Little Kiki next to her larger sister, Maple

Kiki is adorable in every way, she’s fun and bouncy, has a beautiful affectionate temperament, and is very healthy – she just forgot to grow!

When we got Maple and Kiki, they were both super cute little babies and exactly the same size.  Maple had her breathing problems when we first got her, but after a week of Baytril she was fine, and despite her poorliness grew as normal, Kiki on the other hand did not.

I know it didn’t, but it all seemed to happen overnight.  Maple and Kiki moved in with the Twiglets and the next thing I knew Maple was this stocky healthy rat and the biggest out of the five girls and Kiki hadn’t changed.  Obviously she lost that baby rat shape and now looks like a proper rat, but compared to the other girls she is tiny.  Not that we mind what size she is, as long as all the girls are all happy, healthy and bouncy we’re not worried, but it is funny to see her next to Maple.  It’s hard to believe they were ever the same size!

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Our handsome boy, Polar

I am very, very sad to say that our silly boy Polar has passed away yesterday.  After Tiny’s death and Panda being so upset, we had been spoiling the boys with a lot of extra treats, nothing naughty mind; bran flakes, a bit of our dinner and some fresh bread.  They had been loving it, but about a week ago I noticed Polar’s eating was slowing down.  His appetite was still the same, but he was taking longer to get through his food, and his fur was starting to look a little scruffy, in every other way he was fine. The boys are getting on a bit, and they were never big fans of running around at the best of times so his activity level didn’t noticably change.  Even so, we knew our little guy wasn’t okay.

All we could do was keep on spoiling them and keep an eye out for any problems.  Then yesterday at tea time I was in the kitchen, Derek and I had just given the boys some bread, which they had both taken happily, I heard a slight rustle of paper.  I went in to check on the boys, and Polar had passed away.  Although we weren’t with Polar, we can take comfort in the fact that we had just been with him, and that he’d been enjoying one of his favourite treats, yummy freshly baked bread.

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I’m sure anyone who has rats knows what a Sputnik is.  They are fantastic plastic beds, by Savic, and have been hugely popular with many of my rats.  I got my first one when I bought a Savic ‘Freddy’ cage, it came with the cage, and I recently bought a second one when I got the Furet XL.  These simple little beds have proved so popular with my girls I’ve had to confiscate them – twice.

When I first got the agouti girls – now lovingly known as the Twiglets – they had a sputnik and they never left it.  They were quite a shy bunch anyway, and combined with a bed they wouldn’t leave I wasn’t getting to see much of them.  The bed was also getting very smelly, with shed fur, food crumbs and goodness knows what else not making for a healthy sleeping environment.  Seeing as they had lots of other beds and tunnells to sleep in I took the Sputnik away from them.  This had a positive effect on the girls, I got to see more of them and they made better use of their other beds, which was more hygienic for them.

While in their quarantine cage, Maple and Kiki also had a Sputnik. Though they weren’t permanently stuck in theirs, they liked to sleep in other beds and readily came out to play.  When Maple and Kiki decided to move in with the Twiglets, I let them take their Sputnik with them, so they would have something familiar.

'You don't all fit in there!' Rattie heads and feet hanging out of the 'Sputnik'

BIG MISTAKE!

The instant result was all five rats piling in that little plastic bed.  I don’t know how they managed to breath squished in like that.  The Sputnik soon got stinky and messy leaving me with no choice but to take it off them, again.  I did replace it with an extra bed – not that they need anymore – which was simply an old jeans leg.

No one really seems to miss the Sputnik and all the girls tend to sleep a bit more split up, which is no bad thing.  Sometimes I still find them all piled into one bed together, but mostly they are in two groups in different beds.  It’s nice to see them making better use of their home, and I’m sure it will be healthier for them in the long term.

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I’m sorry to say that Maple’s sneezing had started to cause us concern, so we put her straight on a course of Baytril.  She was a very good girl and happily scoffed all her medicine, which we mixed in with baby food to make it more palatable for her.  As she is so tiny, Maple was only on a small dose of Baytril once-a-day, so to make sure she was eating properly we made sure to give her several extra helpings of baby food throughout the day, some of which Kiki also enjoyed.  Even when rats are fully grown they can lose weight and condition so easily, and we didn’t want anything to happen to Maple, or Kiki for that matter, so spoiling them seemed the best thing to do.

After a week, Maple’s condition had improved, and she was a lot brighter in herself.  Both she and Kiki are mischievous little critters, and they love running around and seeing what kind of trouble they can get into.  I am looking forward to putting them in with Dora, Tangy and Mitzi, not just because I’m sure they will love the big cage, but also the older girls are very quiet, and I hope that Maple and Kiki will help make them more adventurous.

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Panda with his brother Tiny

Rats are very sensitive creatures and they share very strong bonds with their cage mates, as well as us humans.  Only a few days after Tiny’s death we realised Panda was struggling.  Rather like Tiny, Panda’s energy levels and appetite started to drop off, however Panda had more of a sadness about him, rather than the tiredness we felt from Tiny.  The main difference we saw between Tiny’s illness and Panda’s behaviour is that Panda wanted to be alone.  If his brother, Polar, tried to cuddle up to him, Panda would immediately get up and shuffle off.  He was also behaving funny with us, rejecting our attention and being very grumpy.

It became obvious very quickly that he wasn’t eating, mainly as he wouldn’t take any treats from us, so we got him straight on some baby food.  Unlike Tiny, whose appetite decrease over time, Polar was just not interested, he would turn away no matter what we offered him.  Having just said goodbye to our sweet guy Tiny, we were not going to loose Panda.  After a lot of persuading and offering him baby food on our finger tips, Panda slowly started to eat.  Once we had got a bit of food into him, his appetite soon returned.  After a few days of baby food, Panda started taking other treats, and then began helping himself to rat food.  His mood also began to lift and he wanted to come out and play and be with his brother Polar again.

We are so relived to have our cuddly boy Panda back to his old self again.

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Tiny helping clean his cage out

I am very sad to say that our sweet, shy boy Tiny has passed away.  We first noticed something was wrong about a week ago.  Derek and I had sat down to eat tea with the boys, Derek sits in an armchair, which the boys can easily climb onto if they want so see him, and I sit on the floor with them and feed them bits of bread. Panda and Polar came charging out as usual, but Tiny was a little reluctant.  He was always a bit of timid rat, but this was different.

After a bit of coaxing he did come to where his brothers were being fed, but instead of having some bread he lay flat out on the floor.  It was difficult to see him like that, but there was nothing we could do, and fortunately he didn’t appear to be in any distress, so we waited.  Eventually he got up, as if nothing had happened, and started scoffing bread just like his brothers.  We told ourselves it was just one of those things, but sadly the next morning it became apparent Tiny wasn’t well.

Tiny cuddled up with his two brothers

As he had no real symptoms, other than not being quite himself, we decided not to take him to the vets.  Tiny was well over two years old, and we felt the stress of taking Tiny to the vet would be detrimental to him.  So, we kept a very close eye on our sweet guy, and gradually over the week his energy levels and appetite decreased.  We started feeding Tiny baby food, but as the week progressed he got to the point where he would only lick baby food from our finger tips.  On his final day it became obvious he was slipping away.  He had been fine with his brothers in their cage, but he had become very still on that last day and his two brothers weren’t being very careful around him.  Rather than leave Tiny to get a bit trampled and shoved around by Polar and Panda, they didn’t understand that Tiny didn’t want to play or cuddle up to sleep, I kept him with me.  I wrapped him in a nice soft towel and he seemed very peaceful and I knew he was safe. It was mid-afternoon when he gently passed away.

While it is never easy to say goodbye to any little critter, Derek and I took comfort in knowing he slipped away peacefully, and we were able to be there and care for him right up until the end.

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Tula and her sister Tilly in happier times

I’m very sad to say that our sweet little girl, Tula has passed away.

A couple of weeks ago she started having breathing problems.  We got her straight onto a course of Baytril and lots of baby food, but it didn’t seem to help.  Then to make matters worse we found a lump under her throat and it was a frighteningly fast growing one.  In the space of two weeks the lump quadrupled in size.  There was no way we could have the lump removed because of Tula’s breathing difficulties. Our vet was also suspicious when he first examined Tula that her problems weren’t caused by respiratory infection, and the rapid growth of her lump, even though it itself was not the cause, may well have been a symptom of more serious internal growths.  Either way we had to acknowledge that there was nothing we could do to help our little girl.

Tula’s breathing was becoming very laboured, and she was obviously being worn down by her condition.  So, Derek and I made the very painful decision to have her put to sleep.  Tula was so very young, and we really weren’t ready to say goodbye to our sweet little girl.  We can only know that she is at peace now and take extra special care of Tilly and hope to lessen her loss.

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Although Smudge only passed away this morning, both Derek and I feel very peaceful about her passing.  It’s strange to say but we aren’t really grieving for her, we will miss her, but there is no sorrow associated with her death, just calmness.

I guess it’s because Smudge was so old.  She had been with us for over 2 Years, and she was already fully grown when we got her.  So, while we will never know her exact age, she certainly was an old little rat.  Since the death of her sisters she had been living a sedate life, choosing to only really interact with us when there was food on offer.  She was by no means neglected, Derek and I regularly played with Tula and Tilly, who Smudge shared a home with, but Smudge preferred to stay in her igloo most of the time.

She’d been slowing down steadily over the last month or so.  Her fur was looking a little unkempt, and she felt rather frail when I held her.  Just over a week ago I noticed she was suffering from slight weakness in her back legs.  She was still content and eating and drinking fine, so I didn’t worry.  Then this morning I found her lying in her cage and it was obvious she was slipping away quietly.  I held her until she took her last breath and told her I loved her.

It’s nice to know she is at peace and that she died peacefully.  Smudge had a difficult start to her life – being given up by her first owner – and it obviously affected her quite badly.  I feel very lucky to have been able to give her comfort and security in her life.

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It’s funny to think that Smudge was our least favourite of the five girls we adopted from the RSPCA.  It’s not that we didn’t want her, although I don’t think I will ever be a fan of dumbo rats, it’s the fact that when we first got her she continually and aggressively attacked and bit my hands.  I remember she would charge from across the room if I put my hand on the floor and give me a really nasty bite.  Oddly she never bit Derek, it was always me!

It didn’t take much to break Smudge of her bad habit, just time patience and love.  Smudge would never bite me if I was holding her, so that’s what I did – I picked her up at every opportunity and wouldn’t put her down until she’d had a good cuddle.  And it worked; Smudge and I became great friends.

After the last of her sisters passed away I got two new little rats, who Smudge shares a home with and we hardly ever see her!  Smudge is content sleeping the day away in her igloo and getting up when she thinks we have some yummies for her.  Not that I mind, if Smudge is happy then I’m happy.

It’s just funny how things have turned out.  Smudge has gone from being our least favourite little rat, to a very precious little family member.

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Our sweet girl, Daisy

This is a very hard update to make, while Daisy is fine and healthy she has a lump and unfortunately because of its location we’ve decided not to have it removed.  We first noticed a pea-sized lump on Daisy’s neck not long after Pearl died.  It was hard enough finding a lump on another rat after both Pearl and Apricot had both had lumps removed, and of course Pearl dieing, but also the fact it was on her neck.  We took Daisy to the vet and she confirmed what we were concerned about, that a lump on a rat’s neck is not the easiest thing to remove.  There are a lot of blood vessels in the neck and if the lump is attached to one of these the chances of the rat surviving the surgery can be very slim.

To make matters worse, the lump increased in sized very rapidly further adding to our concern that it may be attached to an artery.  With everything that has been going on with our little rats we decided not to have Daisy operated on, as loosing her during surgery is just too much to for me to contemplate.  For now Daisy is her normal happy self.  The lump is very big, but she is not letting it bother her at all, she runs around and climbs with the rest of her rattie family.

Daisy with her family in happier times

Daisy has always been a strange little rat, she’s a bit like a ghost.  She’s very quiet and she sneaks around like she’s in her own little world.  We suspect she may be deaf, which would explain why she doesn’t respond to things like the other rats do.  We love her very much, not just because she’s mum of Apple, Bramble, Lime, Peach and Apricot, but because she’s our ghostly little girl.

We are treating Daisy extra special and spoiling her with baby food, which we use to give her daughter, Apricot, her daily medicine so Daisy gets the spare.  While Daisy is not the sort of rat you can cuddle she does appreciate food, so she is very pleased about being spoilt.

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