My poor little ratties

[OrmRenewed]

Are not well. One is worse than the other. She is lethargie, very sleepy. She eats OK and responds to attention. But she had lots of porpyria in her eyes. We lost their little sister abotu 6 weeks ago (she died in DD's hands )and since she died I have taken the other 2 to the vets for a check up. He thought they were OK but not exactly 100% so gave them some anti-parasite injections because of the red eyes and because one of them has scabs under their fur. The scabs have cleared a little but this lethargy has developed.

I have an appalling track record with my rats I lost the other 2 to an infection when they weren't even 2 years old.

THey are loved, fed well, kept clean. What could it be? Vet is nice but seems at a loss with rats.

If we lose these I am seriously thinking of not getting anymore.
Anyone got any advice

I'm sorry to hear that Orm.

We are having a break from rats at the moment. We hope to get a dog sometime this year or next year and I don't want to be trying to exercise rats with an untrained pup in the house. I have scrubbed all the cages etc and stored them in the loft.

I hope we will get rats again in a couple of years time. I intend to get our next rats from a breeder to try and minimise health problems, and ensure that they have been well-handled from early on.

midori - how do you cope with 25+ rats! The most we have ever had at any one time was 4 (in 3 cages - long story...) but I didn't feel that they each got enough of our time.

SHe's gone

I know we should have taken her to be PTS earlier but we kept hoping she would respond to the baytril. I feel so bad now. Poor little thing. I can't stop crying.

Oh no, Orm - I'm so sorry. How is the other one doing? Is she responding to Baytril?

Yes she seems fine. But a bit quiet and forlorn

Orm please do not feel guilty. The love you have for your ratties is so obvious from your posts. You have also given her every chance to get better - please try to find comfort from that.

Years ago I had to have a very ill dog put down. After she was put down I tortured myself wondering if I had made the wrong decision and should have given her more time...

It is a case of whatever you do you will beat yourself up about it.

I posted this seperately but I thought I'd try here too... I am thinking about getting a companion or two for Boris. She is so quiet and subdued - rarely comes out of her straw tunnel thing. She seems fine physically but I am worried about her.

Is it a good idea? Is it possible or desirable to introduce new rats to her cage?

I have only done an introduction once. It was a male rescue rat that we had neutered and had obtained to live with our lone male rat, Button. We kept him alone in a cage until he recovered from his op. We then decided that Button was going visibly downhill and it was probably better for Hamish to live with our girlies from the outset instead. (This had been the longer term plan). We had read up on intros and were armed with leather gloves and plant misters in case of problems. It took us weeks to pluck up the courage.....

But, it went amazingly well, and something we had intended to do over 3 or 4 evenings ended up with the 3 rats shut up in the same cage overnight after the first meeting.

I think if you got two younger girls you would be fine. (I'm glad you are thinking of more rats..... )

It might be an idea, our boy Hugo was really down when his brother died. We haven't got him a companion as he's not hugely social, but we got girls and moved their cage next to his, he's definitely perked up!

Thanks. I hoped that babies would get an easier ride with an adult than other grown rats would.

purple - Yep my resolution lasted all of...oooh....three days .

I will start looking for some today.

Yay! More rats are always good Wish we had room for more!

op am sorry to hear your rattie died.

i have had about 12 over the years and its always very sad when they get sick.

where do you live? we found a brilliant rat vets when our girl got cancer - they operated and she is now hunky dorey. travelled an hour and a half each way to get to them but was totally worth it.

would def recommend them if you are within reach, as i have found regular vets are rubbish with rats. my local ones operated on my girl and she died, and they could not find what was wrong when my boy became lethargic like yours and eventually died.

Thanks splashy - we are in Somerset. Would be grateful for any vet recommendations.

I contacted the breeder who got me the girls in the first place. Just to tell her what had happened as she has requested when I got them. She told me that the whole of that rescue litter had developed health problems including epilepsy so I do feel a bit better TBH.

But best of all she has 2 8m old rescue does - husky dumbos - going begging and I am picking them up on Friday. Hurray!

Yeah!

Oh I'm so pleased for you. I've watched this thread as I have two gorgeous rattles (what DD calls them!).
I got mine from a pet shop, I know, I know but first time owner and then I replaced one that died as I was ill, it was Easter etc. I wouldn't do it again though and do watch them like a hawk in case they get ill.
They are such a part of our family now and brilliant pets.
Greedy, messy and mischievous, but so loveable.

Oh they are so adorable. Small, lively and feisty. One of them bit DS2 quite badly but he did stick his finger in their cage while were still in the car and they'd just be driving in the heat for about 2 hrs. They've calmed down now and we've taken them out and cuddled them.

Sadly I think Boris is on her last legs poor old girl . So we aren't putting them together. The lady who gave them to me had a small cage that they came in - they are having to stay in there until either Boris dies or gets better.