Not necessarily at the same time.
We've been busy making button badges for the Pets and People show at the end of the month. Last year we gave away 841 'I held a rat' badges, so we're aiming to have 1,000 with us this year. It involves printing out sheets of 40 badges, cutting out, assembling and whomping with the badge whomper. Ginnie has done most of them, it's her sort of thing.
The Pets and People show is great fun. The photos from last year are here: MRC site - there's so much to see, so many different animals from Shire horses to lizards, with rats along the way.
Right, this interview. Well it wasn't that bad. I'm still here. But I very much doubt that I've got the job. The other inteviewees all seemed much more suited to the job than I do. Then I got the dry mouth thing on the one to one (well, two against one) interview, and gave some rubbish answers. But my volume was turned down, so they might not have heard them. Never mind, we'll see.
I've got to tell you all - Brunel let me stroke him yesterday, on the table, without biting me! It's only a week since he was neutered! I'm amazed at him. Let's hope it continues.
Pyramus, Thisbe and Sophie seem to be getting over their loss. They were out and about this evening, business as usual. I don't know if it's the passing of time, or if the addition I made to their cage last night has got them interested again. I added a hamster cage to the top of their cage, giving them a small attic extension.
Brunel is still being amazingly good. I had tears in my eyes whilst stroking him this evening. It's been so long since I could sit at the table with them and give him a fuss without being attacked. This is a faster result than I ever expected from his neutering.
Theo, on the other hand, has begun to give signs that his tumours are bothering him. He was rolling over this evening trying to bite his side. I guess it's time to take him in to the vet for the last time.
Hubble has taken a turn for the worse, and is lying in the tunnel which connects the two halves of the cage, panting. He looks so tired. So he can come in to the vet first thing too, to see if they can help him this time.
It's easy to say. What it really means is watching my ratty babies die and not replacing them.
I took Theodore to the vets today to be put down. This is one time when I am sure that he was ready to go. His lump had returned, multiplied, spread along his side, and was bothering him to the point where he was biting it. I put him on the vet's table, and he was so tired he lay down and bruxed himself to sleep. Goodbye my sweet Theo.
Hubble has been having problems with what the vet believes is pneumonia. He's never been strong since his infection as a kitten. He'd had a course of antibiotic injections and seemed to be on the mend until last night, when he was looking very ropy. This evening while I cleaned the cage, he came out with the others, but had what looked like a heart attack. I was stroking him, his friends were round him, he took four or five more breaths and then stopped. Just nine months old. Goodbye, my pretty little Hubble.
Maybe that was it then. I got my letter this morning to say I hadn't got the job I was after, but I knew that.
Then we got a letter from the morgage insurers to say that because Mark was taken ill a day before the insurance began, they were voiding the insurance. Great.
Thirdly, though it did happen first - last night; I have Tizzy on pregnancy watch again. I assume I forgot to close the door on their top extension. I found her on the table with the three younger boys. Babbage and Brunel were still in the cage, but Otis had discovered her and she was definitely in season. I'm counting now on the fact that she was living wild with Py for three or more weeks before I got her, and she hadn't caught then. I don't need lots of babies, much as I'd love them.
Tizzy can open the top cage door. It's got a clip on now.
She's back on form. I cleaned them out late this morning and she disappeared until 11pm this evening. She turned up in the ferret boat on top of the boys cage. Such a little madam. Such a little sweetheart.
Py and the girls were home, the three boys were out on the table, then Ginnie saw Thisbe watching her from the top of the shelves. Not only Tizzy was out, but Py and Sophie were up there too! Aaargh! I didn't put the clip on the door!
This is a fantastic ratty video that I saw ages ago, then lost. So now I've found it again I'm posting it here where I can't lose it.
Oh boy. I had this annoying lump inside my bottom lip. A mucocele, it seems. So today I went in for the doctor to freeze it off. NOW I have a hugely swollen lip and the lump is twice the size. Doc says it will fall off during the next two weeks. Here's hoping I'll be able to drink without a straw before then!
Big question is, how do I keep the ratties from removing it before it falls off?
Well she's not pregnant. She was in season last night, and we actually managed to get through the evening without her managing an illicit liaison with any boys! So we're safe for another four days, lol.
Sophie loves her Acrorats corner pocket so much she's moving in!
I got a Discovery for my birthday!
Well that's what it says it is. I thought they had engines? My prezzie from Mark.
I made a new friend at the weekend. I'm not sure how to write about this. We had a rat club committee meeting at Katie's, which is a good way away so I stayed overnight afterwards. Katie has a menagerie. Two hounds - a whippet and a Saluki rescue. Stripey Bun, the rabbit who humps his football friend. Then of course the rats. And Della.
Della is a horse. I've never had much contact with horses. I've fed them grass over a fence. Della is different. She is just fantastic. I'd never have imagined myself standing with a horse's head over my shoulder scritching both her shoulders while she pulls an ecstatic camel face, but it was incredible. She's just so lovely. You look in her eyes and there is so definitely someone at home there. I get the horse thing now. Took me long enough!
Babbage, Brunel and Otis lived with the older boys for a week or two when they were about 10 weeks old, then I decided it was stressing them out too much and put them in a smaller cage.
Today I tried letting them out to free range together. I expected huffing and hissing and bog-brushing. Nothing. One scrap between Edison and Doppler, but they already live together!
I've had another free range session this morning with the big group of boys and the three youngsters. It's funny watching them. Babbage sits on the sidelines like the little fat boy in the playground, watching the others but not joining in. Brunel is too busy stripping the wallpaper in the corner behind the door to notice that anyone else is around. Otis runs around saying hi to everyone, trying to make friends and being surprised if they don't want to know.
I think I'm going to continue this, not with a view to integrating the two groups at the moment, but with the idea that when the numbers have gone down a lot in the big cage then maybe they would let the youngsters move in.
I cleaned the boys out on Thursday afternoon. They were home again when the girls came out to play. I went in to find Tizzy in the cage with Brunel (neutered), Babbage on the floor and Otis on the shelves. Either I left their side door open, Tiz told them how to open it, or she can open doors from the OUTSIDE? I feel so stupid. I'm supposed to be the one in charge here. And how can I expect people to believe it's an accident when this is the second time in around two weeks? So I'm back waiting for Tiz to come in season, otherwise she needs to be spayed. That's what everyone is telling me, that she needs spaying.
Logically it makes sense. It would stop her doing this to me. We wouldn't be bringing more ratties into a world full of rescues. It would protect her from the dangers of giving birth. It would stop me ending up with a whole pile of babies that would stop me taking more rescues in.
Emotionally I hate the idea! Ungh. Please let her not be pregnant.
We spent the day at the Pets and People Show at Weston Park. It was a fantastic day, though the rabbits and ferrets weren't there this year. It's not as good without them. The birds of prey were missing too.
Anyway, the photos are here. I'm giving tomorrow a miss and going back on Monday with a different trio of rats. They get so tired meeting people that it's not fair to take the same ratties twice.
Tizzy's not in season
I need to talk to my vets and see what they think. I don't want to spay her.
I've come to the decision that unless I find overwhelming evidence that it would be safer to spay Tiz than let her have the babies, then she will have the babies. She hasn't come into season yet, so it looks like she succeeded this time. I still can't believe I was stupid enough to let this happen; it's not as if I didn't have any warning.
So I need to start a plan of campaign. I need lactol, egg food, Vitalin, shares in a kale farm, puppy kibble, and more Alpha Herbal. GPSdirect here I come! Maybe I'll wait until after Friday just to make double sure that she is actually expecting? It would be mad to get lots of stuff then find out she's only spoofing me.
I'd been pondering on whether to start breeding in a few years when the kids have left home and we have a spare room to make into a rat room. Looks like we're not waiting that long!
Thisbe seems to be bulking up slightly already. I've tried to weigh her, but failed miserably to keep her still long enough. I'm sure she's not supposed to be showing any weight gain yet, though? It's only a week.
Last modified: Saturday, 10-Nov-2007 23:03:14 GMT
