Providing The Best Veterinary Care For Pet Mice And Rats

Our vast knowledge of unusual pet care extends to rat and mouse care as well. The Unusual Pet Vets are located in Perth, Melbourne, Adelaide, Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane, and the Sunshine Coast. Our veterinary teams have a deep understanding of pocket pets and the health and husbandry care needed to ensure they live a healthy, happy life.

Our services are designed to allow you – their faithful keeper – to create perfect home conditions. Keep them adequately nourished with their favourite food, keep them happy with the right daily care, and in contact with an expert rodent vet that helps them to lead a healthy life.

Hopstart Package
  • Rats & Mice
  • Rats & Mice
  • Rats & Mice
  • Rats & Mice
  • Rats & Mice
  • Rats & Mice

The Difference Between Rats And Mice

To the casual eye these two classes of rodent look particularly alike. So what is the difference between rats and mice? Here are a few:

Adult mice are much smaller than adult rats. In some cases, adult mice may be smaller than infant rats.

Behaviourally speaking, mice are generally the bolder of the two being curious, whilst rats are the craftier choosing to be cautious.

Experts In Pocket Pet Health

Word to the wise and any rat vet near you should tell you the same – if not, allow us – we strongly advise against keeping the two species in the same cage. It is not a good idea at all as the two are not natural friends and will seldom get along – keeping them in the same cage usually results in injury or worse.

In general, both rats and mice are fairly easy to keep. They take up a minimal amount of space and require relatively straight-forward care. Both species of rodent are intelligent and have an appetite for just about anything.

An aspect of rat care and mouse care not to be taken for granted is keeping them in the same place – it is a challenge in itself with both species being unrivalled escape artists. A mouse can fit through a 1/4-inch hole whereas a rat can fit through a hole that is a 1/2 inch in diameter. Therefore, it is essential that their living environment or cage is suitable and secure.

Rats & Mice
Rats & Mice

The Unusual Pet Vets will gladly teach and share with you all the rat and pet mouse care details on how to keep your pocket-friendly pet happy and healthy. We will inform you on best practice for:

General rat and mouse care

Food, diet and nutrition

Housing preparation

Hygiene

Rodent Behaviour

Health check-ups including dietary and housing requirements

Respiratory Disease management

Desexing

Surgery and hospital care

Dentistry

Patient Story

Mary a gorgeous little rat presented to our Jindalee team for a second opinion due to a fast-growing mass inside her abdomen.

Radiographs were taken by the initial clinics but were inconclusive. We performed an ultrasound that identified a fluid-filled mass that was suspected to be part of her reproductive tract.

Mary was admitted for surgery and the mass was successfully removed. It weighed in at a total of 53 grams, which equalled 20% of her body weight! While Mary was under anaesthetic, she was also desexed at the same time to prevent future reproductive issues.

Mary recovered extremely well from her procedure and was reported to be back to her normal, happy self just 24 hours after the surgery. She was such a little trooper!

Mary rat and mouse
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Testimonials

Informative Service

Very nice and informative service. Lovely vet practice, will definitely recommend to others.

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Joanne Marsden

Wonderful and Knowledgeable

Wonderful and knowledgable vet. Took time to thoroughly check over my rabbit and answer all the questions I had. Would recommend to other rabbit owners.

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Leona Hazel

Caring and Compassionate

Highly recommend, caring and compassionate no matter how small your pet. Thank you to the unusual pet vets for treating our very sick little mouse Moon, she came back to full health and is now enjoying life in a new home with new cage mates.

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Kali and Co

Simply The Best

Cannot speak highly enough of the caring and lovely staff at UPV Osborne Park. Particularly to Dr Kelly for the wonderful treatment and compassion she displayed caring for my much loved
Bugz. Definitely recommend this practice. Simply the Best.

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Stephen Waddell

A Great Vet For Exotic Pets

It’s a great vet for exotic pets, we would like to thank Dr Kiara and the nurses for all the help they have done for the bunnies especially when they have been unwell.

Gretel – Thankyou for all the tips and advice on what and what not to do with the bunnies.

We will definitely be recommending to all our exotic animal friends.

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Jayde Darton

5 Stars All The Way!

Fantastic vets! Staff are so helpful and friendly. Vet’s are brilliant, they show so much love and compassion to our animals. 5 stars all the way!!

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Nayre Manookain

A Huge Thank you

I just want to say a huge THANK YOU to the gang at Murdoch who helped my family and stimmy Cindy. It was a very stressful time and they assisted us with ease! Pricing was also more than reasonable which we were very grateful for. Thank you guys again, my noodle is now on the mend all to you guys.

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Brook Oliver

Excellent Service, Caring and Professional Advice

Excellent service, caring and professional advice, and very good handling for our pet bird, on our first visit today at The Unusual Pet Vets, Jindalee. Very helpful, and they also provided further reading for us via email after our appointment regarding a few things we asked about. All staff were lovely and friendly – from the initial phone booking (you can do internet bookings too) to and including the consult. Thank you very much – we’ll definitely be back! Highly recommend.

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Lisa Hack

Received the Best Service

Received the best service from Dr Sasha at the Sunshine Coast clinic. She taught me so much in such a kind manner and was very gentle to my Guinea pig. She then followed up by emailing further information on Guinea pig general care. Highly recommend!

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Kate Hunter

Amazing and Caring Staff

Amazing and caring staff at the Ferntree Gully Clinic. Our baby rat was not well, and they always made time to help and support her. Very knowledgeable and compassionate. Would highly recommend and absolutely will use again. Thank you to everyone at Ferntree Gully for being there for us and Tabby.

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Vicki Freedman

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Nearest vet for your pet

  • Perth
  • Melbourne
  • Brisbane
  • ACT

Location of the unusualpetvets

PERTH

OSBORNE PARK CLINIC:

Unit 4, 325 Harborne Street
Osborne Park, WA 6017
Phone: (08) 6117 7450

MURDOCH CLINIC:

Unit 6, 170 Murdoch Drive,
Murdoch WA 6150
Phone: (08) 6117 7440

Location of the unusualpetvets

MELBOURNE

PENINSULA CLINIC:
210 Karingal Dr,
Frankston, VIC 3199
Phone: (03) 8738 3210

FERNTREE GULLY CLINIC:

57 Austin Street
(Corner Austin St & Alma Ave)
Ferntree Gully, 3156
Phone: (03) 9758 8851

Location of the unusualpetvets

BRISBANE

JINDALEE CLINIC:
62 Looranah St,
Jindalee, Queensland 4074
Phone: (07) 2104 9499

SUNSHINE COAST CLINIC:

91 King Street
Buderim, QLD 4556
Phone: (07) 5353 6090

Location of the unusualpetvets

ACT

Canberra CLINIC:

107-109 Wollongong Street,
Fyshwick ACT 2609
Phone: (02) 5119 3659

Additional Information

We’ve put together a collection of rats & mice care and information sheets to help you feed rats & mice properly, identify diseases that often occur, and how to generally care for your beloved pet.

Rats & Mice News

Rat feeding guide

Rat Feeding Guide

Proper nutrition is very important in rats and can help prevent against multiple diseases, such as heart disease, liver disease, and tumor formation. As rats are known to be very selective in their eating habits, it is essential that young rats are offered a range of foods to start developing good habits.

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Rat desexing options blog

Desexing Options For Rats

Sterilisation (or desexing) is the term commonly used for when pets have surgery to remove part of their reproductive tract, making them unable to breed. Learn more about the advantages of desexing rats, and why surgical desexing may not be the best option for every rat.

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Rat respiratory disease blog

Respiratory Disease in Rats

Upper and lower respiratory diseases are very common in rats. Respiratory disease can present with a number of signs including sneezing, wheezing, nasal discharge, and unusual noises while breathing, including rattling or honking.

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