Ratablog

Misto update

Misto went to Dr. F today...not that he's had any real changes, but I want to let the vet see the progress, or lackthereof. He's lost another 20 grams, which was disappointing...his appetite has seemed a little better, but I guess I need to find higher calorie/protein things he'll eat. (Hmm, maybe that stuff at GNC that the weight lifters use?)

Dr. F also took x-rays, because with the stethoscope Misto's breathing sounded a little worse. Before he took the films, though, he did say that he didn't expect to change our treatment course...I told him to go ahead with the x-rays essentially for research purposes. At this point we are trying to keep Misto happy and comfortable, but along the way I'll support doing anything that will help Dr. F learn things that may help other rats later.

Anyway, the x-rays show more clouding of the good lung, which is bad news.

Poor Misto...he is way too young for this. I will admit, though, that in July I didn't expect him to make it through the summer, so he is a little fighter.

Oliver's surgery

Oliver is back to normal, eating and drinking as he usually does. He seems as happy as he usually is.

A couple of notes on the surgery: We requested the incision be closed with internal stitches. Dr. G did that, but he also recommended staples. I told him to go ahead if he felt they were necessary and apparently, he did. I don't think Oliver has tried to remove them hisself, and I'm really grateful for that--Abita had concerns about Kanga's collar fitting him.

Second, he removed each testicle singly--notice he has an incision on each side of his scrotum. When I had my first four boys neutered three years ago, Dr. G made only one incision, down the middle of the scrotum. I admit this seems to be alot tidier than the incisions the Rink Rats had.

Updates

First of all, Oliver came thru his neutering OK, though it's possible what happened still hasn't hit him. Poor guy...all he wants to do is sleep:

(Sorry he's out of focus--I didn't want to disturb him too much.)

Next, Kanga's scar is healing nicely:

And finally...Kanga and Zoe spent some time hanging out together during playtime:

Happy birthday

Happy birthday to Rufus and Reuben!

We'll be having yogies all around to celebrate.

Oliver's big day

Well, I'm not sure if Ol is really that excited...but tomorrow he's going to get neutered. The attempts (even the ones done correctly) at intoducing him to the boys have failed, and as sweet as Oliver can be, he has a history of not always playing well with others. Hopefully without so much testosterone he'll mellow out, and then we'll try introducing him to the girls.

Oliver smiles for the camera, about an hour ago. I suspect he wouldn't be smiling if he knew what was going to happen to him tomorrow (added by Victor).

Frat boys

Good stick, Mom, but not as tasty as your finger.

Hey! George bites you, yet I end up in jail?

Don't worry, Jack, I'll get you out. Your honor, my client was framed!

Thank you all.

Thank you all, for the lovely notes and condolences on Ohana's passing. It's never an easy decision, but I feel we make the right one. Sadly, yesterday I noticed my beautiful, licky girl, Zoe, has started developing a tumor herself. Already it seems to have grown since I last noticed it.

Ohana

Ohana's health isn't improving much. For the most part, she seems more-or-less healthy--she's eating and she's mobile. On the other hand, her lumps are huge (you can see it to the right), and they're multiplying. I discovered a new one growing, between her arms, and she can't walk in a straight line. She kind of pulls to the right.

Further, and you can see it on this picture, her eye is getting kind of cloudy. Her eyes are so dark you couldn't tell with the naked eye, but it's obvious in the picture.

I said she was mobile? She is, but she really doesn't come out for playtime, and when I drag her out, she doesn't do much more than crawl under something and chill out. It's hard to tell the difference between a good quality of life and a bad one, but I think hers is starting to decline.

Just a few pictures

Just a few pictures. First, Niko's stash:

Niko is our stasher. Whenever we fill up the food dish, she crams as much food in her mouth as she can and stashes it away. Once we found over two bowls worth of food in a box during cage cleaning. This was underneath the shoebox on the floor of one of their balconies.

Next, Kanga's scar:

It's healing nicely.

Finally, Misto. Sorry you have to click on his name; the picture is too large to put inline. Click on it because it's well worth it.

UPDATE: I've resized it myself to be a little smaller. It's smaller than the version Eanna posted, tho. Thank you, Eanna, for taking the time to do that.

This is George

The maneater himself. ;-)

(Womaneater?)

I don't think he remembers it at all.

And what about some of the other rats?

Nope, we haven't forgotten about the other rats. Let's take a clockwise trip 'round the rat room, starting with...

SPARROW'S BOYS (Arthur, Rabskuttle, and Misto): Misto still has a collapsed lung, and sadly, he has slowed down a bit in the last couple of days. His appetite is down a bit, but he's still active, and he now loves taking his medicine. He must've gotten to the sugar layer in it, although we do shake the bejeebers out of it before we give it to him. Abita fears he may be ready for another chest tap, but is debating whether or not to put him thru that again. Rabby is wheezy every now and then, but when we take him to the vet, he checks out OK. Arthur hasn't given us any problems, save from being scared silly of Rabby--when Rabskuttle approaches him, Arthur gets very defensive and he cries out.

OLIVER: I'm starting to see why Abita thought he looked lonely--he acts lonely. As soon as I enter the rat room he's at the door to his cage, practically begging to be let out. I think we should try to schedule a neutering for him soon, but right now we're more concerned about Abita's hand. One headache at a time, you know? He did have some very supervised time with the girls the other day, and I'm hopeful he'll get along with them once he's neutered.

THE FRAT BOYS (George, Jack, and Jim): After biting Abita, George was good enough to turn over the igloo and climb into it, so I picked that up and put him in Kanga's isolation cage. When we got back from the emergency clinic, he had calmed down...but I still wore my welding gloves to put him in the Frat Boys cage. The next night during playtime, we used blankets that had already had other rats on it, and he got very puffy and agitated, so I broke out the welding gloves again. Since then, however, he's been the same old mama's boy he was before he bit her. Jack and Jim are still healthy and cute, though Jim spends a lot of time tucked away in the bench sleeper.

THE GIRLS (Kanga, Roo, Zoe, Niko, and Ohana): Aren't as active as they used to be when they used to be almost bionic. I figure they're just getting a little slower as they age. During playtime (over one hour), they're not as active, and they're all pretty much sacked out at the end of playtime. Niko and Roo are still the most active, and I'm glad Niko hasn't shown as much interest in trying to climb into Harley the Guinea Pig's cage anymore. Kanga is still healing well, and Zoe has slowed down a bit. Ohana's tumor seems to have stopped growing, but she, like Zoe, has also slowed down. During playtime she eats a few treats then camps out.

Not the way to introduce rats

I made a very big mistake.

On Sunday I had the frat boys (George, Jack, and Jim) out on my bed. I had Oliver out with me, because I feel so sorry for the poor guy now that he's lost Leather.

Now, the reason Oliver was housed with Leather (who'd been spayed) is that previous introductions with the other boys went poorly, and George is usually puffy and hissy as soon as he suspects another rat has been near me. For this reason, I haven't been thinking of trying to move Oliver into one of the boys' cages, but rather getting him neutered in hopes he can live with the girls.

But Sunday I took leave of good sense.

I was sitting near the bed, and George jumped to my knee. To my surprise, he wasn't a big ball of fur, and neither was Ol. I let them both wander back to the bed, and for a few minutes all was calm.

Then all wasn't calm, and Oliver and George were at each other with terrible squeeling and bared teeth. I jumped to separate them, and I got them separated. But when I picked up George, he was still in a fury, and he bit me.

Now, I've had a couple of bitey rats, and Curly once got me all the way through a fingernail, but it was nothing like this. George went through the knuckle of my right index finger. It hurt like I can not explain.

I really can't give a coherent account of what happened right after...the sight of my own blood makes me woozy. Victor got the boys away (Oliver had a few small bites, nothing major, and I don't think George was hurt at all) and took me to an emergency clinic. By the time I saw the doctor, I was crying I was in so much pain.

Three stitches, two shots, two hours, and $688 later I left. I have yet to be able to bend my finger...it is still swollen like a hot dog...and on Monday I will start physical therapy. If I can't use my finger after that, it's surgery. The antibiotics make me feel like I have the flu and everything I do with my right hand hurts...a big reminder of how I screwed up.

Please folks...don't ever try to break up a rat fight bare-handed, and take introductions, especially between grown males, slowly and carefully. You do not want to go through this.

My favorite baby picture of Leather

Goodnight, Leather

Our tough old lady left us today, just eight days shy of her 3rd birthday.

She had been going strong until Thursday night, when I noticed that she didn't launch herself out of the cage door when I opened it to serve dinner. She ate Thursday, but without gusto. Yesterday she only ate baby food and yogurt. This morning she wouldn't even take Pedisure.

I kept her with me most of the day, and around 4:30 she had a seizure. Still, she displayed that same tenacity that carried her through the mysterious epilepsy she had as a baby, multiple respiratory infections, and the fractured leg just over a month ago...she raged against they dying of the light for two and a half more hours before passing away. Even after I could tell she was gone...it was almost as if I felt her leave her body...Victor heard a few more moments of faint heartbeat through the stethoscope.

This is the end of a generation for us; Leather was the last of the second group of rats we adopted. Her passing leaves Oliver alone right now, and I have to figure out what to do...earlier attempts to introduce him to the other boy groups were very unsuccessful, so we may be sending him for a neuter so he can move in with the girls. I owe Oliver a lot; I firmly believe that having him to harrass was one of the things that kept Leather going so long.

I will miss Leather greatly, but I have to say: hers was a long and well-lived life.

Leather: 11 September 2002 - 3 September 2005

Leather this morning. We suspected she wouldn't last the day; she passed on at 7PM. Good night, sweet girl.

No stitches!

Kanga's (remaining) stitches came out today! She spent most of the afternoon in the girls cage with her friends, asleep in the hammock. Right now, she's enjoying freeze-dried peas and playtime.

Already she looks a lot happier. OTOH, she's gonna have a seriously funky-lookin' scar.

Helping the animal victims of Katrina

Also wanted to mention: the Humane Society's Disaster Animal Response Teams are down on the Gulf Coast helping the victims of Hurricaine Katrina.

There are so many heartbreaking stories right now...hopefully the work they are doing will bring some happy endings.

We're back!

...I think. The server issues should be fixed now, so hopefully this post won't disappear. Just in case, I'll keep it short:

We have our fingers crossed that tomorrow will be stitch-removal day for Kanga.

Misto is about the same...not too grunty, and eating, but less than I'd like. I have seen him defend his X-Treme Chocolate Fudge Bite-lette from Arthur, at least.

Leather's leg is healed up, but she seems to be slowing down. She looks and acts very tired, and while she's still eating, she doesn't attack food with the relish she had just last week. Her third birthday is the 11th, so at her age, fading is hardly unexpected...but it is still sad.

Ohana's lump seems stalled again, for now. Though huge, it isn't keeping her down, she just needs a bit of help in and out of the cage.

Jimmy is trying to disprove the myth that rats are highly intelligent. In the time that it has taken me to type this, I've watched him "stash" a dozen pieces of food in the corner of the cage...where it is dropping right through the bars and down to George. This has nothing to do with the health updates, but it is cracking me up.