Been awhile since I've done one of these. I've got a mixed report.
His biting is down, but not eliminated. The last time I put food in his bowl, he bit my hand, twice, but he didn't break the skin. I dropped some food and he grabbed it and started eating immediately, so it's possible he was just going for the food.
Whoops, forgot to mention he nibbled on one of my fingers a few nights ago, but it was exactly like the nibbling the other rats sometimes do--almost like he was grooming me. That didn't concern me at all.
As for getting along with the other rats, he's become a lot more...demonstrative...in his alphaness, to the point he doesn't give Oliver a lot of peace, and he's even flipped Neiko a couple of times. And, I'm sad to say, he's nipping at them all. The other rats are trying to avoid him and I don't think they're too happy with him right now.
I admit I'm rather disappointed with him right now.
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Earlier this year I reported Neiko and Roo have developed some lumps. I'm sorry to say Roo's lump has been growing for awhile and is now quite large, and I'm worried her quality of life is going down. Her gait has changed and she's not as active as she normally is. She's still curious, affectionate, and bright-eyed, though. Neiko has developed another lump between her arms and it's grown significantly in the last couple of days.
Oliver is doing well, and he's happiest when he's with his friend Neiko.
Posted by Publius at April 19, 2006 07:49 PMAbita,
As my mum has cancer right now, I have been doing a lot of research about alternative treatments. Have you heard that high doses of intravenous vitamin c seems to kill cancer cells without being too toxic? Then I just read that they are having some success with high grade ginger being used against certain cancer cells. Just thought I might throw it out to think about. Sometimes if there is nothing else to be done, the vet might consider alternative treatments.
sounds like Bandit is well on the way to calming down...
Sorry to hear about Roo's lump... i hope she does not suffer too much...
Poor little Bandit... maybe he still has a large build up of hormones in his system that still needs to wear off.
Posted by: colleen at April 19, 2006 11:58 PMThose lumps are the pits, aren't they? :( Hugs to the ratties.
Posted by: Lynn at April 20, 2006 01:27 AMOh, Eanna, I've very sorry to hear about your mother.
We have been using one alternative treatment for the girls, pau d'arco, to try to slow the tumor growth. I'm not sure if it works, because we have o way to know how fast the lumps would have grown without it.
At this point, the lumps are so big that stopping the growth wouldn't be enough, and at their ages, we aren't going to put the girls through surgery. It seems arbitrary, I know, but when I think back on how horrible Kanga's recovery experience was, I still feel ok about deciding that after age 2 most of the medical care becomes geared more toward keeping them comfortable rather than buying time...
The next time we get female rats, I'm going to feed them more of the "breast cancer diet" foods like green tea and soy. (And if they are young enough, I'll have them spayed...none of the three girls who were spayed developed mammary tumors.)
Hi Abita,
We got our first doe last weekend and I'm terrified of those tumours. We're trying her on soy, but I didn't know about green tea. Will talk to the vet about spaying too.
Hugs to Neiko and Roo,
Ratty.
finkin of roo xxxxx
Posted by: Riff at April 23, 2006 05:47 PMHey Ratty...something makes me think that the rate of tumors isn't as bad in the UK as it is here...I think you guys have more breeders working for healthy lines that we do in the US.
I have a file on the diet information; I'll post it if I find it.