Just Adopted A Rat

[snowyangel]

Ryan(husband) took me for a surprise visit to the humane society to adopt the sick old rat I've been feeling sorry for and aggreed she needed help. Her skin is just horrible, she has bald spots, was on pine shavings and her dome was a rusted can. So we adopted her and her cage for $10, not that her cage is the right size for her(she's wider then the ladders). Originally everything would cost $20 but since i volunteer there and talked to the manager, she gave me deal knowing she was a special case going to a good home, not to mention rats aren't too popular and a sick old one would probably be there awhile. She's a big girl so she's definitely over a year old. I don't expect more then 6 months out of her but if i can take her out of her current condition and maybe improve her skin, etc then its all worth it. I mean whats $10 if you can make an animals life better, no matter what the time period. I let her run around on the floor today but she has to frequently stop and take a rest, either due to age, respiratory problems and/or the fact that she didn't get much exercise before. Her back legs don't function all that great(could be due to not being let out of her cage and losing muscle mass) but maybe with daily exercise her strength and muscles will grow. I've never seen a rat like her, she's a creamy orange colour and she's has a wavy fluffy coat almost like a hamster so she's not the typical pet store rat, maybe she is a fancy breed. Since we don't have a cage upgrade for her atm, I'm using a spare 10gallon for more room to spread out then used the cage on top as a double decker(the 10g is actually longer then her cage so you can picture its small size).

The HS called her Pumpkin. I'm not too fond of the name but Ryan thinks we should keep it so I'll call her "Kin" for short. FYI, she was brought in the night recieveing kennels so they don't know much about her, poor thing. But she's in good hands now and she has a vet appointment tomorrow.

I'll post pictures after awhile.

 

[donna123]

hi,
cant wait to see pics of her, ive had lots of rats in my time,infact my brother had 2 until about a month ago,one had cancer had to be put to sleep ,the other it was old age, good for you for making her last months so much more better . all the best donna .

 

[snowyangel]

I've already noticed a change in her behaviour from being a social, stay in her can rat at the shelter to a much more aware and curious girl. She seems to like food better when i hand feed her(probably b/c she has mobility problems) and I was so excited to hear her bruxing aka "chatter" and see her eyes bulge out for the first time(signs of happieness)!
Maybe I'll take pictures later today or maybe tomorrow. I just want her to settle in first.

 

[PlecMama]

Fabulous! well done

I'm horribly allergic to rats, unfortunately, found that out when we bought a pair. But good for you, and good for her

 

[fishRfriends]

Aww congratulations!! I love rats and have four of my own right now. Thats so great that you could get her out of there and even if she isnt around that much longer she will be so much happier with you!! ou said her fur is wavy so maybe she is a rex? A god teller of this is if she has curly wiskers. Good luck with her! Hopefully the exercise and love will do her wonders!

 

[KathyM]

CongRATulations!

She sounds from your description like she's a rex rat (blading, wavy fur). Does she have curly whiskers? Thats a rex thing. Possibly a silver fawn if she's a peachy colour? Other possibilities colour wise would be buff, champagne and topaz, dependant on tone and eye colour. Rexes in all these colours are quite common, so sadly doesn't mean she was well bred, but that's not important now she's with you and she sounds very special.

If she's losing control of her back end, this is a common problem with elderly rats, so she could be older than you think too. A lower protein diet should help prevent that deteriorating too quickly, as it is linked to the beginnings of kidney failure in old rats (it's very common, so don't panic, and it's also something that can be helped/slowed with diet).

Some of my oldies have this problem, but they cope very well in a one level cage (big rabbit cages are best for the oldies like them if you're thinking of getting a more suitable cage for her) with the Shunamite diet.

Here's a couple of pics to see if they help you ID her variety:

Murdock, one of our rescue rexes (he's an agouti capped rex)

Tinkerbelle our champagne hoody (RIP) - buff is a slightly darker colour characterised by "ruby" (dark red, nearly black) eyes. Tinks was dark for a champagne, so her colour looked "buff" but her eyes were pink which makes her a dark champagne.

Dennis (right), our rescue silver fawn rex (from same rescue effort as Murdock, but different litter).

Fitch, our topaz dumbo. Topaz is similar (but more biscuity) to silver fawn, but again is characterized by ruby eyes rather than pink/red.

One of our *really* oldies, Dylan the black eyed russian blue point siamese rex (say that p*ssed). Just to show tyou the rex coat more clearly. However, boy rexes are more "curly" than girl rexes generally.

Dex, our *really* oldie buff dumbo (pic from when younger). See how his colour is similar to Tinks, but his eyes are darker.


Hope those pics help! Another great place to work out varieties is:

http/www.hawthorn.org.uk/varieties.asp


I really would recommend the Shunamite diet for older rats. Alison Campbell is somewhat of a rat diet guru and her diets have kept our rats in tiptop condition. This is Alison's website, and on there are diet articles and also details of her book, The Scuttling Gourmet.

http/www.shunamiterats.co.uk

She's normally very approachable for advice on diet, especially when there are special conditions such as old age and/or kidney failure.


Again congratulations! We hope you get plenty of time out of her, and we'll be rooting for her!

 

[emma12321]

Its great that you rescued her, my first 4 rats were rescues bred for snake food and they were the best characters from the 7 rats i've had. She sounds lovely, a nice big ferplast cage would be great if you can get them where you live. I kept mine in a 5ft one that was supposed to be for rabbits and they're great as there is loads of room to hang hammocks and tubes.

Can't wait to see pics

Emma

kathym gorgous rattys, especially love the dumbo's, they don't seem to be that common round here.

 

[KathyM]

LOL it's a shame you didn't say that last year - I'd have pointed out Templeton Rattery (the only good breeder in this area as far as I can tell, and they were fantastic and also bred dumbos). Sadly they've given up breeding now I have a mix of rats from rescues and from reputable breeders. And thanks for the compliments on them, they send whiffles *lol*.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

awwww well done for adopting, definately got to give an animal a loving and happy home even if just for the last few months of it's life

 

[snowyangel]

Thanks for all your support guys.

I've owned rats in the past and know to keep an eye on protein. I hand fed her small pices of banana last night and that got her bruxing again too, such a sweetheart.

Kathy she has fluffier fur like Dylan but her colour is like Dennis if that helps. She also has the ruby eyes and have a curl to her whiskers yeah. Also, I've never seen rex coat rats ever sold in pet stores in any cities i've lived in so thats why i say its rare for that coat around here. We'll see what the vet can do for her today as her appointment is at 3. Wish her luck!

** UPDATE: Well everything went good at the vets, who described her at first as "destined to be euthanised" when she read all her problems. Her skin scraping came back negative so they gave me a medicated bath treatment to bath her once a week(that should be fun ) to help remove this junk that has collected on her skin. I'll create another topic to post pics on, maybe during her bath I'll take some.

 

[KathyM]

Hiya Laura

I'm really sorry if my post came across as patronising given you've owned rats before. I'm also really sorry about the vet visit. If it makes any difference there are two vets at our practice, one is great and the other thinks a 1 year old rat is elderly and that treating rats even for minor complaints after that age is pointless. Some vets just don't see the point in rescuing elderly rats, but we all know you've done the right thing

Take care and good luck!

Kathy

 

[starrynightxxi]

aw, i miss my rats. They died way too young (I didn't really know how to take care of them properly) but i really loved those animals. Good luck giving your old girl a bath. My rats hated being in water (unless they were spilling their water dish )

KathyM you seem to know a lot about rats, is it common for white rats to have red hairs here and there? Both my rats were petshop rats, so admittedly not of high quality, but the white boy had some red hairs that i always thought were blood when I looked at him off hand (sometimes the guys played a bit rough) but they didn't wash off. -lol- this is actually how i discovered how much they hated water, all that squealing, you'd have thought i was killing them!

 

[KathyM]

LOL, I had the same questions a while back when I had my first pale buck. It's either buck grease or porphyrin depending on where it is. Sounds grim I know, but bucks (boys) secrete a substance called buck grease that shows up more on pale rats as an orangey coloured tint to some of the hairs, generally towards the back end and down their sides. It does come off, but only with hard shampooing *lol*. Porphyrin however is the mucus secreted from the eyes and nose, and can often look like blood (but that would've washed off). It's more pronounced in sick (eg. respiratory infection) or stressed rats, but even healthy rats after a sleep or whatever can wake up with red fur around the eyes/nostrils. Excessive porph shouldn't be ignored but it doesn't always mean a stressed or ill animal

http/www.ratbehavior.org/porphyrin.htm - about porphyrin

http/www.ratclub.org/ratcare_faq.htm - basics on both buck grease and porph.

Take care

Kathy
xx

 

[starrynightxxi]

ah, sounds like it was buck grease, then, as it was on his back not his face. thanks though!

 

[KathyM]

No probs