What do I do when down to one rat?

[mamphy1]

Hey everyone. Back in October I temporarily took on two beautiful little male rats as the owner couldn’t give them enough attention. Sully and Duchane. They were meant to be moving on but Duchane became ill with pneumonia so I kept them while he was treated and after several weeks of antibiotics and extra cuddles he recovered. By this time I was in love so decided to keep them. (I should point out that I’d never had ratties before.) We formed a bond, I became invested and without realising I was suddenly a rat mum. I did lots of reading and tried to make their life as fulfilled as I could. Then suddenly Sully started acting strangely. He couldn’t climb, his head tilted and he stopped being able to feed. I took him to the vet straight away and was told he’d had a stroke and was now blind. He was very ill and even after seeing an exotic animal specialist, the decision was made to let him go. I was heartbroken but know he was suffering so it was the right thing to do. So this leaves me with the dilemma. I know keeping one rat is unfair. Even though I’ve loved this experience I can’t continue to have pets for various reasons. So I don’t want to get Duchane a new cage mate but I know he’s not ok on his own. Are there any times when it’s ok to have a single rat? Sully died today so this is very new and raw. I will make sure Duchane is loved and I can have him with me through out the day. But I know I’m no substitute for another rat. Basically I’m asking what do you guys recommend I do, that will be the best for Duchane. I love this little guy, but I know I can’t be selfish. I’m new to rat ownership so any advice would be appreciated. Thank you for your time.

 

[Kye]

Hey everyone. Back in October I temporarily took on two beautiful little male rats as the owner couldn’t give them enough attention. Sully and Duchane. They were meant to be moving on but Duchane became ill with pneumonia so I kept them while he was treated and after several weeks of antibiotics and extra cuddles he recovered. By this time I was in love so decided to keep them. (I should point out that I’d never had ratties before.) We formed a bond, I became invested and without realising I was suddenly a rat mum. I did lots of reading and tried to make their life as fulfilled as I could. Then suddenly Sully started acting strangely. He couldn’t climb, his head tilted and he stopped being able to feed. I took him to the vet straight away and was told he’d had a stroke and was now blind. He was very ill and even after seeing an exotic animal specialist, the decision was made to let him go. I was heartbroken but know he was suffering so it was the right thing to do. So this leaves me with the dilemma. I know keeping one rat is unfair. Even though I’ve loved this experience I can’t continue to have pets for various reasons. So I don’t want to get Duchane a new cage mate but I know he’s not ok on his own. Are there any times when it’s ok to have a single rat? Sully died today so this is very new and raw. I will make sure Duchane is loved and I can have him with me through out the day. But I know I’m no substitute for another rat. Basically I’m asking what do you guys recommend I do, that will be the best for Duchane. I love this little guy, but I know I can’t be selfish. I’m new to rat ownership so any advice would be appreciated. Thank you for your time.

It is always situational, if you can have him out with you for the majority of the time and he doesn't seem depressed I think its perfectly okay to have him solo for the rest of his life. I have a solo rat who's cage mates died and I felt that it was better keeping her with me than breaking the last bond she has and giving her to a family with other rats and no guarantee if they'll get along or not. Again, entirely situational but in my personal opinion if you start out with more than one and the partner dies off you CAN keep the solo until the end of their life given they have ample interaction and love from you. One thing I will say is to force interaction with him even if he doesn't want it, even if that just means letting him sleep on you so he knows he isn't alone and hopefully preventing him from slipping into deep depression.

 

[mamphy1]

It is always situational, if you can have him out with you for the majority of the time and he doesn't seem depressed I think its perfectly okay to have him solo for the rest of his life. I have a solo rat who's cage mates died and I felt that it was better keeping her with me than breaking the last bond she has and giving her to a family with other rats and no guarantee if they'll get along or not. Again, entirely situational but in my personal opinion if you start out with more than one and the partner dies off you CAN keep the solo until the end of their life given they have ample interaction and love from you. One thing I will say is to force interaction with him even if he doesn't want it, even if that just means letting him sleep on you so he knows he isn't alone and hopefully preventing him from slipping into deep depression.

Thank you so much for this. I’m going to keep him. The past couple of days he’s been sleeping on me periodically throughout the day, with some time sleeping in his pod in the cage when I’ve had to do other things. As much as I can I’ll keep him close to me and we will continue to play together in the evening, when he’s waking up, until I go to bed. I hope this will be enough for him. He’s still eating well but isn’t amazingly active. However, he was never the explorer of the two and always preferred to cuddle while watching his brother having a ball bouncing around the lounge. So it’s hard to tell if he’s quieter than normal.
Thanks again. Any further advice is always welcome.