Goodbye Marlon

Marlon died on Friday night. I thought he was getting better from his respiratory infection, the snottiness was getting less, he was eating and seemed brighter and was even putting on weight slowly. He was ok Friday afternoon, snuggled under the shelf with Bob, then I checked on them in the evening and he was stretched out, passed away. He hadn’t been gone long bless him. I took him, gave him a last cuddle and then he got buried in the garden.

I will do him a proper obit when I’ve found some decent photos of him.

Now of course Bob is on his own. I have decided to get him castrated and move him in with the girls. Hopefully this will also make him a nicer rat and will stop him biting and getting territorial and grumpy. I did try Sugar in with him today (she’s been spayed) so he has a bit of company and so he knows someone when going in with the girls, but he was a bit rough with her, pinning her down and making her squeak so I felt sorry for her and took her out. She’s so good natured and such a sweetie, it seemed mean to put her through it! I’m sure he’ll be ok on his own for a few weeks. I’ll phone the vets on Monday and book him in as soon as possible for the op. Fingers crossed it goes ok this time.

Cancelled Rat Shows

The next SRC show was due to be held on 2nd August. This has now been cancelled due to a particularly nasty, virulent virus going around called SDAV. A large number of rat clubs, including the NFRS have cancelled upcoming shows untill September, as the virus is spread via contact between rats and those handling rats. Because rats can be shedding the virus without,  or before, showing symptoms it is possible to transmit without knowing, so reducing contact between rats is the best way to contain it.

I also found out recently that the June SRC show was also cancelled due to lack of interest. This is such a shame as rat shows are really good fun and a great way to get and chat to other rat owners and fanciers. It seems as if Scotland really needs some more rat enthusiasts, fanciers in particular that will show their rats. Unfortunately I couldn’t make the June show as it was my Hen Party weekend, but I’m really hoping the October show goes ahead and i will definitely be at that one.

Website changes

Just a little post to say I’ve been working on the website a bit. I have changed the Home page to give some more details about my breeding aims, added a litters page to document planned, current & past litters as well as homing information and added pages for Bob, Monty, Marlon & Jemima. I have also re-arranged the my rats page and added a loving memory section for the rats I have lost.

Marlon finished his course of antibiotics on Thursday and though he is still snotty he does seem happier and brighter. He is still painfully thin though so I am currently trying to fatten him up and build up his strength.

I am a little bit worried about Rupert, I think he has a tumour in one of his testicles. I noticed today it was bigger than the other one and felt quite hard when I poked it. So I think I need to get him up the vets. If it is a tumour, presumably castration would solve the problem, which is a scary thought due to my experiences with Beau.

Everyone else is fine however and I am pleased to report that work on my new rat shed should be starting shortly. I can’t wait.

Boys in the Litter Tray

I have been away for last weekend as I went back down to England to get married. The ratties were ably looked after by one of my work friends.

I returned Monday night to find Marlon really very ill, gasping for breath and very wobbly. I was surprised to find him with me on Tuesday morning so I booked him in at the vets. He is now on antibiotics after having a steriod injection and even though he is still snotty, he does seem a lot brighter, so hopefully he’s on the mend. I’m currently trying to fatten him up, which is actually suprisingly hard as neither him nor Bob eat a lot of fresh food and are very fussy. He likes bread though and tonight I’m going to try them with some Lactol.

I also came home to find Charlie and co. had moved their bedding out of their house and had made their bed in the litter tray! I was pleased to find they weren’t still using it as a toilet. I think they must have got hot in their house. I got a not very good photo, but Rupert & Jools just looked so cute I couldn’t resist:

Rat Earrings

I have recently started up Jewellery making and found a gorgeous chinese zodiac rat bead so bought myself two and made a pair of earrings:

These are For Sale at a cost of £13.00 at my Folksy Jewellery shop.

Rupert had an x-ray

Last Friday I noticed Rupert had a limp on his back right foot. When I checked him his ‘ankle’ joint had swollen up and was very hard. I kept an eye on him and gave him a bit of Nurofen Children’s syrup as a painkiller but it didn’t seem to be getting any better or worse, so I took him up to the vets today. The vet said it was most likely an injury and the bones at his joints were fusing together or possibly septic or osteo arthritis, but they could do an x-ray and it would be quite interesting!

So Rupert got left at the vets and they did an x-ray. When I went back to pick him up this evening, they had decided it looked like he’d dislocated that joint and the bones were fusing as they healed as there is no movement of that joint. So I basically have to keep him quiet and keep an eye on him. He should get use of it back eventually and the worst case scenario is if causes chronic pain, then he could have his foot amputated. I don’t think it will come to that though as other than the limp, he seems to be ok, still jumping up the bars and getting about.

I asked if they could send me an email of the x ray but they don’t have the facilities to do that, but I can take a phot of them if I want, so next time I go I’ll have to take the camera, coz I think the x-ray photos are really interesting and they can go up on the website or something.

Rupert’s in love.

New girl Jemima is very enthusiastic when she is in season and will talk to the boys through the bars of the cage, then jump down, spin round into position (!) and vibrate her ears madly. It’s just like Doughnut used to do, but Jemima will do it when she’s in the cage, which Doughnut never did. she just used to tease the boys through the bars of their own cage!

The other evening Rupert spent the whole time he was out sat on the desk the girls’ cage is on, gazing at Jemima while she pinged about like a little floozy! I couldn’t resist and took a couple of photographs:

Lovestruck Rupert gazing into the cage

And reaching up to Jemima, whose tail you can just see.

A registered Rattery

I got confirmation yesterday that my application to the NFRS to become a Novice breeder has been approved. This means that I can now earn points and compete for the Novice Award at NFRS shows and shows that award NFRS stars, though in practice, it’s unlikely I will be getting to any NFRS shows! It also means I can call myself an NFRS registered rattery, and I am on the NFRS breeders list. It all feels very real now and has motivated me to get on with the website, so expect some updates shortly.

I am also pleased to report that Jemima’s abcess has burst and is already healing very nicely, after only having to clean it up once. Fingers crossed for no more! I have noticed the poor girl has scabs on her back again, I’m assuming this is from being picked on my Nutmeg and Fogwatt. She still seems happy though and is certainly not scared of them – yesterday, she stole a chicken bone off of Fogwatt. I do think, though, that when I get my girls for my breeding I will put Jemima in with them. She is a lot younger than my current girls, and she won’t get picked on like she is at the moment.

Cage changes

You probably noticed my last post was another obituary . I have lost 4 rats within the last month. However, they are all currently looking healthy so hopefully it will be a loooong time before I lose any more.

I have had a cage shift around recently, to reduce the number of cages i’m using and so I could put the girls in a new cage when I re-introduced Jemima to the other girls now her abcess has cleared up. The girls have been moved into the Tommy, which now has all three tiers. There is only 6 of them now so they have plenty of room even though the cage is slightly smaller than the aviary. Jemima seems to be getting on fine with the other girls. Nutmeg is still being a pain in the bum and picking on her occassionally but Jemima is bigger now and very confident so seems to be able to look out for herself!

The aviary has been split into two and the two groups of boys have been put in either half, Charlie and co in the top, and Bob & Marlon in the bottom. I contemplated introducing them but thought it was probably safest not to and they are so settled and happy in their individual groups.

So, I now only have 2 cages to clean out and have a little bit more space in the rat room.

A I said earlier Jemima’s abcess has cleared up, however I think she has another one. She has a pea sized lump on one of her shoulders so I am keeping an eye on it. If it is an abcess I would rather it burst in its own time and it is nowhere near as big and fast growing as the other one. Hopefully it won’t be anywhere near as gross when it does burst!

Doughnut – 14/2/07 – 8/5/09

I never forgot Doughnut and her sister Tinkerbell’s birthday because of it being valentines day. I got the two of them from Vicki at Mana Rattery who was rehoming them for a friend who’d had a litter due to a pet shop mis-sexing. I drove down to Falkirk to pick them up, which amazed Vicki.

They were two well fed, chunky 8 week olds by the time I collected them and so outgoing and friendly. They were introduced to Treacle and Charlotte which didn’t go too badly, but Doughnut thought she was bigger than she actually was and ended up with a torn ear, which resulted in a chunk missing, making her look a right little bruiser! She could be a little arguementative with other rats but was always cuddly and friendly with people. She was a real gentle rat. She loved her food and was a bit porky as she got older!

Soon after she was intro’d to Fogwatt and co they were out playing in the rat room when my OH asked me what Doughnut had on her so I went to pick her up and discovered she had an inch long gash on her side, that was moving about to show the muscle underneath. As usual, the OH ran away at the sight of a poorly rat so I whizzed her up to the emergency vet, who put two staples in her. When the time came to remove the staples we could only find 1 and I assumed she’d managed to get one out as she had been fussing them a lot. About a month later I found the missing staple, she’d managed to twist it right round so the open side was pointing outwards! The vet was quite amazed at her.

Doughnut was a healthy girl, who loved her food and was always one of the first out to play. She chewed the door on the play pen and was quite determined one day she’d chew her way out!

Back in November I noticed a lump in her armpit. She was booked in to have it removed in December but when the time came I found another one in her groin. We decided to leave her and monitor the lumps. They grew, slowly but steadily and she reached her 2nd birthday I thought she might show signs of getting old. But she never did and the lumps kept growing. I took her back to the vet in April and decided to try and remove the armpit one and de-bulk the other one, but when the time came they’d got too big and the vet said it wouldn’t be helping her by putting her through such a big op. The lump began to ulcerate and Doughnut was struggling to get about, so we said goodbye while she was still happy. The girls cage is looking empty without her.

I have loads of pics of Doughnut, she was very photogenic and always around, being nosy:

baby Doughnut soon after she arrived

Having a yawn and showing off her tummy

posing!

Snuggled in the sputnik with Nutmeg

On her first birthday enjoying malt loaf

Somewhere near her second birthday, helping herself to the treats with Sugar!

With Pepper, waiting for the door to open so she could escape!

And a being a beautiful old lady. Still on her way out the cage, despite the lumps.

Bye bye my little chunky bruiser, go find Charlotte and the other girls and cause some trouble.