DapperRat
Member
Hi all. I have two rats. Mickey is an albino and Jerry is the hooded black and white. Ok so this is a long one one so hang in there. So it all started when about 2 and a half weeks ago when I heard some wheezing so I put one little pill of fish mox in their water bottle which is what an internet rat site said to do. I forgot the exact dosage but what I put in there at the time was fine. I had just installed another water bottle but I wasn't quite sure they knew hot to use it. They had always been fine with the antibiotics in their water so that wasn't a problem. Anyway we went on a trip on Tuesday of that week. They were both great and healthy except for some little scabs. We had put a friend in charge of taking care of the rats . Anyway when I got home on Sunday, Mickey and Jerry's water bottle with the antibiotics in it was moved to another cage (remmys cage) because she couldn't take the lid of on that one. We didn't think she was talking about that one when she asked if that was ok. It looked like they had been drinking out of the other water bottle just fine but the water in it was a bit cloudy. I got everything streighened out right away and got it all back to how it was before I left. When I went to hold them, Mickey was pretty skinny and his back legs looked kind of funny when I let them run around but he didn't look any worse for wear and they both didn't look that thirsty. So anyway about two days later I woke up to find Jerry dead! We had checked on them both the night before and they looked very happy and eating and drinking and running around. We held them both and fed them some cooled scrambled eggs then we put them back in there cage for the night. That morning we put Jerry's body a box to be buried in. We don't know exactly when he was born cuz he was a feeder but he was almost exactly 2 years old. Ill never forget how he felt that morning. He looked so peaceful all curled up taking a nap after gorging himself with rat food (oxbow adult rat food). He wasn't sleeping in his bed with mickey. He was just in the middle of the cage. He was pretty hard so I knew that he had been dead for a while. The hard part is that for as long as I can remember, I always jiggled the door and I was worried that they were dead but they were just sleeping and they jumped right up and gave me a lick. But now I just thought he was just sleeping but he wasn't. Sorry about that but I just had to say that. There were my first rats. Mickey was still very skinny that day. After I put him in a one level cage ( because by then I was starting to suspect paralysis for his back legs. I inspected him that night and noticed some sort of growth under his rist (bumble foot?) It hasn't changed since I saw it since then and he hasn't been cut or anything there so idk. He didn't seem very interested in the oxbow rat food so I had been experimenting with what he wanted (nuts seeds oats ect) he ate but nothing seemed very appealing to him. So on Monday morning I my mom had some leftover oat meal (aways a favorite) and I decided to feed him some... he ate the stuff like his life depended on it. And he kept eating like that for the better part of 15 minutes. Anyway last night I was looking at him and he was basically dragging his back legs and his nails look almost peeled on his front hands. He is still very skinny but he seems like he's getting better. But he seems very happy and active (in his abillities). anyway in the end, I know that rats mask their illnesses and sadness, but I really didn't see any of it. Both rats were very healthy ( except jerry was a little chonker but nothing to out of proportion.) I let them out at least twice a week in a little enclosed outside thing we built in our yard and they ate slugs and blueberrys and nuts and seeds. I always keyed an eye on them while they were out there. And I held and played with them a lot every day. You can't really see that he's very skinny to an untrained eye so we can see. I don't think that our friend that took care of the rats did anything to make the rats sick or otherwise (but we weren't there and anything possible) because she also took care of my sisters rats and they seem just fine. I am thinking of introducing one of my sisters rats (sparky) that I originally had but didn't get along with Jerry. Sparky and mickey got along fine so I was thinking that I can do intros with him because I don't really want to get rats again. And also that way I he can go back to his old friends when mickey dies. At the end of the day, I don't know what happened but I am wondering what to do with Mickey. I don't know if there's a way to get him better or if I need to put him down. And If I need to put him down. Somebody recomended giving them an adult dose of benadryl. I don't know if thats ok or not. I took very good care of my rats and I love them very much now.I now Hold mickey as I can and he just loves it. Thanks for listening. I was wondering if you had some pointers on mickey. And I am still at a loss for how Jerry died. I hope you guys have some ideas and suggestions. Ill post pics of everything. A couple of those pics are of them on the stool when they were still healthy.