my rat Dustin again...

[ratcreature]

This afternoon I brought Dustin to the vet to get this small lump under his belly I detected Thursday looked at. So the vet felt the lump (and since it's on his lower belly Dustin promptly peed when pressed there), and unfortunately it's not clearly defined from the surrounding area. The vet suggested to treat it with spider venom before considering an operation, which is supposed to get the growth to become encapsulated in a more distinct shape or something like that, so that it can be removed more easily.

When I had rats before the vets never did anything like that, but the one where I'm now is quite experienced with rats, so hope this works as it is supposed to. I also asked whether the venom would tax Dustin's system further, since he still has the remaining effects from his respiratory problems and mycoplasma infection (i.e. that he's much less active than is brother etc.), but the vet assured me that it wouldn't have such negative effects. So now I have to bring him for at least two more injections over the next couple of days, and then the lump is going to be checked again, and will hopefully have a better shape for removal. There's apparently also a very small chance that it will respond so well to just the spider venom treatment alone that it shrinks and actually vanishes, but I don't expect that to happen, and it's not like Dustin has had much luck with his health in his life so far.

Anyway, the poor guy is sleeping now, stressed by both the vet visit and the heat which my rats dislike even under much more pleasant circumstances.

Comments

[ratcreature]

Thanks.

And actually I do have to dust and vacuum more often now that I have rats, because their respiratory system is rather delicate (at least for something that's supposedly vermin *g*) and reacts badly to dust and such, so the state of (not-quite-)cleanliness I maintained for myself before, which I never thought of as too bad, wouldn't have done for rats. As it is I probably should still dust more often and more thoroughly, but well, I hate it, and so the poor guys just have to cope.

[miriam-heddy.livejournal.com]

I always figured rats had to be way hardy in order to survive and be, um, disease vectors and such.

Is it just something about domesticated rats--that they've been bred to be vulnerable?

[ratcreature]

Not really. There are some issues that came with becoming lab rats and pets, but wild rats have many of the same problems, they just reproduce a lot in the wild.

I mean they are only fully adult with about six months, but can get pregnant with five weeks when they only weigh 80g or so themselves and are still really small, and they have many babies even when they are not yet grown. Like when I got my previous female rats from a pet store they were unfortunately already pregnant even though I got them when they were just seven weeks or so, and ended up with fifteen rats instead of two (back then I was still living with my parents, and my mom was *thrilled*, especially since the rats weren't tame yet when they had their babies and became aggressive whenever I came too near, for weeks I could only touch them with leather gloves, as I soon had found out that when a rat means business their bites are vicious). Nine of the babies came from just one rat, and both she and the babies all survived despite the strain of becoming pregnant long before she was anywhere near fully grown. Ad she could have gotten pregnant again right after giving birth, so for their numbers it doesn't matter much if many die early, and only a few manage to get old. the most common health problems rats get, like tumors and respiratory problems won't kill them quickly, even if they remain untreated.

But it's really a different issue if you want a single, specific rat to become old and stay healthy.

[miriam-heddy.livejournal.com]

That makes sense. And likely rat babies would need minimal investment from their parents because of the numbers thing. But that's a pain if you're keeping one. Gah.

I remember awhile back, before we had 2 cats, meeting a tame rat and thinking he was way cool, and trying to talk Peter into it. He wasn't convinced (and he wasn't into the ferret idea either). But the rat was really clever and friendly.