Things you should know before scheduling your rat for surgery
the Rat Report: "Surgery in Rats
By Debbie “The Rat Lady” Ducommun
There are several things you should discuss with your vet before scheduling your rat for surgery. Fasting overnight before surgery is standard for cats and dogs to prevent vomiting while under anesthesia. Rats have a flap in their stomach that covers the esophagus and prevents both vomiting and burping, so fasting before surgery isn’t necessary for them. Rats do most of their eating at night and an overnight fast will deplete their energy reserves. Fasting can cause hypoglycemia and dehydration, which, along with hypothermia, can cause anesthetic complications and death. However, you can withhold food for 2 hours before the surgery.
When taking your rat to the hospital for surgery, make sure the cage has food and water. It may be a while before the surgery. Food and water should also be offered to the surgical patient at the hospital as soon the rat awakens from the anesthetic, so also discuss this with your vet and the veterinary assistants or technicians.
If the rat is going to have surgery on the intestines, a vet might request a fast to reduce the intestinal contents. Discuss this carefully with your vet. Perhaps a liquid fast might be possible. Fasting longer than 2 hours is definitely not necessary for routine surgeries such as spays, neuters, and tumor removals, so if the vet or receptionist still asks you to fast your rat overnight, ignore it.
It’s very important that rats be kept warm during surgery. General anesthesia prevents normal temperature regulation of the body and it can take several hours for normal temperature regulation to be restored. Rats are so small they lose body heat rapidly and if heat is not supplied, for instance by a heating pad, they can easily die from hypothermia. Not all vets realize this need for rats. Heat is not always supplied for cats and dogs undergoing surgery, although it probably should be; a study found that when heat was supplied for human surgical patients, they recovered more quickly and had fewer infections.
Antibiotics to prevent infection are recommended, especially for neuters, major surgeries, for older rats, or if a rat has other health problems. If a rat who has previously had respiratory symptoms needs surgery, she should be put on antibiotics suitable for mycoplasma several days before the surgery to help protect her against a relapse during the stress of surgery. Continue giving the antibiotics until after the incision has healed.
Unless there are complications, you should be able to take your rat home the same day as the surgery. I do not recommend a rat spend the night at the hospital, and especially not if there will be no one to check on her. In fact, it’s best to schedule the surgery on a day when you will be home afterwards so you can keep an eye on the patient in case of bleeding or other problems. A rat may be sleepy from the anesthesia and analgesia that day, but should be back to normal the next day.
Now its time to nurse your rat back to health...
By Debbie “The Rat Lady” Ducommun
There are several things you should discuss with your vet before scheduling your rat for surgery. Fasting overnight before surgery is standard for cats and dogs to prevent vomiting while under anesthesia. Rats have a flap in their stomach that covers the esophagus and prevents both vomiting and burping, so fasting before surgery isn’t necessary for them. Rats do most of their eating at night and an overnight fast will deplete their energy reserves. Fasting can cause hypoglycemia and dehydration, which, along with hypothermia, can cause anesthetic complications and death. However, you can withhold food for 2 hours before the surgery.
When taking your rat to the hospital for surgery, make sure the cage has food and water. It may be a while before the surgery. Food and water should also be offered to the surgical patient at the hospital as soon the rat awakens from the anesthetic, so also discuss this with your vet and the veterinary assistants or technicians.
If the rat is going to have surgery on the intestines, a vet might request a fast to reduce the intestinal contents. Discuss this carefully with your vet. Perhaps a liquid fast might be possible. Fasting longer than 2 hours is definitely not necessary for routine surgeries such as spays, neuters, and tumor removals, so if the vet or receptionist still asks you to fast your rat overnight, ignore it.
It’s very important that rats be kept warm during surgery. General anesthesia prevents normal temperature regulation of the body and it can take several hours for normal temperature regulation to be restored. Rats are so small they lose body heat rapidly and if heat is not supplied, for instance by a heating pad, they can easily die from hypothermia. Not all vets realize this need for rats. Heat is not always supplied for cats and dogs undergoing surgery, although it probably should be; a study found that when heat was supplied for human surgical patients, they recovered more quickly and had fewer infections.
Antibiotics to prevent infection are recommended, especially for neuters, major surgeries, for older rats, or if a rat has other health problems. If a rat who has previously had respiratory symptoms needs surgery, she should be put on antibiotics suitable for mycoplasma several days before the surgery to help protect her against a relapse during the stress of surgery. Continue giving the antibiotics until after the incision has healed.
Unless there are complications, you should be able to take your rat home the same day as the surgery. I do not recommend a rat spend the night at the hospital, and especially not if there will be no one to check on her. In fact, it’s best to schedule the surgery on a day when you will be home afterwards so you can keep an eye on the patient in case of bleeding or other problems. A rat may be sleepy from the anesthesia and analgesia that day, but should be back to normal the next day.
Now its time to nurse your rat back to health...
posted by Lee at 7:37 AM
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