Feeder Breeder Girl

This little girl was retired and being thrown away as a feeder because of the huge tumor which I suspect is a mammary tumor but I won't know for sure until I make her vet appointment tomorrow. She didn't have a name so I named her hope feeling it was fitting to the situation I can already tell that she is a sweet girl and she isn't aggressive at all though she does not want to be touched or handled so I settle for now for sniffs because she is curious until she thinks your hand is gonna touch her and then she runs.She is a little on the chubby side which makes me think she might be pregnant but again that is another thing I will bring up with my vet and maybe discuss spaying her depending on what she wants to do about the tumor. I don't know how many litters she has had and I honestly didn't ask for fear of turning green with anger and saying things that weren't to kind.I had enough trouble controlling my daughters mouth haha kids are so very honest and have no filter so I just wanted to get her and get out.But anyway here she is and I didn't get to many pictures because she quickly hid inside her box and again I don't wanna force anything on her right now.The tumor though you can't see it very well in the pictures comes and goes and is huge when it pushes all the way out She laid on top the box earlier and it was hanging over the side...grrr made my tummy churn ugh and the tank is only temporary and she will be getting her own cage asap until she can come out of quarantine and gets done with any medical procedures and then I will start introductions with the other girls and then.. I will most likely rehome her but right now I am focused on getting her all fixed up

Poor sweet girl.

I hate what people do to animals so much.

I think Hope is a wonderful name for her. I am looking forward to seeing her relax and come out of her shell. She will be so happy having a new life to start. Keep us posted, okay? And send her my love and kisses.

I will definitely post updates on anything new that happens with her as far as love and kisses for now you will have to settle for kind words and blown kisses. I just checked in on her and she is sleeping in her box for now. She has been sneezing alot but I gave her a good listen earlier before putting her into the tank and I didn't hear anything concerning..no wheezing or strange noises other then her poor little heart beating 90 miles an hour. I think the bedding she was in was pine or cedar as it did have a kind of woody odor so I was shocked to put her to my ear and hear nothing. I use eco paper bedding so if there are any underlying breathing issues that should not irritate it.

Yay for Hope and her new forever home! I'll be curious to see what the vet thinks. Hopefully surgery is an option and she can have a chance at a real life for a while.

Wow what an ugly story turned beautiful! Hope seems like the perfect name. It's wonderful you are going to try to fix her up. I hope (lol) this will be a success and she has a chance to enjoy the life of a pet rat instead of a breeder.

Hope's first night home went pretty smooth Though she does seem to have gotten a bit rounder.....I've been up and down every couple of hours checking on her and has been napping then eating rinse and repeat. I did ALOT of reading last night on tumors..so much so I might have one now haha and pretty much everything I read said that the rats have to eat more to support the tumor but as the tumors grew the rats themselves lost weight because they just couldn't eat enough to sustain themselves and the tumor and I have no experience with tumors but this thing is like I said about the size of a ping pong ball and she is round and plump.Oh gosh now I am freaking myself out...I imagine if her poor body had to feed babies and grow a tumor it would probably be her undueing so fingers crossed the vet can get her in today to examine her and hopefully get this thing off of her and if it takes a spay and possible termination of pregnancy and I know I sound like a monster but I honestly don't think it is fair to her or to any poor babies she might have while this mass is on her and her possibly dying leaving them orphaned. Ok I am done with my 6am paranoia rant haha but that is what is going on with her...eating,sleeping,drinking and something that warmed my heart earlier is I went to move some bedding out of her food bowl and I promised her I wasn't gonna touch her and she came over and put her little paw on my hand and for a second I thought she was gonna try and climb up me cause my crazy girls do that but she didn't she just stared up at me with her kind eyes...Tearing up just thinking about it and I assured her that I am gonna do my best to make her better and that I know somewhere behind that hesitant,shy girl is a girl that loves smooches and cuddles.Oh and I promise anything else tumor related will go to it's rightful place in the health section I need to say tumor one last time....ok done lol

RatPack said:

I will definitely post updates on anything new that happens with her as far as love and kisses for now you will have to settle for kind words and blown kisses. I just checked in on her and she is sleeping in her box for now. She has been sneezing alot but I gave her a good listen earlier before putting her into the tank and I didn't hear anything concerning..no wheezing or strange noises other then her poor little heart beating 90 miles an hour. I think the bedding she was in was pine or cedar as it did have a kind of woody odor so I was shocked to put her to my ear and hear nothing. I use eco paper bedding so if there are any underlying breathing issues that should not irritate it.

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Kind words and blown kisses are great.

Poor little girl...I am just so relieved you have her now. Wishing Hope all the luck and good health in the world.

RatPack said:

Hope's first night home went pretty smooth Though she does seem to have gotten a bit rounder.....I've been up and down every couple of hours checking on her and has been napping then eating rinse and repeat. I did ALOT of reading last night on tumors..so much so I might have one now haha and pretty much everything I read said that the rats have to eat more to support the tumor but as the tumors grew the rats themselves lost weight because they just couldn't eat enough to sustain themselves and the tumor and I have no experience with tumors but this thing is like I said about the size of a ping pong ball and she is round and plump.Oh gosh now I am freaking myself out...I imagine if her poor body had to feed babies and grow a tumor it would probably be her undueing so fingers crossed the vet can get her in today to examine her and hopefully get this thing off of her and if it takes a spay and possible termination of pregnancy and I know I sound like a monster but I honestly don't think it is fair to her or to any poor babies she might have while this mass is on her and her possibly dying leaving them orphaned. Ok I am done with my 6am paranoia rant haha but that is what is going on with her...eating,sleeping,drinking and something that warmed my heart earlier is I went to move some bedding out of her food bowl and I promised her I wasn't gonna touch her and she came over and put her little paw on my hand and for a second I thought she was gonna try and climb up me cause my crazy girls do that but she didn't she just stared up at me with her kind eyes...Tearing up just thinking about it and I assured her that I am gonna do my best to make her better and that I know somewhere behind that hesitant,shy girl is a girl that loves smooches and cuddles.Oh and I promise anything else tumor related will go to it's rightful place in the health section I need to say tumor one last time....ok done lol

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Oh my goodness, you made ME tear up reading about Hope putting her hand on yours and looking up at you. That is so wonderful...I know Hope was thanking you and showing her gratitude and love. This is why rats are so incredibly amazing. They just melt your heart. Hope is so lucky you have her and you are giving her a second chance. I wish her the best at the vet...she deserves so much. :hugs:

How was the vet appointment? Was it today? I hope you can have that tumour removed and a spay at the same time, it would be the kindest option for her. No more babies.
Do you know her age? She's a real sweetheart and lucky to have you.

Sadly we won't be seen at the vet until next week and that is just for a check up and assessment and then we will go from there.So since we have to play the waiting game and I was gonna wait to get her a cage once the vet gave me a game plan I had to hunt locally for a cage.It is looking more and more like she is pregnant..Lots of sleeping,eating and belly grooming today and she made a huge nest which I had to tear up when I put her in her new cage and I felt so bad but even though it is small it was the only one I found that didn't have 1 inch bar spacing which I know from when gabby had babies that big of spacing is a no no she seems to like it much more then the tank. I had to chase her a bit to pick her up but once I got her she stopped trying to get away and she is sooo soft . Hubby said that when he gets back from his PA trip and we are sure no babies are coming he is gonna upgrade her to a better cage....He has his eye on a 4 level cage haha I think that is much for one rat and I told him once we are sure she doesn't have anything to make our other ratties sick then I will get the introductions going with the other girls and she can share the DCN with them She is still sneezing but not as bad as last night and her lungs still sound clear so we wait and hope no babies and no emergencies while dad is gone because the closest emergency vet for exotics is 2hrs away...Here is her tiny cage and she is in there but napping under the level if that is what you wanna call it haha it is 25.5 tall by 12.5 deep and 14 wide but was the only one with the half inch bar spacing...This is supposed to be a rat home! I use the rat cage calculator on the ratty corner site and it says this in fact not a rat home and I could have got a rabbit cage that was twice the size for 5 bucks cheaper (paid 50 for the rat one) stupid bar spacing lol. Think I am done complaining now..just been a long day and it didn't go how I wanted it to so been a bit stressful.I think hope is just happy to stick her nose up to the bars and take in all the smells and as long as she is happy..I am happy Stressed but happy!

Aww, I am sure she feels nice and snuggly in her new, temporary home. You did good, and you said she looks happier, so there you go!

Aww, poor, sweet girl. I will never understand how people can treat any animal as a disposable item.. That story of her putting her paw on your hand is so adorable. I bet she knows her bad days are over. I bet once she settles in she'll really realize how lucky she is to have found you

And yes, that cage is rat too small to be a rat home, especially considering rats should never live alone! However, if she does have babies, I think that cage will make an excellent nursery! It's not too big and the pan is deep so no babies will accidentally fall out.

If you aren't seeing a vet til next week, from my knowledge (limited) I think that she will probably be too far along to do an e-spay on her if she is in fact pregnant and you would have to wait until she's finished nursing the babies to get her spayed/tumor removed..

Here's hoping she's not pregnant, and if she is, that it's a small but healthy litter!

Sorry Jorats I didn't see your post earlier because I am about brain dead at this point haha I don't know her age and really not sure how to tell other then the fact that she is bigger then my oldest girl gabby that is 10-11 months old and she looks much more mature in the face.She is becoming very curious and even put both her paws on my hand earlier and she hasn't made any new nests since I put her in the new cage but we are still cleaning alot around our nipples and eating a good bit...I should probably weigh her...I probably should have grabbed a scale while I was out earlier...but now it will have to wait till my husband gets back from PA which will be sometime thursday night so friday...If I had a dollar for all the things I forget to grab while I am out, I would be pretty well off lol. She has started to whistle a bit through her nose like she might be getting congested but the air is pretty dry in our house according to my hermit crabs humidity gage it is in the yellow right now so might have to bust out my humidifiers again this winter .

Yes I am definitely hoping for a small litter if she is pregnant and hoping she is a better momma then gabby was cause she hated being a mom I had to cofeed with her and help keep the babies warm because she would go hours without tending to them but I did notice once I stepped in full time helping her with them she started showing more interest. She would feed them and clean them and then I would take the next 1-2 feedings and cleaning until she got interest again and used blankets warmed in the dryer to keep them warm.But gabby was only 3-4 months old and this girl is much older and has had previous litters so I am sure she is a professional by now I would still prefer no babies at all though for her sake and my sanity haha either way we will take things as they come and handle them accordingly.

We are now coming to the cage to greet people She still doesn't want to be touched but atleast she is showing lots of interest in us. I sewed her up a little shelf cover for her shelf and I think she likes it. She doesn't know it yet but in a couple of days she is gonna say bye bye to that yucky seed mix but I thought I would be nice and do half her mix and half block but she has shown no interest in the blocks so I will have to do what I did with my picky rats and give her no choice but the block...I think it is actually gerbil food or maybe guinea pig...Not super sure but it doesn't look like the rat stuff I used to buy.

Hello pretty girl!!

The cage will make a good maternity cage but you will need to remove the shelf and hammock before the birth.

Next you will need to get rid of the seed mix, a high quality lab block, and veggies and even supplements like baby cereal are good. If she's an older gal she'll need all the help she can get with this litter.

She's lovely :heart:

I am definitely getting close to having to restock my veggies..my rats don't like fruits except seedless grapes..picky picky and their favorite is carrots lol I think they would eat nothing but carrots if I let them. I thought the local pet store had oxbow but when we went and got the cage they didn't have any and I couldn't find the tag for it so I think they may have stopped selling it I can order some online but it will be a few days at least before it gets here and stupid hubby is leaving today so I will be stranded till friday if I wanted to venture across the river to try and hunt some down there. Scrambled eggs I know are supposed to be good for pregnant rats right? Gabby loved them her last few days of pregnancy and all through nursing the littles. We always have eggs cause my daughter makes herself scrambled eggs almost everyday after school so that isn't an issue there. As far as the ramp and level that is an easy removal and she has been knocking the ramp down all night adjusting her nest and I moved it out once thinking she could just hope up the maybe 3-4 inches but when she tried her fat lower half just couldn't follow her upper haha so I put it back in. She is nesting under the level enjoying her privacy...I don't think she has ever had privacy But I will take it away later when she wakes up cause I don't wanna wake her now since she just stopped rustling around about 45 minutes ago.Poor girl, it still breaks my heart thinking all she has been through up until now.

You can buy Mazuri or Living World Extrusion for Hamsters if need be...those are good quality blocks (ignore the hamster on the bag of the latter LOL)

Do you have a digital scale to weigh her daily?

RatPack said:

We are now coming to the cage to greet people She still doesn't want to be touched but atleast she is showing lots of interest in us. I sewed her up a little shelf cover for her shelf and I think she likes it. She doesn't know it yet but in a couple of days she is gonna say bye bye to that yucky seed mix but I thought I would be nice and do half her mix and half block but she has shown no interest in the blocks so I will have to do what I did with my picky rats and give her no choice but the block...I think it is actually gerbil food or maybe guinea pig...Not super sure but it doesn't look like the rat stuff I used to buy.

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Aww, that shelf cover looks so comfy, and pretty too...I bet Hope loves it! I would too if I was a rat. That is a nice touch for her temporary house.

I am sure she is falling in love with you more and more each day, as she realizes how much you are caring for her and loving her. Such a lucky girl, having a wonderful second chance with you.

I agree that will be a good maternity or hospital cage
...if she does has to have the tumor removed.