Einstein - 2010 to March 21st, 2012

My sweet old man-rat died suddenly and unexpectedly on the 21st.  I haven't dealt wit the body yet; I want to do something special for him, but I'm in a new city and I'm not sure where in my apartment complex I could get away with burying him. 

I knew his time was coming.  He was creeping up on his 3rd birthday and he was very thin and finally beginning to slow down and show his age.  A part of me thought/hoped that he was immortal, even though I knew it wasn't true.  He was just so spry and full of life right until the end. 

He was curled up in his hammock, food in his paws, when I found him.  I knew something was wrong because he didn't run up to say hello, and Einstein would always run out to see me.  I pulled him out and he was pretty much gone.  I stroked his fur and talked to him until he'd passed.  I think it was a stroke, or maybe just old age.  It's hard to tell. 

Einstein was special.  He was a little monkey, always getting into trouble.  He was the smartest, most mischievous pain-in-the-ass rat and I loved him dearly for it. 

I'm sorry, Einer-steiner.  I miss you so much. 

Basil - 9/09 - 12/11

I've been holding off on writing this memorial for Basil.  I have been expecting his death for several months, so it was hardly a surprise.  It still doesn't feel real, though, especially not on the heels of Socrates.  After several months of brave struggle against his failing heart, Basil finally passed quietly on Christmas day. 

Basil came to me as an 8-week-old baby, one of 16 little ones born to an escapee at Petco who had gone feral.  The babies were hand-raised and fostered on a surrogate mom.  He and his tilty brother Wesley were my first "official" rescues. 

Basil was a rat's rat.  He put up with people.  Sometimes, if you caught him in the right mood, he would let you roll him onto his back and tickle his belly and kiss the minky spot on his tummy.  But most of the time he just weathered human attention with quiet dignity so he could get back to tending to his rats. 

He was a natural-born alpha.  He gently tended to Token in his final hours.  He taught the hoarding boys how to behave like real rats.  He kept Einstein in his place. He was the glue that held the colony together and while he was tough, he was also fair.  He saw the death of so many of his friends:  Ripper, Sweeney, Token, Splinter, Locke, Stock, Beryl, Wesley, Socrates.  In the end, he was very tired, and I think very ready to see his friends again. 

So long, big guy.  I miss you a lot, and the colony isn't the same without you.

Merry Christmas from the Ratmates

I had a photo-shoot today with the rats.  I was sad that Socrates wasn't there...but happy that both Basil and Einstein have survived well into their old age to enjoy.  

The new guys are settling in nicely :)

I'm going to have to get better at making backdrops.  On the bright side, tinsel is bright and shiny. 

Basil is so handsome and tired.  He's very sad after Socrates passed away, but I think he'll be alright.  He's lost a lot of friends over the years.

Ban is adorable.  

Merry Christmas and all, and to all a good night.

Socrates - September 2010 to December 2011

A baby Socrates tells his brother Amadeus a secret

Sometimes, a rat's death is a long process.  They get sick, their health declines, you nurse them, and finally it's time to say goodbye.  Other times, though, it comes from nowhere.  One minute you have a happy, healthy rat.  The next, you find him cold and lifeless at the bottom of his cage.

That doesn't happen very often, but when it does it's always devastating.

Two days ago, I noticed something "off" about Socrates, but I couldn't put my finger on it.  He didn't come out to say hello when I gave everyone their dinner.  He was sleeping soundly in his favorite hammock, so I woke him up.  He acted groggy, but seemed healthy.  No bumps, no weight loss, no swelling, no respiratory sounds.  He seemed totally fine, just sleepy.

So, figuring I'd woken him from a very sound nap, I put him back in the cage.  The next morning, I checked in and he was snoozing soundly so I left him to sleep.  A few hours later, I found him dead in the bottom of the cage.

I have no idea what happened.  He's in the freezer now, and I'm debating if I want to have a necropsy done, or just let it go.

Socrates came to me with his brothers Amadeus and Normoth in September of last year.  He was supposedly 8 weeks old, but they seemed closer to 5 weeks.  His two sisters, Beatrix and Eiko, live with my rat-rescue friend Callie.

The "babies" have always been a little spastic, and Socrates was definitely a spazz.  His greatest passion in life was climbing and exploring.  I got very few photos of him because he was always on the move.  You'd set him down for a moment, and then BAM! he was on the windowsill, on top of the cage, in the closet.  Always everywhere but where he was supposed to be.

Socrates got along with everyone, but he was best friends with no one.  He was too independent for that.  He tolerated human affection, but he really wanted to be out exploring.  He snuggled in hammocks, but during out time he had eyes only for adventure.  He was his own rat, and he lived every second in complete control of himself.

His cage buddies, Amadeus and Basil, really miss him.  Hell, I really miss him, too.  I just wish I'd gotten to know him better.

Play hard, my little enigma.  I hope you've got all the buildings in the world to climb wherever you are now.

Reading with Rats

I've been rather lax in updating this blog lately.  Rest assured, the rats themselves are not nearly as neglected as this blog :)

So why the lack of updates?

Well, because I got an early Christmas present on Sunday -- a brand new Kindle.  Not the newest Kindle Fire, mind.  Just the original 6" Kindle, the $79 model.  It's exactly what I wanted, and it hasn't been more than a few feet away from me since I received it.  I'm pretty much addicted to it.

Of course, there's nothing better than curling up in bed with a good book, unless it's curling up in bed with a good book and a rat.  Some rats are better for snuggling than others.  Some rats would rather chew on your Kindle, climb all over your hands, or sneak off the bed.  Others will delight in ignoring you while they go about their daily routine.  Others will curl up next to you, or on your lap, and enjoy absent scritches while you read.  Of course, these rats are the best reading buddies.

You can see how "wasted" he looks here.  He's not super skinny, but his sides are sunken in by atrophied muscle.  Most of his weight is in his fluid-filled chest, thanks to the CHF

Lately, I've been enjoying Basil's company.  He's such an old slug of a rat that he'll happily burrow down into the covers and snooze, and he matches the blankets.

He still doesn't really like people as much as he likes rats.  He never will.  But he tolerates my presence with all the dignity of an old rat royalty, and I can't ask for anything more.

Basil Still Going Strong

Happy to report that after more than a month of heart meds, Basil is still doing great.  In fact, despite having everything in the cage lowered so he can access food, water, nest boxes, and comfy hammocks without climbing, Basil insists on climbing to the very top of the cage.

He's been having some problems grooming himself, but he refuses to let me help.  He's too proud.  He's making some progress in cleaning himself up, but there's a patch of fur right above his tail that needs a good wash.  I'll have to bribe him with some treats to convince his wounded dignity that being groomed by a human isn't so bad after all.

The Frustration of Poor Vet Care

Photographs today courtesy of Basil, the handsome old man rat.  He has congestive heart failure but won't let it get him down. 

One of the absolute most frustrating things about rat ownership is the difficulty of finding vet care.  I'm sure this is consistent with other types of exotic animals, but part of me suspects that it's especially bad with rats.  There's a certain amount of glamour and grandeur associated with exotic reptiles or flashy birds that probably attracts aspiring vet students toward that specialization.  Rats, on the other hand...I've met very few veterinarians who would even work with rats, and even fewer who seemed to really like them.  The "it's just a rat" mentality is one then when coming from an individual, but from a veterinarian it's especially disappointing.

I've run into the "it's just a rat" thing with animal care professionals before, when working with local animal control.  The hoarding situation  brought out some of the best and worst in people; the realization that, to shelter employees, mass "adopting" of rats as reptile and raptor food was a superior option to finding them homes really speaks volumes about the way rats are perceived in my city.

A few months after the hoarding case in Las Cruces, I saw a similar case on the web.  The difference?  The rats in question were lucky enough to be in California, which has a really wonderful rescue network in place.  Hundreds of rats were seized by animal control, removed from the shelter, spread out through foster homes, and placed with forever homes.  Dozens of people were mobilized to help.  The whole thing was a very smooth, clean operation, and nobody got fed to a snake.  This is why sometimes it sucks to be the rat rescue person in Southern New Mexico!

But, anyway, I digress.  I was supposed to be talking about vet care.

I've gone through three veterinarians in Las Cruces.  My first experience was with Jornada Clinic, and it was awful.  I've heard great reviews about their other small animal care and even care for other exotics, so maybe it was rat-specific, but I would never take another of my animals there again.  I moved from there to East Lohman Veterinary Clinic.  Dr. Cook was competent, but I never felt like she really liked rats, and a lot of her treatments were very out-of-date.  For example, using sulfur-lime dips to treat lice on my rats.  Ew.  That lasted a few weeks before I gave in and started buying Ivermectin.

Finally I've settled on Dr. Calista at Calista Animal Hospital and for the most part I really like her.  She's a sweetheart and genuinely likes the rats, which is already a benefit in her favor.  She's also been willing to work with me whenever I've gone there.  Overall, I've got no major complaints, but we've got a long way to go before I'd call her a really experienced rat vet.  I'm thinking this year I might give her a copy of Debbie Ducommon's book for Christmas.  It's normal to give your vet a Christmas present, right?  When you spend as much time and money as I do, it probably is...

Top Problems You Meet With Vets And Must Work Around:

• Vets won't give the right combination of drugs, or most effective drugs for the type of infection
• Vets won't give a high enough dosage
• Vets won't give a long enough prescription

Anyway.  What set me off on this rant in the first place was actually care my friend Callie received in a neighboring town.  Agnes, one of the little ladies she adopted from me, has been having respiratory issues that seem to have progressed to pneumonia, or at least severe bronchitis.  The general agreement among the rat community is that rats of her age (20+ months) and condition is a combination of Baytril + Doxy, or Baytril + Zithro.  You have to treat aggressively, with several weeks of strong meds.

Poor Agnes came home with a week's worth of Zithro.  Not exactly ideal.  Certainly better than nothing, but probably not likely to get things taken care of.  We're working on convincing the vet to give more and better drugs, but the whole thing has really gotten me thinking about how frustrating it can be not to have reliable vet care for your pets.  So many rescuers in other parts of the country have had absolutely mind-blowing, miraculous recoveries thanks to aggressive vet treatments.  Around here, we're usually lucky to get the vet care we need.

Ah well.  We'll have to work on them, one vet at a time, until we make a difference.