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Our little rattie, Toffee, was horribly lonely after loosing his brother Caramel and recent friend Minty, so when we found out our local RSPCA had two older boys looking for a home we decided to go and meet them.
Fatty and Skinny, as they were originally called, were adorable, friendly guys and it was love at first sight. They were obviously mild mannered, a perfect match for Toffee, and they even looked like him! There was no going back once we'd met the guys, so we came home with two new additions to our family. Well, it was actually three, check out Petal's page to read her story.
Because Toffee has been very lonely and unhappy on his own, to the point where his health was suffering, we decided not to keep the new rats in quarantine and introduced them to Toffee straight away. While this is not something we would normally recommend, we had been very concerned about Toffee. He had stopped washing himself and wasn't interested in much, other than sleeping and eating, so we felt it was worth the risk of introducing everyone.
Once we had managed to wake Toffee up, we put him together with Pickle and Tomato. At first he was just grumpy at having his sleep interrupted, but once he realised he had two new brothers he got a little over enthusiastic. Poor Pickle and Tomato wanted a few minutes to get their bearings, but Toffee just wanted to groom them. Tomato is extremely overweight and he wasn't able to escape Toffee's attentions, so within minutes of being introduced Tomato was being thoroughly groomed by Toffee. It wasn't too much longer before Toffee got his hands on Pickle too.
The three boys get on so well together, and look just like each other, you would never guess they weren't brothers, though they all have very different personalities. Toffee is our original cuddly boy, is still our number one and his welfare and happiness takes priority over everything, not that we have anything to worry about as he obviously loves his two new brothers to bits. Something's never change and Toffee still loves his treats, but now he is no longer on his own we are not spoiling him as much. He is also enjoying having two energetic brothers who have really changed Toffee for the better. We have seen a real improvement in the amount of time Toffee likes to spend out of his home, and we have even caught him running around and playing with his brothers.
Pickle is the smallest, in weight, of the three boys and he is full
Last, but not least, is our chubby guy Tomato, while he loves to play and bounce like his brother, Pickle, because of his size he gets tired very easily and when he's tired he turns into a big old cuddly boy. When he has run out of energy he likes to be held and fussed, while Toffee and Pickle burn up their energy. Not that we mind, Tomato is easiest to handle when he is pooped and happy to sit still.
As mentioned before Tomato is extremely overweight, which is something we will have to work very hard on. Luckily Tomato is very friendly and inquisitive, so we are hoping that lots of handling and exercise will help shed some of his excess ounces!
6th/7th July 2008, sadly our family took a terrible blow within the space of two days we lost both Toffee and Tomato.
Our big guy Tomato had been suffering from weakness in his back legs for a couple of days, but we had been keeping a close eye on him making sure he got plenty to eat and drink and were happy he wasn't in any discomfort. We were concerned his condition may have been linked to his weight problem because he was very large. We didn't know his age, but judging by Pickle they weren't young guys, so we felt it was best to take care of his immediate needs rather than try any medical treatment.
Taking little rats to the vet who are not feeling very well, particularly when it involves their breathing, is very difficult as they can get terribly stressed. Even so, we had planned to take Toffee to the vet first thing on Monday, if he hadn't improved. Unfortunately Toffee took a sudden turn for the worse on Sunday and passed away peacefully while we were with him.
While this was going on with Toffee, Tomato's condition had also deteriorated and he lost all strength and did not even appear to be aware of his surroundings. We were left with no choice but to take him to the vet to be put to sleep so the day after losing our beautiful Toffee, we were also forced to say goodbye to Tomato.
This has left Pickle on his own, but he is such a sweet and loving little guy it is not difficult for us to give him lots of extra attention, and yummy treats. If some suitable guys become available at our local RSPCA we will consider getting him some new friends, but until then we are going to give him all the love and cuddles he can put up with.
For more of Pickle's story check out our new site Rattie Rescue, where Pickle's adventures continue and where we keep up our search to find him a new friend.
For more information about rat care visit:
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Within the first minutes of introduction it was clear we were going to have no
problems with the three boys living together, and within an hour they were all
cuddled up fast asleep.
of bounce.
Pickle loves nothing more than bouncing around on the floor and being 'chucked'
around. This involves picking him up, when he runs to us, and pretending
we are going to throw him, but really we just pop
him on the floor as far away from us as we can reach and then watch him bounce
until he comes back and then we do it all over again.
Our
baby, Toffee, has always been a very sensitive rat and has suffered from
respiratory problems in the past. These were usually stress related, often
related to his brothers health, and they always seemed to clear up when whatever
was upsetting him had passed. A few days after Tomato began to show signs
of being unwell Toffee began having problems with his breathing, though this
time
was different and his condition seemed to deteriorate very quickly.