RatCreature's Journal

mific prompted: Tell us about rats and why you like them.

I like rats, because they are social, smart, curious, cute, cuddly, adaptable and important for pets, you can keep them in a small apartment and still give them a decent quality of life.

Rats actually like living in human buildings, and do it voluntarily (if we let them), which in general we don't appreciate as the wild ones aren't useful like dogs or even cats, but still like to eat our food and gnaw and pee on our stuff, and also can transmit diseases (though apparently it wasn't actually their lice that brought the Black Death after all but mostly human to human lice).

So nobody wants "vermin" but the fact remains that they are well suited to living with us. They don't need a large territory or want to roam all the time or need to fly or swim (though some like splashing a little but mine mostly didn't try swimming when I offered) or would really like having a big underground warren (though they do like nest building and some like to dig a little). They like the same temperatures as we do.

And they are omnivores like us, so it's not complicated to feed them. There are a few foods they can't eat as they have some metabolic differences to humans, and some foods that aren't great for them, but basically they live on grains with some fruit, veggies (of the types that don't cause gas, brassica and legumes aren't great) and animal protein when they can get it, so more or less they eat like us. They also really prefer their food cooked and also fatty and sweet or salty, but then get the same health problems as humans and potentially tooth issues from too many soft things. But their inclinations are very aligned with ours when it comes to creature comforts. They themselves think human environments would be a good fit for them.

Of course most cages you see in pet stores are much too small, but something the size of a wardrobe with a couple of floors is fine for a small group. You can't keep just one and even two isn't great (because it's a real problem if one dies prematurely and introducing older rats is fraught), but three or four works well enough.

And the domesticated ones have been selected for human affinity and docility for long enough that early socialization to humans takes really easily. It's not as extreme as with dogs who lived with us for thousands of years, but pet rats like to interact with you, they recognize you, and they will be awake when you are and shift their schedule (though they don't appreciate erratic habits -- if you establish a schedule and then change it, they will sulk and mope, which I learned when I got some during school holidays once and played in the morning and then only got home in the afternoon once school started -- much disgruntlement ensued).

They are somewhat neophobic as they are territorial and prey animals, so unfamiliar places are stressful (the thing of carrying a rat around outside isn't great for most rats), but they are curious enough to like to explore and play with new things appearing in familiar surroundings. Especially young ones also really enjoy playing with their human, like getting tickled, running away, coming back etc. I never bothered much with tricks like fetch (which they can learn), but almost all will come when called (though bribery obviously helps). They are also really fun to watch with each other, and they cooperate for goals.

They don't get housebroken, though some claim theirs are, but I have never had a rat that you could get to only pee in designated places, and that is more problematic than their feces which is generally dry in healthy rats and not super gross. That they mostly prefer to leave in a few corners, so you can put up toilets, but they pee even in their sleeping nests, and they mark all paths with small pee droplets. So wherever you let rats out, you will have some amount of rat pee, including occasionally yourself.

Otoh them being small animals, the absolute pee amount isn't large, isn't super pungent, and unlike cats they do not vomit, and engage in no revenge peeing, but you want washable or wipable surfaces for rats. But otherwise they groom themselves meticulously (no rolling in gross stuff like dogs do sometimes) so they themselves don't smell more than a cat would in general (and much less bad breath, also they don't noticably fart), and it is really cute when they groom you socially, which they like to do.

Their major downside is of course that they are so short lived, with most living only a little over two years, and their health often declines before, so you often have to regularly medicate a rat for a quarter of their lives for one lung ailment or another and older rats frequently get cancers. So it's a lot of heartbreak to have rats, which is why I haven't kept any in quite some time.

(If you want to prompt me there are still many open days.)

Kieran
7.1.2012 - 2.9.2013

I brought Kieran to be euthanized this morning. So he only survived his brother Rusty by two weeks. He had stopped eating over the weekend, no matter what tasty morsels I offered (eggs, cooked rice, chocolate pudding...), only licking a little bit of applesauce a few times, and he wasn't drinking anymore either, so I resorted to dribbling some water in his mouth two or three times a day. He also had more and more trouble with walking and balance over the last week from the ear tumor's effects until he more or less only crawled and scooted if he moved at all, and because he was so weakened the respiratory infections had started to set in. He barely groomed himself either.

The vet was very busy this morning so unfortunately I had to wait for quite a while, and it was another sign of Kieran's misery that he just lay still on his side while I was petting him, when normally he wouldn't, especially not with so much noise and mayhem of barking dogs and such. He just wasn't reacting to anything anymore. Thankfully, unlike with Rusty, this time it only took one injection, and he died quickly as I held him in my arms.

Kieran was the largest and boldest of their group, ruthlessly snatching food he wanted from his brothers, and of course it was him dishing it out in the scuffle that caused Oskar the internal injury that eventually killed him. But Kieran still wasn't overly aggressive for a male rat or anything like that, mostly it was posturing and chases, with only that single bite ever needing treatment, and it was more a tragic accident that Oskar somehow internal damage too. And of course he was sweet with me and stuck with passive resistance even in the face of medicine application, although quite effective one at times. He never snapped at the vet either.

He was the first rat I've had who was entirely black with no white spots anywhere (hence his name), and he was quite striking in his way. He was large but remained agile until the tumor started to affect his coordination, and he liked to jump upwards in the cage, hiding food in the highest basket and hammock where Rusty wouldn't easily go once they got older.

He had the odd and annoying habit of trying to chew on my carpet. Not just at the edges where you can pry it up to get at the foam beneath -- many rats do that, I think it's the same problem as with cables, some of the softener chemicals in the synthetic plastic must taste sweet -- but chew on the fiber from above, and not just in places with some stain remnants either.

( some photos of Kieran )

It turns out that the problem with Kieran's left ear is actually a tumor growing there. There is also an infection that produces the gunk I've seen, but it's a secondary problem to the tumor growing in his head in the ear canal. :(

The vet gave me an antibiotic and eardrops to hopefully help with the infection part and improve his symptoms, but of course that won't help with the tumor. I've also been given medication to counteract the digestive problems with antibiotics, because last time when he got some for his bumblefoot sores he got bad diarrhea fairly quickly. And of course for these sores I still wash his feet twice a day and apply two different salves. So five meds in all to apply and give him every day. Elderly rats have health like elderly people with almost as many meds. And none of this will even get to his worst problem.

I guess there is only hoping that it will be a slow growing tumor, and he'll still have some time feeling okay. Not the news I wanted to get after yesterday. :(

Rusty
7.1.2012 - 19.8.2013

The vet had to put poor Rusty down. When I brought Rusty in this morning he was lethargic, he hadn't even groomed the gunk from his eyes, and he couldn't walk anymore, only sort of crawl on his belly a little. And when the vet touched him, he noticed that his body temperature was much too low, because his circulation was to weak to uphold it like normal. Also he had lost a lot of weight, down to 475g from just Friday when he had 490g and that already was sharply down from his weight earlier that week. So the vet told me that there would be no chance at all that another attempt with antibiotics would help anything. So I couldn't do anything for Rusty but to hold him while the lethal injection took effect, which unfortunately took quite a while. He had to get a second injection to finally stop the last gasping, though at least he was unconscious through that, so I hope he won't have felt any of that.

I have had the worst luck with this group of brothers, with now three of four already dead before the two year mark. And I'll have to bring Kieran to the vet tomorrow as well, because the last days he started sneezing and also shaking his head frequently, so I don't know whether that is just respiratory or something with his ears. Anyway, I didn't bring him today, because I already expected that Rusty would need to be euthanized, and it wouldn't have been practical at all to leave the vet with one rat to bring home and another to bury.

Rats are made of one part heartbreak, one part vet costs and one part delight making the other two worth it (most of the time)... *sigh*

Anyway, Rusty was a really friendly rat, and very cooperative or maybe just resigned when taking meds. Which may be an odd thing to mention this prominently, but tbh it's a quality that reduces the stressful parts of keeping a rat greatly if administering even hated meds is not a half hour drama twice a day. So that is not a small thing. His brother Silas was the same, Kieran unfortunately is not, but of the "resist with all effort" persuasion. And a resisting rat can muster a lot of efforts.

Despite this ease of handling him, Rusty wasn't all that cuddly, though he got more so as he got older. And this Saturday, when he was already feeling poorly, but still went outside during playtime, he came to me and let himself be snuggled and petted for almost ten minutes before he wanted to get away. So that was a nice moment to still have with him, and I hope it comforted him.

( Here are some photos of Rusty. )

...but I think my rat Kieran is self-medicating his diarrhea with saw dust. I mean, I've just seen him systematically eat the absorbent wood pulp pellets from their rodent toilets. Normally he may gnaw a little on them (rats gnaw on everything), but he doesn't eat them like this. Unfortunately he liked wood pulp pellets better than mashed potato with medicine, which says more about his dislike for the meds than his enthusiasm for wood pulp though.

I did give him the morning dose, because he didn't seem to have worsened over night, though I am now waiting for the vet office to call me back. (When I called forty-five minutes ago the vet couldn't come to the phone and the assistant didn't want to give medical advice, but I really hope they'll call back soon. If I had this much room in my schedule today, I'd just have dropped by their office with Kieran. I mean, I realize this is extra service and Monday mornings are busy but still. These are the rare moments I regret not having a cell phone. ETA: Finally got the call and the advice from the vet was to stop the antibiotic early instead of giving the last doses, and I'm going to bring him in tomorrow afternoon.)

For Kieran's evening dose I tried soy chocolate pudding (which I specifically bought this afternoon as non-dairy thing to mix the meds in), figuring it might mask the sickly sweet taste better than mashed potatoes. Unlike for some other pets such as dogs and cats, chocolate is not toxic to rats, their theobromine metabolism is similar to humans so relative to their weight they can eat about as much chocolate as a human to theirs. And my current ones like the taste of chocolate (not every rat does -- I've had some that just didn't eat it as a treat), though of course normally I don't feed it them, not even as a treat. Their usual treats are things like small plain rice waffle pieces or organic spelt cheerios. Anyway, when I tried offering the unadultered food as a tease to see whether it might be popular (just a mouthful, obviously you don't want a full, choosy rat if you mix in substances -- I always give stuff before refilling the food bowl too) it was A+++: both shoved and scrambled to get a lick in and tried to pull the spoon with the bit of pudding out of my hand.

So I was really hopeful.

Then I mixed a teaspoon with his meds and offered it to Kieran alone. The pudding slipped down dramatically on the popularity scale. Initially he seemed hopeful, but a few initially greedy licks in he noticed and stopped. I had locked him in with the little dish in the transport box again, to prevent Rusty from getting at it, but he soon abandoned the pudding, and focused his attention on probing the transport box. I then took him out, because this was heading in the direction of him just stepping into the food during the escape attempts and smearing it all over eventually, and tried prompting him to eat the stuff directly on my lap.

So I shoved the dish under his nose, he licked at it a little, as if hoping that it might have gone back to just chocolate pudding, noticed that nope, not what he hoped, and then stopped again. Then when I prompted again, he licked again, but much less enthusiastically, and once again stopped. Unfortunately even a small teaspoon takes quite a lot of rat licks to be eaten, which ordinarily you don't notice, because with appealing food they can lick very fast. At this point he was clearly frustrated that I was keeping him on my lap, but at least it was more of a peaceful, evasive resistance, not violent struggle.

Eventually I managed to get him to to mostly lick the dish clear (over 95%) so eventually the evening dose got into him. But honestly it's just wrong having to press a rat so much to eat a small amount of chocolate pudding. And I'll have to do this another twelve times minimum, and this is the optimistic scenario that he won't become completely obstinate. OTOH maybe he'll eventually get used to the taste once he realizes that I'm not trying to slip him rat poison.

The vet said that Rusty's wound looks well, and that as it looks now he won't need an OP after all, so whatever gnawing he did yesterday didn't do too much damage despite the copious bleeding. And the second antibiotic did its job against the infection, so now I don't need to give him oral meds.

As an experiment the vet actually tried to tape a little bandage around his leg to see whether that might stop him from worrying the wound as it heals (and presumably itches), though we were both a bit dubious about the chances for this working. She said if it stays on for a while it might help, if he pulls it off, I should just go back to putting salve on the wound as before. The next check is on Friday. I'm really relieved that he didn't need the operation to clean up the wound, and just hope it will now just heal, and maybe his feet finally as well. *crosses fingers*

Oskar
7.1.2012 - 4.2.2013

I found Oskar dead in the cage this morning when I wanted to bring him to his wound check appointment. He hadn't been dead long then, still slightly warmer than room temperature and no rigor mortis yet. So I guess his attempts to rejoin the others last night hadn't been a sign of him becoming more active again and healing, but were a desperate last ditch effort for contact on his part.

I still brought him to the vet, to see whether she might be able to tell me what went wrong, but without sending him to a pathologist for an autopsy she could only tell me that the wound itself wasn't infected and that his kidneys felt enlarged. Her best guess was that he either sustained some invisible, internal injury from the fight and eventually died from that, or that antibiotic-resistant bacteria entered through the wound, and caused systemic infection right away rather than wound infection. I decided against an autopsy, which would have cost at least €60, because it's not like knowing for sure would do any good to him now.

This group of brothers just has the worst luck. First Silas, and now Oskar.

Oskar wasn't a cuddly rat, but still friendly, and unlike some of his brothers he never got into the bad habit of pinching me to get my attention or to get me to move a limb or a foot on the bed. He looked really funny when he ran somtimes, because for some reason he kept holding his tail in a curled partial loop when running, rather than carrying it in a straight line trailing behind. It wasn't broken and he could hold it straight with no problem, he just didn't. Unfortunately I have no photo showing that.

It turns out I don't even have many photos of any kind of him, because I haven't taken so many of my rats the last year than previously, and none from the last half year at all. So these are all photos of him as a young rat.

( Here are a few pictures. )

So the good news is that Oskar did not pull any further staples over night, so the wound doesn't gape open further than on the maybe five millimeters it was yesterday evening, and there is no pus either, but now I'm left wondering whether that is enough of a wound disturbance that it qualifies for an emergency situation that is supposed to make me come back in before Monday.

The vet was very clear that I ought to come if there was any visible infection at all, but the instruction about the level of wound disturbance were less clear cut. Aargh. Well, maybe I'll phone ahead and ask. Since today they are open two hours, I could phone at the start of the opening hours and still be there within the second hour, if they do say that I ought to come in. *dithers*

ETA: It seems they don't cover the phone during the emergency opening hours. I decided to not bring him in today. To redo that bit of the stitches they'd have to anesthetize him again, and create fresh wound boundaries again (same as the problem yesterday, when they had to make the wound larger and fresh for healing with stitches to work), and I doubt they'd do that for this small opening in the wound, when it is still mostly closed. And Oskar doesn't seem to have disturbed the wound worse over night or now aside from that initial staple he loosened, and there is no sign of infection so far.

Kieran is a vicious, little savage. He just scuffled with Oskar in their cage (brief but intense), and when I checked Oskar over after he had fled, I noticed that Kieran nearly gored him. Okay, that's overstating it slightly, but he has a long (almost 2 cm I'd guess) wound on his belly. Thankfully it seems shallow, but still! I put a little of the antibiotic wound salve on it, that I still have for Kieran's and Rusty's bleeding bumblefoot sores, in the hope that it'll help and prevent infection. I still remember Linus who died from a lower belly abscess spreading.

I'm pondering whether I ought to bring Oskar to the vet tomorrow. On the one hand, they probably wouldn't put in stitches or anything (because it's in a place where he can pull them out), otoh they could check the wound and give an antibiotic. Maybe I should decide on how the wound looks tomorrow and how Oskar himself seems, or phone them and ask whether they think I should come in. *waffle* And just when I thought I had a reprieve from frequent vet visits until the next foot check up in two and a half weeks. I mean, Oskar only was at the vet two days ago for the check up on his skin. (That went well, the nail clipping and injection a week earlier had stopped the scratching enough that all that healed, and he didn't need the blood test.) One thing after another.

Maybe I should consider plastic goldfish for my next pets. Decorative yet no drama.