R
Rataganza
Guest
When my first boy, Finn, came down with cancer shortly after I purchased him, I picked up three baby boys to help Finn's cage mate, Arturius maintain a social life. Unfortunately, I have had very bad luck with my boys' mortality rate. The first baby died only about a month after Finn of causes unknown (he showed no symptoms of anything the night before, and the next morning, he had burrowed under his bedding and died).
That was about a year ago.
My second baby (they are still babies to me) died last week when he contracted pneumonia over the weekend. Our vet doesn't see "exotics" during the weekend, and by the time she gave him antibiotics on Monday morning, it was apparently too late. He died Monday night.
While I was focusing on him, I failed to notice a tumor spring up on Arturius. That Tuesday, I took both my remaining boys in for emergency health management. The youngest was showing symptoms similar to my dead baby, so we got them on a full regimen of "hardcore" antibiotics. The vet, however, said she could do nothing for Arturius, who is now about 3 years old. He's already had a tumor removed from his eye, but this one is on his rear, and she said removing it might kill him or screw with his glands enough to make his remaining months or weeks very uncomfortable. Arturius' tumor doesn't bother him too much, but he does have trouble getting around, and now, he's losing bowel control, a sign the vet said would indicate he is in his last days.
I'm sorry for the long story, but in part, I wanted to tell it. And, I felt it was important to setting up my question.
When Arturius passes, only my baby boy, Bastion, will remain. He's watched his brood of five be reduced to one in just over a year. He's only about 1.5 years old, and I'm worried that as a social creature, he will become stressed alone. However, because of my previous experiences I'm reticent to get anymore boys. Watching them go so quickly is very hard. I moved to an area where I don't trust the vet (the one who does not see exotics on the weekends) about six months ago, and without a good vet, I feel like owning these precious, fragile creatures is irresponsible. I've looked for other vets in the area, but only other one who will see rats is actually worse than the vet I currently see.
Should I just suck it up and find Bastion a similar-aged companion, or should I let him live out his remaining (year, hopefully) in solace?
That was about a year ago.
My second baby (they are still babies to me) died last week when he contracted pneumonia over the weekend. Our vet doesn't see "exotics" during the weekend, and by the time she gave him antibiotics on Monday morning, it was apparently too late. He died Monday night.
While I was focusing on him, I failed to notice a tumor spring up on Arturius. That Tuesday, I took both my remaining boys in for emergency health management. The youngest was showing symptoms similar to my dead baby, so we got them on a full regimen of "hardcore" antibiotics. The vet, however, said she could do nothing for Arturius, who is now about 3 years old. He's already had a tumor removed from his eye, but this one is on his rear, and she said removing it might kill him or screw with his glands enough to make his remaining months or weeks very uncomfortable. Arturius' tumor doesn't bother him too much, but he does have trouble getting around, and now, he's losing bowel control, a sign the vet said would indicate he is in his last days.
I'm sorry for the long story, but in part, I wanted to tell it. And, I felt it was important to setting up my question.
When Arturius passes, only my baby boy, Bastion, will remain. He's watched his brood of five be reduced to one in just over a year. He's only about 1.5 years old, and I'm worried that as a social creature, he will become stressed alone. However, because of my previous experiences I'm reticent to get anymore boys. Watching them go so quickly is very hard. I moved to an area where I don't trust the vet (the one who does not see exotics on the weekends) about six months ago, and without a good vet, I feel like owning these precious, fragile creatures is irresponsible. I've looked for other vets in the area, but only other one who will see rats is actually worse than the vet I currently see.
Should I just suck it up and find Bastion a similar-aged companion, or should I let him live out his remaining (year, hopefully) in solace?
