Michelle's Barrie Rats

Hey guys!!

I'm new here, but have heard tons from a mutual friend about this forum :wink: . I have meant to get over here and say hi to everyone but these human babies really keep you busy.

What I really want to say is a Huge THANKS for everyone's help in rehoming my ratties. Mamarat, you are awesome for taking in my (what I thought were healthy) ratties and giving them the best home for their final rat days. LA - you know what you did for us .

I'm not sure if everyone knows, but it seems my rats were not in as good health as I believed. When LA picked them up they were sneezing and when they were Vet checked they had mites and one of the platinums had an absessed tooth and was lost during surgery. I just feel sick about all this and can't believe it. They weren't sneezing before I brought them upstairs for the day to be picked up and perhaps the various travels brought on an attack due to stress. I have had mites before and treated them successfully, but I thought the little spots on my rats this time were from the kids dumping cat food into the cage. Too much protein :roll: . I haven't and they haven't been around any other rats and we didn't have any rats at all for about a year before we got these three. Dumbo was always very fat and hadn't lost weight or stopped eating and seemed fine. She must have been in such pain.

I'm telling everyone this to let everyone know what an awesome person LA and Mamarats are to take these ratties in despite their various afflictions and love them anyway. I am SO sorry they didn't come to you in perfect health as I thought. We have had a lot of serious health issues with our 2, 3 and now 5 year old and I'm afraid the ratties weren't handled as much as they used to be the last few months. The cage nipping was also due to my little ones giving treats through the bars .

So thank you everyone and I hope you don't mind if I look in now and then... You have some great people here.

 

[Melissa]

Your rats were actually very unhealthy. Don't be surprised by some things you read about them on here. A lot of us are very sad for them.

 

[jorats]

Hi Michelle,
Although I can understand your troubles in your personal and family life, we still can't understand how these rats got to be the way they are.
My vet was completely shocked upon examination and called it a clear case of abuse and malnutrition.
Was cat food their only food? What were they eating to cause them such severe malnutrition?
They also had a severe mite infestation so it was not treated successfully. Their skin is scarred for life, they will always have dermal problems.

The good news, they did not have lung disease, the sneezing was nothing. But the malnutrition is killing them.

 

The rats always had Lab Rat Block from Ren's in Oakville. Always. They always ate it too. They also got scraps EVERY day. Bits of fruits, vegetable, egg, bread, cereals...whatever we had they might enjoy. There's no way those rats were not fed.

We have actually had mites before when we did our own ton of rattie rescues and they are SO hard to get rid of! Even with Ivermectin and bleach on cages and everything we'd find mites again months later. I honestly did not suspect mites in this case b/c unless they had them when we got them (the platinums always had a Rexy type coat) there was no contact for them to get mites.

Jack is ABOUT 18 months. I can't be sure about her EXACT age. In my own rat history they are lucky to make it to 2. My rats would often start to fail around 18 months. Tumours...upper respiratory...general loss of weight and health...tooth disorders. We had several rats' tumours removed and spent a ton of money we didn't have just to make them more comfortable for a few more months. We treated for UR constantly b/c that just never goes away completely.

We have loved our rats to death in the past and I will concede that we have been more than distracted lately with other issues in our lives, but the rats were fed, watered and cleaned and how many people have rodents out there who get a lot less than that?? Not you people b/c rats are your lives, as they used to be mine. I mean no insult whatsoever there - I was one and will be again some day. So many people get rodents and beyond their initial excitement don't bother with them until they're not being fed or watered or cleaned. My rats got the basics and unfortunately in their more senior time when they needed more attention than the basics I had other priorities. Yes, I should have found them new homes sooner. Apparently. As it was I posted them the day I found out about my kids' allergies. I loved my rats and just hoped things at home would settle again soon so I could have my extra rat time again.

I think you all know how quickly things can progress with rats and we've all been caught suddenly noticing a problem that may have been there more than a day or two. I'm sorry to hear your Vet's opinion. They were NOT fed just cat food of course! All I said was my kids would often throw some in there thinking they were feeding the rats. Of course that's not all they got! Jack is older than the other two and I do not believe the other two had weight issues at all. They were quite plump. I remember a mention of Dumbo maybe having a lump in her belly. Do rats not get tumours? I thought they did. Perhaps that's due to my neglect too though.

I'm so sorry to be bitter, but it's late and I will be up all night with DIABETIC daughters probably and I'm thinking I need to go throw up. This has all just made me sick. I certainly can understand everyone's pov here, but noone's understanding mine and the fact I am not a rat murderer and life just ran us all over and the rats got in the way too. I know what a Vet does and had I known I would have gone to one.

 

[jorats]

The thing is, these girls have been suffering for a long time now.
The one with the tooth abscess, had no more facial bone! She suffered a long time, and that's hard for us to comprehend and to accept.

From what you write, you definitely did the right things, but the fact remains, these girls suffered and continue to suffer. Both might need to be put to sleep as they are in pain and this saddens us a great deal.

Of course we feel for you and for your family troubles but we also feel for these girls. We didn't know your story, the girls are in bad shape, the cage was in horrid condition, of course we were all upset.
Their illness was not a quick progression, this was ongoing. Advanced kidney disease in an 18 month old is not normal. Having infection rot all your facial bone is not a quick progression, it's long term. Maybe you didn't see it, notice it because of the on going family illness but we saw it and we couldn't keep quiet about it.


If you had received these girls from someone else in their current state and you had to deal with their vet care and fragile state, you would be upset too.