Rude cunting vet.
Wavy lines ago my missus & I had a rat - Floyd.
He was actually my missus' rat but curled around my neck or perched on my shoulder (eating the beginnings of my ear hair) was where Floyd usually sat. Floyd got some lumps. Since we knew it was a tumor we waited a while before we took him to the vets (white & w/color rats seem to have a propensity for growing them) as it wasn't in a spot where it was causing him pain. Eventually the tumor grew and it impeded Floyd being able to move his back legs, he also developed a few more lumps. Floyd at this stage was about 2-3 years old - not bad for a rat.

We made the call. I was going to do it as basically, he had become my rat.
I took him to our local vet. This was an older gentleman who had clearly been in the veterinary game for quite a while. I told him I wanted him to put down my rat. I wasn't quite sobbing but I was pretty close. He looked at me and laughed.
To my face.
I am a bloke who has had to shoot a couple of dogs to "put them out of their pain" growing up on a farm. I've wrung a few mouses necks for the same reason, I've even had to help to sedate and then shoot a horse because it was so badly injured.

Once he realised I was serious he then told me that it would cost me AU$100. I told him to go ahead and I was going to stay in the room. He held Floyd down, jabbed a needle into him (with a squeak from Floyd) and pumped him full of whatever. Floyd wee'd a little a went limp. I held Floyd till he was cold, gave him to the "vet", paid the receptionist and left.

Years later we had another rat, Niffy who again being about 2 yo. developed tumors. My wife, daughter & I knew that the time was nigh.
I took him to our local vets.
They were kind, respectful and compassionate. They put the gas hose over Niffy's face (the vet had warned us that this may actually kill him anyway as it's hard to calibrate the dosage for such a small animal and they didn't have rat-sized masks) and after shaving his front paw pumped death-giving anesthetic into his veins. We were all there to gently hold and love Niffy as he died. They charged me AU$45 which was apparently the cost of the drugs.

The difference in responses might be attributable the age & experience of the vets, it could also be considerable amount of time between both events.
Or it could be that the 1st guy I had been to was an insensitive arsehole who was probably way past his prime.

Here's me with Niffy -

(Misery McUglywife an attention seeking sociopathic fuckstain., Fri 1 Feb 2013, 6:02, 11 replies)

Many ratties have passed through my household over the years,
each with their own unique personalities. Most lasted 2 or 3 years, but there were a few that didn't make it even that long. They're a hardy animal. I've had a few with missing legs and tails, one missing an eye, and the boys do play a bit rough sometimes, causing some panicked "HOLY SHIT THERE'S BLOOD EVERYWHERE" moments... but the one thing that they can't seem to handle very well is tumors.

One of the girls I adopted came with a small lump on her underside. It got progressively bigger, until she too couldn't quite walk right... so we took her to get it removed. The vet charged us a whopping $400 usd, but she thankfully went on to live a few more years, as she was relatively young when we took her in. We had her spayed at the same time, as we were told it may help to keep the tumors from coming back. A tumor did eventually start to come back, but by that time she was so far along in her life, that it didn't cause her too much discomfort.

After she passed, we ended up with a new pair of girls. They were some of the sweetest rats I've ever met. We had two boys in a huge cage at the time, so decided we'd get the new girls spayed and let them live together. We went to the same vet office that we took the girl with the tumor, knowing they'd be well taken care of. The vet who treated our previous rat no longer worked there. We dropped them off, and awaited the phone call saying we could pick them up. We got it, and the chipper receptionist said "They're ready, come pick them up!"

We waited in the office for 45 minutes before anyone would talk to us, and when they did, it was that same receptionist, who said "Oh. Yeah, actually, they died. We used too much gas. Oops."

Not only did she lie to us and tell us that they were fine, she brushed it off as if it didn't matter. We knew the risks, but thought they were in good hands. The receptionist then had the nerve to try to charge us anyway. After a lot of fussing, they finally let us have the bodies, and we gave them a proper burial, staples and all. We did not pay for the botched surgeries. I never did get to talk to the vet directly, only the receptionist. He didn't have the decency to come tell us himself. I will not be going there again.

tl;dr: Rats are awesome, and most people don't acknowledge that. My condolences.
( Cukeasaurus was once known as Misanthropy., Fri 1 Feb 2013, 8:17, closed)

How did i go 38 years
and not know that mice have necks.
( browser still relating boring anecdotes into a void on, Fri 1 Feb 2013, 22:18, closed)

( Michael Ellis contributes nothing, Fri 1 Feb 2013, 8:46, closed)

A "Warriors" ref.
with my face from my OKCupid profile? "/talk keep" something...

Ris please.
(Misery McUglywife an attention seeking sociopathic fuckstain., Fri 1 Feb 2013, 9:24, closed)

Really?
Christ.
( Michael Ellis contributes nothing, Fri 1 Feb 2013, 9:27, closed)

Well that's all I got from it.
Oh, wait is that "/talk, keep closed."?

Me, I'm holding back the hordes of zombies from /talk?

"That's it man, game over man, game over! What the fuck are we gonna do now? What are we gonna do?"
(Misery McUglywife an attention seeking sociopathic fuckstain., Fri 1 Feb 2013, 9:50, closed)

Pretty sure you should be flinging the door wide open,
for this to represent reality.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Fri 1 Feb 2013, 9:32, closed)

What's that got to do with The Warriors?
Wobblers, come out to plaaaaaaay.
( BraynDedd Natasha Kaplinsky's labia majora, Fri 1 Feb 2013, 10:59, closed)

Never mind the rat on your head
what's that animal nesting under your nose?
( emvee cruor deo cruoris, Fri 1 Feb 2013, 10:36, closed)

Why has that rat got a cunt under it?

( Fucking hell Jeff I am not a robot, Fri 1 Feb 2013, 13:21, closed)

It's released a book online
and needs lots of free publicity.
(Misery McUglywife an attention seeking sociopathic fuckstain., Sat 2 Feb 2013, 22:29, closed)