Entries by Victor

Yesterday was one of the Small Angels adoption events. Seven rats in total were adopted out, including two of our foster boys. It's going to take a little getting used to when I do my evening count to have to stop at "six." They went to a vet and her son, so they're in excellent hands.

Aaaannnd...we came home with another little girl. Meet Biancha. A nice couple were trying to surrender her; however, the rescue really doesn't have room for one more cage in foster. Small Angels was willing to give them a courtesy post on their Petfinder page, but one wasn't necessary.

Her story is a little complex and I'm not sure I have it all: She was a school lab rat taken home by her handler who couldn't keep her so she put an ad in the paper. A couple saw the ad and was worried about where'd she end up, so they took her then brought her to Small Angels. Next thing you know, she's home with us and barging into T.S.'s cage, no doubt freaking our little tilt-headed girl the heck out.

They're still a little tense, and there have been some nose-offs but no real fights, so we're confident they'll be fine together.

Yep, that's the new girl's name. Her rescuer named her; at the time T.S. stood for Trolley Stop--the name of the restaurant where she was abandoned. I think I'm going to officially make it The Sweet, because she is. She and I just finished 25 minutes of trust training and she did quite well: The first ten minutes she sat quietly (after she calmed down); she even bruxed a couple of times. For about five minutes after that she tried to climb up to my shoulder, which I really didn't want her to do because she has sharp little needles for claws, and for the final ten minutes she sat quietly in my hand and lap, only moving her jaw a bit. She did seem to get a bit restless right at the end, but so was I because my butt and hand were going numb, so I would like to think ending the trust-training session was mutually agreed upon.

I'd like to clarify one thing in Darcy's previous post: T.S. was not abandoned in the ferret ball. According to her rescuer, they watched the woman throw something in one direction and the ball in the other. The group saw that something moving and when they investigated they found T.S., so she wasn't destined to starve in the ball. On the other hand, something else might not have starved had it found T.S. first...or...Or. I don't think I have to go on.

It was a cruel, vicious thing to do and I hope these people have guilt-ridden nightmares for the rest of their lives over their actions.

However, in its own way, this may have been the best thing that happened to her. She went from being a rat abandoned under the direst of circumstances to being a rat in a warm, loving home. Technically, she is in the Rescue right now, but honestly, I don't think she's going anywhere.

The listing Small Angels put up says, "The boys' foster parents are currently working with them to socialize them a bit more..." Yes. Yes, we are.

We started the training a few days after they came to live with us--fifteen minutes each night for each boy, and for the most part, they didn't enjoy it a whole lot. Neither did we, but mostly because they've got little needles for fingernails. Both me and Abita have a boatload of scratches on our arms. The good part was they're not biters.

I make it a point not to release them until they've calmed down a bit (don't want them to connect squirmy with freedom), so some of their scheduled 15-minute sessions went a little long, but not terribly so. Last night I decided to bump them up to twenty minutes each of forced socialization, and it was the longest hour of my life. All of the boys tried to get away from me; Lucky especially so. I had to hold him firmly to restrain him and, after struggling in an attempt to get away, he realized he had only one thing left to try. Fortunately, it was more of a warning bite but I wasn't happy about it. And, as I recall, he still had more than ten minutes to go on the forced socialization session.

Tonight, I decided to start with Lucky just to get him over with, and I was very, very pleased with the results. He didn't hold still, but he didn't really fight the socialization, either. He was up and down my chest and onto my arms and neck quite a lot but he was just a rat being curious, rather than a rat trying to escape. I wasn't thrilled with the amount of pee he left on my shorts and shirt, but I was wearing old stuff anyway.

Next up was Dusty, who immediately started yawning, then he bruxed and boggled a bit, then groomed, then just lay there while I petted him. Next thing I knew he had fallen asleep. It was only for a few minutes, but still...he fell asleep in my lap!

Finally, Ned sat on my lap. He was still, but I got the feeling he was pretty tense. However, he didn't spend the entire time trying to get away, and he relaxed enough to groom himself a bit, then he really started to relax. When the alarm went off after twenty minutes, I think he could have sat on my lap for quite awhile longer.

However, my rear wasn't finding the seat at all comfortable, and I ended the session. All in all, though, I think we're making some real progress with the foster boys.

Isaac: 364g. Did 20 minutes of forced socialization, was rather squirmy. He's showing no signs of discomfort from his recent neutering. More important, he's learned to drink from a water bottle. We're going to keep two dishes in there for the time being.

Gino: 409g. He had two sessions of forced socialization, the first 30 minutes long and the second, 20 minutes long. He was very squirmy (with one escape during the 30 minute session), and performed some annoyed bruxing. And there was pooping.

Fausto: 319g. He had two 20-minutes sessions of forced socialization. He, too, was very squirmy, with one escape during the first session. Unlike Gino, he didn't seem scared, just annoyed. All rats were given a small honey graham cracker after their sessions.

Don Oliver took a turn for the worse in the evening, and I knew his time was near. I took him to the vet for his final rest this morning, and I hope he's found his old buddy Larry by now.

Sadly, it's not good news. Don Oliver, who has been one of our healthier rats, took a bad turn last Thursday. In the morning, he was his normal self. When Abita came home from work, he was not the same rat. The best way to describe him is he looks and acts confused.

A vet exam the next morning, which included x-rays, showed nothing alarming. He had lost about 30g since his last exam about 3.5 weeks ago, and the x-ray showed a small spot on a lung, but Dr. F wasn't alarmed. He suggested trying Doxicycline with the Baytril and administering lots of TLC. He agreed he may have had a neurological event, but there's no real test for that. Abita wondered if he might have fallen from one of his upper balconies and injured himself.

Physically, his fur isn't as sleek (he is grooming a bit, tho, which is good), he's got a little more porphyrin than usual around his eyes, he sleeps a lot more than he did before, and he may be losing the use of his back legs (truth is, I started thinking this a few weeks ago, but it seems to have been exacerbated with his new condition). Further, he doesn't struggle agains manipulations that most rats would struggle mightily against: The deep stomach palpations Dr. F administered last Friday, or the toenail trimming I gave him earlier this evening. My biggest concern is his teeth: He's not eating much more than Boost pudding, which does exactly zilcho in helping keep his teeth trimmed. He is eating some dried banana chips and and Ratatouille croissants, so maybe I (or the vet) won't have to trim his teeth.

Dr. F felt the doxy should give us almost immediate results and asked that I give him an update on Monday. I fear the update won't be quite as good as we hoped.

Sorry for the hiatus. There is news to report--all of our guys, including Don Oliver, are on meds for the sneezes. I think that was only the second time Don Oliver had been to the vet in the time we've had him. The first was his wellness check when we first got him. He's been a cheap rat. so far.

Ratsie seems to have gotten over the bloody stool, and Banquo the inner ear infection though his head tilt is now permanent. Russ is still losing weight and Mosby is probably gaining. He's a big boy. RC is still RC.

And in the rest of the world, these girls like to play basketball!

Not us--Judson King of Lawrence, Kansas, USA. He wanted a hedgehog for a pet but found out they were illegal inside Lawrence city limits. Judson got mad, then he got to work. The story can be found here.

I can't say enough about this collection of rat photos I found. There is not a single bad picture in the bunch, though I'm sure Ellen has more outtakes than she'd care to admit. Ellen was gracious enough to allow us to post one of her images. The rest of them (they're not all rats!) can be found here at her Redbubble gallery.

Let's be honest: If you had gotten home late...really late...would you want to get up 3 hours after going to bed to medicate a rat? Nope, me neither, but you do what you have to do. But I admit the sight that greeted me this morning...well...it almost made it worthwhile.


From left to right, they are Russell, Ratsie, an unknown Himie with foot & manly bits, and Moonpie.


RC, as always, was jealous we weren't taking pictures of him.


Ratsie decides to go somewhere else to get some sleep...and he did, after getting his medication. And so did I.

It's hard to imagine they were at each other last night like cats and dogs.

(It takes a picture like this to really show how Larry is so much smaller than Don Oliver.)

RC, Abita, and I thank all of you for your warm get-well wishes. I'm happy to say he is recovering quickly. The incision has healed almost completely, and we moved him back into the big cage over the weekend.

In Abita's previous post, Lynn comments

I hope the boys have calmed down a bit and are cuddling in the hammock instead of launching a counter attack.

I'm happy to report they have. Don Oliver was in the penalty box only for the day--about nine hours. Abita put them back together when she returned from work, and since then, we've seen Larry groom Don Oliver, seen them curled up together & share a box, and only fight a little bit over the cous cous they were given with their dinner the other night.

We're perplexed as to what caused this attack. Truth be told, it was a bit more serious than Abita let on: She told me Don Oliver chased Larry up a couple of ramps, and we saw he drew blood (no puncture that we could see, and it seemed all but healed the next day.). Normally the rule is, "No blood, no foul," which implies if blood is drawn there will be dire consequences, but he hasn't kept it up. For now, we're just going to keep an eye on them...and regularly remind Don Oliver he doesn't really need his testicles.

The boys are home from the vet. Surgery was succesful; Dr. F says he's getting, "real good," at this surgery. The only problem was Russel tore off a toenail somehow, which Dr. F apologized for. Abita told him it happens all the time, and I think Dr. F filed that away for future reference.

A happy day to all of our rat friends around the world!

(More info on World Rat Day can be found here.)