lifewithrats

I received the most beautiful gift from the vet’s office today. I opened my mailbox to find a padded envelope addressed to my family from the vet’s office. I figured it was either some sort of fancy holiday card or perhaps some information regarding changes in the new year.

I was very surprised to find a copy of Rainbow Bridge (http://www.petloss.com/poems/maingrp/rainbowb.htm) and a small cast with Pidgin’s name and her tiny little foot prints. It was the most beautiful gift. In an impossible to fully explain way, it transformed my grief.

With most of my rats’ deaths, I cry hard for a few hours, then settle down into a slower mourning that lasts a few weeks. With Pidgin, my normal grieving cycle was turned upside down. For the week before we took her in, I cried on and off while a weight held my heart down continuously. The day we took her in, I felt denial take hold of me. I didn’t cry, and haven’t cried for her again since then. I did come home grumpy, and fell asleep for three hours that Saturday afternoon.

I’ve felt like I was waiting for something since then. I’ve felt like something is incomplete. Pidgin was the last of my California rats, the last that I brought with me to Kentucky. She was one of only two I’ve hand-raised; her sister, Hedwig, was the other. I miss them both so much right now, but I have Pidgin’s little handprints to view when I am very lonely.

I still have two sickly boys and two hyper adult females (one of whom refuses to believe she’s not a baby anymore.) I love my brood, though it is dwindling down. Pidgin was somehow a final hope that my brood might grow again, that I am not giving up my rattie pets for a time.

The truth is, my husband and I have decided to move on from being rat owners to being parents. We’re letting our brood live their natural lives but not adopting in younger rats. Well, so goes life. I’ve had rats for almost eleven years now, and by my twelfth year, I’ll be rat-less. Once our children are old enough and I’ve been initiated into the guild of motherhood, we’ll welcome more rats into our home. Until then, I’ll enjoy the four I have now.

7 Quick Takes Friday

1. I’m already starting to dread tomorrow. My husband, J, is trying to make up a sick day he took this week, so he will have to work one day this weekend. He’s going to try to get Sunday off, but if they only give him Saturday, I might have to take care of Pidgin on my own. (She is being put down around eleven tomorrow morning.)

2. Ember, my spoiled girl, is the most nimble rat I’ve ever had. If you happen to hold her up in the air, she doesn’t flail about. She holds still until she has her balance, then deftly twirls until she’s righted and in a good position to jump. This all goes away, however, when you give her a good-sized piece of food. We once put a leftover bread bowl in for all four of the girls we had at the time. Ember grabbed the entire thing in her mouth and attempted to jump up to her ledge. Of course, since the bread bowl was bigger than her, she only managed to jump into the bread bowl. This didn’t faze her, and she went on eating while J and I laughed.

3. Her litter-mate, Poppy, is the exact opposite. It’s not that she’s very clumsy, but she certainly isn’t graceful. I’m not sure how the two of them are really sisters, since they are so different. Though they are both pretty small, Poppy has a few ounces on her sister. She’s bulky where Ember is lean, her fur is white to Ember’s silky black coat, and their personalities are quite different.

4. I’m watching a show on History Channel about the assassination of President Lincoln and subsequent manhunt for John Wilkes Booth. I’m thinking how fortunate it is that rats don’t have a sense of vengeance. Can you imagine if animals wanted to make up for the violence done to them by others (human and animal) with more violence? It’s enough that they fight for their food and lives, if they had to fight to make up for things…well, it wouldn’t be a pretty world. And imagine if animals could conspire!

5. Just for the record, I want people to know that ratteries (rat breeders) are not out to make a lot of money. Breeding rats is not a money-making venture so much as a chance to better the species. I feel like I’ve been explaining that lately, so now it’s on the record.

6. I will write about the food I feed my rats soon, probably tomorrow. I’m also going to come up with an ideal mix I want to make, and I’ll either blog about that, or come up with a plan to get to that point. As I said earlier, I would really like to use this blog as a motivation to get my rats on the best diet possible.

7. The worst rat bite I’ve had was by Suki, a mother rat I fostered. She’s the mother of Pidgin and Hedwig. When she was nursing, I made the mistake of getting my hand a little too close to the babies, and she thought I was a threat. She bit my pointer finger hard enough to bite through the nail. I was lucky not to lose the nail, but I was in quite a bit of pain for a few weeks. I learned a lesson about mother rats that day!

To post your own 7 Quick Takes (not necessarily about rats), visit Conversion Diaries at http://www.conversiondiary.com/2008/11/7-quick-takes-friday-vol-9.html.

I’ve been quiet because my life has been chaotic. I guess the chaos is not beyond a normal level, but certainly the added stress of losing pets is adding to my anxiety. I just wrote last week about dealing with death, but it’s been years since I’ve had to deal with the death of more than one rat at a time. It’s a whole different sort of beast.

I’m guessing that by the end of the month, I will probably be down by two or three rats. My girl, Pidgin, is going to be put down on Saturday, because of a tumor. The two boys I am still lucky enough to have around, Jock and Heathen, both have bad cases of myco. From the research I’ve been doing, the fact that they both have myco and pneumonia means that their days are numbered. I’ve no way of knowing how long they have, but I’m guessing only a few more weeks. They both have the shivers and are hot to the touch, and I’ve nothing to give them.

If any of you are going through a similar situation, be calm. There will be an end to the suffering, at least for your rattie friends. Your heart, on the other hand, will have to deal with loss, grief, and possibly guilt. I know that with each passing of a rat, I feel the pain of every pet I’ve lost before. I know that with each passing, even with the rats I’ve lost of old age, I feel a certain amount of guilt. I feel like I could have done more. This is normal.

If any of you are suffering the same pain I am, take heart. There is nothing in the world like the relationship between a pet and her owner. There are things more precious in their own way, but nothing the same. You will always be blessed with the memories of your pet, and for me that means the memories of seventeen sets of rattie feet trampling through my thoughts.

Amanda

I thought I’d take you on a tour of the girls’ cage today. The cage is a modified rabbit hutch. I started with a store-bought rabbit hutch, with a white, plastic tub bottom and a wire top. The girls could squeeze through some of the bars, so I modified the cage with chicken wire to make it inescapable.

I also had to fix a hole that a few generations of rats had made in the side of the cage. I took an expired plastic gift card and taped it to the outside of the cage, covering the hole. They’ve not managed to chew through it yet. Prepare to modify any plastic bits of your cage, because rats will chew. Also, check the bars often, especially with younger girls who can squeeze through very small areas. Modifying a cage is not hard, but takes some trial and error.

I use old newspapers as bedding. My vets typically approve of this bedding, so long as I am sure not to use the shiny papers. Those inks are not necessarily non-toxic. My kids love the newspaper, since they can rip it and nest with it. A plastic castle filled with strips of newspaper makes  a delightful winter retreat.

I usually lay down three or four layers of newspaper on the bottom of the cage, and then shred about a quarter of the Sunday paper to give them something to nest with. They always manage to tear through my layers at the bottom, but they usually wait until just before cleaning day to do so.

They have a ledge to climb on, a cozy fleece hammock to lie in, and a few toys. We’ve cleaned out most of the toys, but only to givet them time to forget about them. Once they look like they’re getting bored, we’ll introduce the old toys again.

Tomorrow I’ll talk about the diet I feed my rats. It’s not the perfect diet, nor is it the best I could be doing. Maybe this blog will challenge me to create a healthier diet for my rats.

Amanda

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Previously, you met six of the rats I’ve owned. Today you’ll meet the final eleven:

Maia and Semele (Seme) were sisters named for Greek goddesses. Maia ended up being my favorite of all the rats I’ve had. We had a very close bond, and I miss her terribly. Seme was, well, special. She had a fever as a young rat, caused by an infection in her tail, which was later halfway amputated. The fever caused her to lose some brain functioning (we think) and she was never quite with it. We loved her so much, though. She was our ballerina, always prancing and spinning in circles.

Fala and Deira were also sisters. Deira was the most licky girl I’ve ever had. She loved nothing more than giving kisses, and was rather indiscriminate. She would kiss us, the pillows on our bed, the walls – pretty much whatever.

Fala was the smartest rat I’ve had. She was also my husband’s favorite. They had a very special bond that I could never (not that I wanted to) come between. She figured out so much in her life, and seemed to halfway understand the human interactions and emotions that surrounded her. She constantly amazed me.

We raised Pidgin and Potter (later renamed Hedwig) from the time they were a day old. We fostered their mother for a breeder friend, and got our picks of the litter. It was so much fun to watch them grow. Sadly, we lost Hedwig just a month ago. She’s missed. Her sister, Pidgin, is the most finicky rat I’ve had. If we put her in a different cage, she’ll refuse food until we put her back. She has a mammary tumor that is probably malignant. We’re keeping her comfortable, but she doesn’t have long.

We picked up Poppy and Ember when we moved out to Kentucky. We drove up to Michigan to buy them from a breeder. They were our first rats not born in California. Poppy is a smart rat, but rather average. She’s the perfect ratty specimen. She’s had a few problems with bladder infections, and I thought for sure I’d lost her once, when the vet diagnosed a tumor. Happily, the “tumor” turned out to be a swollen bladder due to a bad infection, and she’s fine now.

Ember is a rascal. I’ve spoiled her to the point that she thinks she should have everything she wants as far as attention. It’s quite funny to see a spoiled rat. I know I shouldn’t encourage the behavior, but it’s just so cute!

We adopted “the boys” when they were about a year old. That was over a year ago, so they are old men now. Their names are Jock, Snickers, and Heathen. Heathen got his name because Jock and Snickers are identical, but Heathen looks different than his brothers. Everyone laughs when they hear the name, but it fits him. (Of course, Snickers passed away yesterday. It was expected yet unexpected, and he is missed.)

And that’s our brood. I look forward to keeping this blog up to date with rat news, anecdotes, and perhaps an interview or two.

I was going to post today about the rest of my brood, catching up to the six current rats. I was even planning tomorrow’s post, which was going to be about preparing for an upcoming death. Four of my six rats are over two years old, and rats have a life span of two to three years on average. Of those four, one has a tumor and the other three, all boys, have what I think is myco.

Imagine my dismay and surprise to check on my boys this afternoon and find one of them, my dear Snickers, dead. I’m still in shock. His little body is laying in washcloths in my living room. We live in apartments, so I have no way to bury him. I could take him to the vet to dispose of, but they charge a fee for that service.

My best option, then, is to wrap him with dignity and place him in the dumspter. It’s a sad end for a noble life, but it’s the best I can do. I am grieving today. I know that if you are a pet owner, you’ve had to grieve over the loss of a pet. It happens more often when you raise rats, because of thier short life span. All you can do is prepare yourself for your eventual, or not so eventual, loss.

Amanda

I met my first pet rat when I was fifteen. Since then, I’ve raised seventeen of the little creatures. Mysty was my first, and she was an adventurous doll. She once saved me from a big, bad bug. At least, she was certain she had saved me. She pranced around the room so proudly afterwards.

After Mysty passed, I bought Isha and Ru. I was in a strange name phase. Ru was sickly from the beginning, and I have bittersweet memories of feeding her soft foods and cuddling all night while I tried to keep her alive. Her litter-mate Isha was the first rat I trained. I taught her the names of the household, and she would run to whomever I named. I loved watching her “Run to Grandma,” when my mom walked in the room.

Latte was a rescue, who apparently had been turned down by the snake she was supposed to feed. She was tiny, and died early of either an infection, or, more likely, starvation. I think she was too young to be off milk, but I only realize that now, years later.

Zorra was also rescue. She was supposed to be an older rat, but I found out at the vet that she was quite young (though not as young as Latte had been). She helped me decide to go out on a second date with my now-husband, because my formerly shy rat took right to him. She transitioned with me to my first real apartment.

Tam was a retired breeder. We bought her to keep Zorra company. Tam had given birth to something like twelve or fourteen babies. She was a nester. She often built up a nest of newspaper so large that it toppled over the castle she built it in.

Those were the first six. I’ll introduce some more of the brood tomorrow. Look forward to hearing about the rats that my husband and I were closest to, who will always be shining stars in the growing constellation of rats we’ve raised.

So what are the secrets to picking a good pet rat? One: Know where to go. If you can, find a breeder. If you go to a rescue, pay special attention to the health of the rats you pick. If you go to a store, pay even closer attention. Often, stores mishandle the rats they sell. They plan to sell the rats mostly as feeders, and not as pets. Good signs are pet stores that are discriminate about what the animal is being sold for and those who sell frozen feeder animals.

The second trick for picking a good pet rat is to know what to look for. Understanding a few caution signs is key to picking a healthy rat. If a rat sneezes often, has a red discharge around her eyes or nose, or is too lethargic, you should probably move on. As far as behavior, if a rat bites or even nips aggressively, she is probably ill or needing serious behavioral training.

Prepare a good home for your rats before bringing them home. Know what to feed, what bedding to use, and what cage to have before picking your rat out. It can help to have a good small animal or exotics vet picked out. As cute as the rats at the pet store can be, it’s always wise to be prepared to own a pet rat before you buy a pet rat. Finally, don’t buy what is necessarily the cheapest or the most upgraded cage or accessories. Ask around, do some research, and then buy what you need.

The final trick to picking out a good pet rat is to train your animal well. Take the time to acclimate your new rat. Make sure she’s comfortable with you, and give her a few days to relax in your care before trying to handle her too much. Be patient when training your rat, and don’t push them to learn a trick or behavioral skill too quickly.

Follow the four steps of picking out a good rat: Know where to look, know what to look for, be prepared, and train your animal well. Before long you’ll have a pet rat who is a joy to be around and a great addition to your household.