ReepacheepTheRat
Member
Hi,
I recently got a young 3 month old puppy named Lucy. We kept her away from my ratties until she had all her puppy vaccines and dewormer. Now that Lucy is a little older and spending more time outside of her crate she has expressed a little bit of interest in the ratties. She likes to sit next to their cage watching them (there is a barrier so I'm not worried about biting through the cage) and when I have the rats out she is very calm but just watches them.
So because she is so young and has been very calm around them we decided, airing on the side of total caution, to see what happened if we introduced them to each other. We've done a few very careful introductions (always with both animals on harnesses/leashes and two people about to grab each animal quickly) and they have gone very well. Lucy seems to think they are just other puppies if anything. We are at the point where both animals will kiss each other and we feel safe having them cuddling together or next to each other on the couch (with supervision). In particular Lucy really seems to my rat Buffy a lot as they frequently say hi to each other through the cage.
There are no signs of aggression but I'm not sure how I feel about them being around each other since Lucy is teething and tends to accidentally nip almost everything now and again. I would also be worried about letting them play... That being said Lucy does genuinely seem to get along with the rats very well.
I recently got a young 3 month old puppy named Lucy. We kept her away from my ratties until she had all her puppy vaccines and dewormer. Now that Lucy is a little older and spending more time outside of her crate she has expressed a little bit of interest in the ratties. She likes to sit next to their cage watching them (there is a barrier so I'm not worried about biting through the cage) and when I have the rats out she is very calm but just watches them.
So because she is so young and has been very calm around them we decided, airing on the side of total caution, to see what happened if we introduced them to each other. We've done a few very careful introductions (always with both animals on harnesses/leashes and two people about to grab each animal quickly) and they have gone very well. Lucy seems to think they are just other puppies if anything. We are at the point where both animals will kiss each other and we feel safe having them cuddling together or next to each other on the couch (with supervision). In particular Lucy really seems to my rat Buffy a lot as they frequently say hi to each other through the cage.
There are no signs of aggression but I'm not sure how I feel about them being around each other since Lucy is teething and tends to accidentally nip almost everything now and again. I would also be worried about letting them play... That being said Lucy does genuinely seem to get along with the rats very well.
