Ratty people, advice needed please

[Madratlady]

We adopted Newrat last week, introductions to our current group seemed to be going ok, no more scuffling or squeaking than usual, then this morning I found newrat badly wounded, we are 99% sure that the culprit was the alpha of our current group.

Several hours at the vet, emergency surgery and £hundreds later, newrat is at home, in a small cage to keep him from overdoing it. He's on a puppy pad which I'll change daily to keep him clean, he has metacam and baytril for pain and to prevent infection, he has food available but has only managed to nibble a treat although he ate at the vets and has been drinkking. Is there anything else I can do to help him recover?

DH and I feel terrible, his previous owners trusted us to look after him and give him some new friends and this happens. Alpharat can be a bit grumpy but has been through intros with other rats without problems before.

[PixieofCatan]

Don't feel awful, this kind of thing just happens :( I've never intro-ed adults to adults, but if you're on facebook the Fugly Rats page is brilliant for advice:
www.facebook.com/groups/121707247908142/?fref=ts

Poor thing though, how is he now?

[Madratlady]

Thanks Pixie, we've never had this level of trouble with intros before :(

He's in a hamster cage to ensure he doesn't get any ideas about climbing till he's well enough, he's hiding in his little wooden house that came with him from his previous home, he has nibbled a little food and done a couple of poos which is good. He's weeing (very good since his injuries could potentially have damaged his urinary tract) and drinking.

He's not eating much at all which is making it very difficult to get his medication into him, he's too delicate to hold him still to syringe it.

Poor little guy he's the sweetest and most docile rat we've had in a long time.

The rat who caused the injuries is acting different, the situation has clearly upset him a lot, he's been so subdued. We think he freaked out because new rat is bigger.

[PixieofCatan]

Aw, they look so big in hamster cages as well don't they? (we have a small cage for a hospital/transport to vet cage, same reason RE climbing, we also bought it in an emergency when our boys were small so it seems so much smaller now!)

Oh, yeah, that's going to fuck around with the alpha if the newbie is bigger, poor boys! Could you do some intensive alpha/newbie intros when newbie is feeling better? Glad to hear he's pooing/peeing/drinking, he could just be a bit shocked still so just not hungry maybe? It's difficult to give them medicine at the best of times though.

I hate syringing medicine, ours usually get it in peanut butter, I remember getting slated for that online but our vet told us that it's better in them in peanut butter than not in them at all.

Is metacam the "honey" tasting one? If it is, one of our babies wouldn't let you syringe it in but she would lick it off of the syringe. Baytril is a pig though isn't it? They hate it.

How many do you have at the moment? Didn't you have 15 at one point or was that somebody else?

[Gileswithachainsaw]

Can't advise as not a rat expert. Just wanted to say I hope new rat is going to be ok..Poor little mite.

[Madratlady]

Strawberry yoghurt is my usual thing for giving medication in, I've not had a rat not eat it yet.

It was me who had 15 at one point, we lost a couple of oldies a few months back, so new rat takes us back to 14. 3 girls and neutered boy in one cage and a group of 9 boys. They've all come to us in pairs or trios so introductions are something we're used to.

I don't think I'd risk putting new rat anywhere near alpharat, it'd cause lots of stress for them both and us, we considered splitting the group so new boy was with our trio of youngest boys who are a couple of months younger than him, but I think that might be unfair on the existing group so we're possibly going to adopt a baby rat to keep him company. It all depends on how he seems when he's better and fit to meet other rats.

[PixieofCatan]

Flavoured yoghurt, never thought to try that! We water down the peanut butter and then mix in the meds.

Fair enough re mixing them both again, 9 in a cage must make for some interesting dominance battles! I'd love five or more in a cage, our girls have been spayed so will go in with our boys once their older cage mate dies, she's a year and a half at most though so it'll be a while (thankfully!)

[Madratlady]

We've always had a good group dynamic, and the cage is huge so they can get away from each other for some peace. Since our oldest rat got all frail and wobbly, the current alpha took over, we assume because he's the biggest and sat on anyone who objected since he's certainly not the brightest rat. He's such a sweetie usually.