't catch it during a basic wellness exam either.

 

[Exodog]

Pretty much what I was going on already.
Thanks for the link tembla - I'm going to start using this guide!
Thanks for your input guys; I think I'm just going to save my money until I feel they're actually in need of a check-up.

 

[DadRat]

We generally do a once a year check up, just so our vet gets a chance to see everyone and have a baseline for them. However, we only have 4, and whenever one is sick, they might all go in for a visit (single exam fee for all of them).

 

[temblabamomo]

What DadRat said. Usually if just one of mine needs to go in, I'll bring them all and the vet is usually happy to give them all a good looking at, for the price of one sick call exam. But only when we have an appt., would never do that for an emergency unscheduled visit. Guess it depends on your vet.

 

[jorats]

Once I'm down in numbers, I'll be bringing in my rats every 6 months. So many things can happen in that time. I'm going to feel better knowing they are all on file at the vets.

 

[Exodog]

Yeah, I typically bring them all in at once. It makes it a little easier that way.
While we're on the topic of vets, does anyone know a reliable/affordable one for neuters? My vet's asking approximately $200 for it. I've never had a neuter done, but this seems a little bit high to me. Any suggestions/comments?