What is a Rodentologist?

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Are they a vet that specialises in Rodents?
Or a non-vet but trained in the care of rodents?

Can they prescribe or is that only the vets job?

If I book the GPs in for an MOT (no health issues ) to check weight,teeth,eyes.skin/fur, their rear ends, would that be vet or rodentologist?
I'm reading some of the rescue/rehome policies and alot of them recommend a GP MOT.

I'm planning to before they go on their holidays, just to make sure they have a clean bill of health (and if there is anything I should be dealing with, I can deal with it)

I believe to call yourself a rodentologist, you have to have completed a course run by the Cambridge Cavy Trust in rodentology. When I lived in London, I took my pigs to CCT and they ran the courses there. Quite a few vet nurses did the rodentology training. Others were just guinea pig keepers who wanted to know how to look after their pets better.

In my experience, most vets are pretty cack when it comes to anything smaller than a cat or dog. I think the situation has improved in recent years and you can often find out about where "cavy savvy" vets are from the Guinea Pig Forum or from rescues.

Rodentologists can't practice veterinary medicine, but they know much more about the anatomy, physiology and pathology of guinea pigs than most vets do. They are more likely to spot and accurately diagnose a condition than most vets. They can also do things like dental checks and treatments without anaesthetics, which for some reason many vets seem utterly incapable of doing. I would trust a rodentologist more than I would trust most vets. They won't have got through the course without Vedra Stanley Spatcher's okay.

When I lived in Wales, I was fortunate to be fairly close to an extremely good rodentologist and a fantastic vet, who actually respected each other (vets often get very sniffy about anyone who's not a vet saying they know anything about animal care!) I would have given anything to have brought either or both of them with me when I moved to Scotland.

I've taken my boys to the Vet College where they have specialist "exotic" vets. But, there are some pretty basic things that they don't get "right" that bug me (e.g. insisting they should have vitamin C in the water, insisting they can't look at the back teeth without an anaesthetic, etc.). I wasn't at all impressed with the "cage side manner" of one of the vets last time who was supposed to be a specialist, both in communicating with me and handling my boar. Reminds me - must check out a vet recommended to me recently.

Sorry, didn't mean to rant.

Kritiq - completely agree with what you say. I take my girls to Vedra at Cambridge Cavy Trust for a yearly MOT. If they are ill they only go to a vet that a rodentologist recommends and I always check with Vedra to make sure everything that can be done has been done.