Tessa.J
Member
Hello everyone! My name is Tessa and I am a fellow rat lover/owner 
I suppose in terms of introductions...
About my personal life:
-I've had many many rats over the years. I am currently down to my very last one (I'm wanting to take a break from owning rats for a little while since their short lifespans can take a toll on mental health).
-Since I very much still want rats to be apart of my life, I have begun fostering rats at my local animal shelter
(The following section will also be added to the registry forum)
*-I've current got my own rat named Priscilla (she's over 3 years old and so far, my oldest rat!)
-I'm fostering a sweet SWEET boy named (I didn't name him lol) Dirty Chai Tea Latte. He is the sweetest rat I have EVER owned and it breaks my heart to know that someone dumped him outside and left him to die
-I am also a week into fostering a new mama rat that I named Poppy! The day I brought her home, she had her litter of 10 (we currently only have 9 pups now). She was rescued from a bad hoarding situation where nearly 200 rats were rescued and most all the females got pregnant.*
Besides rats I am also the proud owner of 4 spunky kitties (Luna, Saige, Olive aka big mama, and Pixie aka lil' kitty) and 3 crazy ferrets (Ham, Biscuit and Chicken)!
My academics:
-I am currently a graduate student working on my masters in neuroscience (emphesis in behavior and psychology).
-I got my bachelor's degree in animal science.
Before graduate school, I was actually pre-vet and wanted to work as an exotic vet. To gain the required amount of animal-work experience, I shortly worked at a small/exotic animal clinic (which I loved) and then got a job as a lab tech working in cancer research with mice and loved it and haven't looked back since!
*Now, I know my job is quite controversial for most animal lovers...
-Like many of us do, I thought poorly of animal research but I was able to gain a better understanding of how animals are used in biomedical research and that there are many rules and regulations in place to protect animals and to ensure there is no unnecessary pain/discomfort.
-I am certainly not here to start arguments or participate in debates, but for those that may still disagree with my career choice, I do just want to urge you to look into animal research (this doesn't include popular media sources since those tend to manipulate the truth in favor of the general population) and consider what animal research provides for us.
-For one, most research is done on rats and mice which absolutely benefits us rat owners. Have you ever wanted to know if a certain food was harmful/beneficial to your fur babies? More likely than not, there is research out there to investigate these questions! Rodents are constantly being researched in different aspects to help us humans understand how our body and mind function...but in order to do this, we need to understand how they function in rodents.
-Every medication or treatment plan has once been tested and tried on animals to ensure our safety...but this also applies to animal medicine and being able to treat our pets for various illnesses.
-I would also like to throw out there that not all animal research is bad. Many scientists are investigating things like how positive welfare impacts different concepts/ideas.
-Having come from an animal science background and have taken courses specifically geared towards understanding animal behavior and learning about animal welfare, I have spent many years dedicating my time to improving animal welfare in research settings.
-Consider a lab tech working with translational animal models, wouldn't you rather have someone who loves and cares for the animals, be the ones responsible for ensuring they are cared for? VS someone that sees them as an object?
-Animal lovers are typically much better at working with research animals because they feel empathy and compassion for these animals and will fight for whats right. I take my job very seriously and will always continue to ensure that my research is done appropriately and in the best possible way to ensure the animals are living the best life possible.*
Now that I got that out of the way, my research interests involve animal health and welfare (welfare in research settings).
-I primarily work with mice and my current research is characterizing a new mouse model (genetically modified to have a certain genetic mutation... don't worry it sounds a lot scarier than it actually is) for a very rare SYT1 mutation called Baker-Gordon Syndrome.
-After I complete my masters, I plan on going back and getting my PhD in animal sciences with an emphasis on animal behavior/welfare.
Thank you for allowing my to be apart of this rat community!
I suppose in terms of introductions...
About my personal life:
-I've had many many rats over the years. I am currently down to my very last one (I'm wanting to take a break from owning rats for a little while since their short lifespans can take a toll on mental health).
-Since I very much still want rats to be apart of my life, I have begun fostering rats at my local animal shelter
(The following section will also be added to the registry forum)
*-I've current got my own rat named Priscilla (she's over 3 years old and so far, my oldest rat!)
-I'm fostering a sweet SWEET boy named (I didn't name him lol) Dirty Chai Tea Latte. He is the sweetest rat I have EVER owned and it breaks my heart to know that someone dumped him outside and left him to die
-I am also a week into fostering a new mama rat that I named Poppy! The day I brought her home, she had her litter of 10 (we currently only have 9 pups now). She was rescued from a bad hoarding situation where nearly 200 rats were rescued and most all the females got pregnant.*
Besides rats I am also the proud owner of 4 spunky kitties (Luna, Saige, Olive aka big mama, and Pixie aka lil' kitty) and 3 crazy ferrets (Ham, Biscuit and Chicken)!
My academics:
-I am currently a graduate student working on my masters in neuroscience (emphesis in behavior and psychology).
-I got my bachelor's degree in animal science.
Before graduate school, I was actually pre-vet and wanted to work as an exotic vet. To gain the required amount of animal-work experience, I shortly worked at a small/exotic animal clinic (which I loved) and then got a job as a lab tech working in cancer research with mice and loved it and haven't looked back since!
*Now, I know my job is quite controversial for most animal lovers...
-Like many of us do, I thought poorly of animal research but I was able to gain a better understanding of how animals are used in biomedical research and that there are many rules and regulations in place to protect animals and to ensure there is no unnecessary pain/discomfort.
-I am certainly not here to start arguments or participate in debates, but for those that may still disagree with my career choice, I do just want to urge you to look into animal research (this doesn't include popular media sources since those tend to manipulate the truth in favor of the general population) and consider what animal research provides for us.
-For one, most research is done on rats and mice which absolutely benefits us rat owners. Have you ever wanted to know if a certain food was harmful/beneficial to your fur babies? More likely than not, there is research out there to investigate these questions! Rodents are constantly being researched in different aspects to help us humans understand how our body and mind function...but in order to do this, we need to understand how they function in rodents.
-Every medication or treatment plan has once been tested and tried on animals to ensure our safety...but this also applies to animal medicine and being able to treat our pets for various illnesses.
-I would also like to throw out there that not all animal research is bad. Many scientists are investigating things like how positive welfare impacts different concepts/ideas.
-Having come from an animal science background and have taken courses specifically geared towards understanding animal behavior and learning about animal welfare, I have spent many years dedicating my time to improving animal welfare in research settings.
-Consider a lab tech working with translational animal models, wouldn't you rather have someone who loves and cares for the animals, be the ones responsible for ensuring they are cared for? VS someone that sees them as an object?
-Animal lovers are typically much better at working with research animals because they feel empathy and compassion for these animals and will fight for whats right. I take my job very seriously and will always continue to ensure that my research is done appropriately and in the best possible way to ensure the animals are living the best life possible.*
Now that I got that out of the way, my research interests involve animal health and welfare (welfare in research settings).
-I primarily work with mice and my current research is characterizing a new mouse model (genetically modified to have a certain genetic mutation... don't worry it sounds a lot scarier than it actually is) for a very rare SYT1 mutation called Baker-Gordon Syndrome.
-After I complete my masters, I plan on going back and getting my PhD in animal sciences with an emphasis on animal behavior/welfare.
Thank you for allowing my to be apart of this rat community!
