An update on all the ratties for the new year.
The six young boys are growing into quite handsome young men. I need to keep an eye on their weight as they are starting to look quite chunky already and they're only four months old.
Babbage, Brunel and Otis are all overweight. I've reduced their rations a little, but they really need to get out of their hammocks more often and actually do something. Otis is still the most nervous, but from being a tiny, tiny little scrap of a rat he is now my biggest boy, 823 grams at the last weigh-in.
Pyramus is still steadily recovering from his illness, but some of the girls are beginning to feel their age. Sophie and Thisbe are both getting wheezy fits and looking less than their best. Megan isn't helping at all by chasing them round, but I'm reluctant to split them off from the cage because I've done that sort of thing before and then got left with a solo sick rat. Rosie seems to be getting less 'bitey', which is great. I'm regaining my confidence around her more and more.
Archie is in a right state. He's spiky and wheezy, but nothing seems to help it. I keep wondering if it's time to take him on his last trip to the vet, but then he shows that spark that makes you think he still wants to fight on.
Darwin, Morse and Maxwell are precious boys. Darwin is still plagued by scabs that don't respond to mite treatment, though the gel from Acrorats does help. Maxwell is a sweet boy, but usually too busy for much fuss. Morse has responded to me consciously trying to give him more attention by seeming to enjoy my company more.
Putting together Chester, Pickle and the rescue girls has proved a great success. The girls have made their new uncles begin to behave in a more normal fashion, they no longer give me the feeling that they're reacting slightly oddly to the world. The neutering is obviously helping too, as the boys have time to potter round and interact with the world now they're not trying to dominate it.
Archie left us late last night. He just slowly faded out through the evening. I didn't try to bring him back because he was never going to be a fit ratty. He can have some peace and stop struggling for every breath now. xx
I'm having a low day today. I keep seeing Archie's empty cage. Doesn't help that I had a little argument with a friend last night. Well, not really an argument, more a difference of viewpoint, but I felt I had to be honest with her and not avoid an issue that I ignore most of the time, and now she's feeling hurt.
I signed up to this because I see it as equivalent to the plight of the farmed rats. Fancy Rats Forum. My main difficulty now comes in how to get hold of free range chicken, as I do most of the shopping at Lidl on the walk home from work, and there's no option there. I'm going to have to get hold of the car more often I suppose.
I took Sparky to the vet last night as he had a lump in his scrotum. The vet thought it might be a hernia, so he had an exploratory operation this morning. It's an abscess. So we now have the joy of twice-daily flushing.
I've decided it's time to start putting feelers out for some does, probably three. My boys are only five months old, so there's no big hurry.
I had a lovely moment with Chester, Pickle and the three rescue girls this evening. I was sitting in the playpen with them running around, and then they all took it into their heads to come up for a cuddle at once. An armful of five ratties!
Babbage has a lump. I suspect he may have had it for a while, as it hides in his rolls of fat. The shame of it! I'll get Sparky checked on Monday and ask about Babbage at the same time. It may just be an abscess, but I suspect it's a mammary lump.
Every time I mention how long it takes me to clean out my five cages, I get comments from friends that it only takes 20 minutes / half an hour to do theirs, so I thought I'd work out just why it takes me so long. Here's what I did with the girl's cage:
| 10:10 | Remove sleepy rats from cage and cuddle them on the way to the playpen. |
| 10:13 | Remove the two hammocks and two cloth shelf covers. |
| 10:19 | Get out the clean hammocks. |
| 10:20 | Remove the cage furniture. Two igloos, wheel and two tunnels. |
| 10:21 | Remove the cage litter and cushion floor shelf cover. |
| 10:25 | Carry stuff up to the bathroom. Wash and dry the cage furniture and cushion flooring, including disassembling and reassembling the Wodent Wheel. |
| 10:33 | Find a bowl, wait for the kitchen water to run hot, fill bowl and wipe down cage. |
| 10:40 | Replace the cushion flooring and furniture. |
| 10:45 | Add clean hammocks and cloth shelf covers. |
| 10:52 | Find and fill clean food bowls. |
| 10:53 | Clean and refill water bottles. |
| 10:55 | Catch the rats. |
| 10:57 | Finished. |
Babbage has a lumpy by his left back leg. He's going in tomorrow to have it taken off.
Babbage came through his operation wonderfully - you wouldn't have known he'd had an op by that evening. The vet said that the lump was the size of a small egg! I thought it felt about the size of a large marble. I suppose there's a lot of variation in the sizes of both...
I'm getting worried about Sophie now. She's been losing weight, and sounds very wheezy so I put her on the remains of the Baytril I have, but now she looks like she might have a slight head tilt. I'm not completely sure, though, she looks OK some of the time, and then I see the suggestion of one again. Vets tomorrow I guess.
Sophie did have a head tilt, and by last Monday evening she was in a shocking state, with a really crackly chest and looking completely tired out. The vet offered me the choice of treating her or having her put to sleep. I went for treating her. Sophie had a Synulox jab and a decongestant jab. The head tilt treatment is waiting until we've cured the chest problems.
I returned with her on Tuesday, when she was looking slightly better, but still not good at all. We agreed on trying her with Convenia, a long-lasting antibiotic meant for cats and dogs, so that I wouldn't have to worry about getting meds into her orally. I also tried my trick of giving her a small amount of Calpol, which seems to stop them hurting for a while and get them eating again.
On Thursday morning I had a panic when Sophie came out for a cuddle, jumped out of my arms in a panic attack and disappeared. Thankfully I found her again 10 minutes later in a different room of the house. I braced myself for taking her to be put to sleep that evening, but by then she was looking good again, and ate a fair amount of baby food.
This morning Sophie seems fairly happy. She took a piece of carrot from me eagerly, and is not making the horrible crackling sound when she breathes.
We returned to the vet today, and she was very pleased with Sophie's progress. Sophie has gained weight and her breathing is much, much better. Thisbe came along too, as she is sounding quite rattly although still bright and active.
Ratty Corner is the home of Brandywine Stud, NFRS Registration 2011-04
Last modified: Friday, 01-Feb-2008 17:43:42 GMT
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