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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Conker peeking out from a cushion
Since he joined our family Conker has been doing really well settling in, getting used to Derek and I and just learning what fun it is to come out and have a run-around. He’s a really lovely boy, though he did develop one naughty habit of nipping Derek’s feet while he was out playing. We were really starting to enjoy our new guys, even with the sad loss of Apple and Lime, Chestnut and Conker were very sweet and entertaining.
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Apricot (front) with Pearl and Daisy
Not that long after the sad loss of our other rattie girl Pearl, after an operation to remove a lump, we had to go through another operation with out sweet little Apricot. Although I am pleased to say that Apricot has had her lump removed and is well on the way to making a full recovery.
Apricot’s lump was under her right armpit and it was a horrible hard, hot and black thing. Despite all Apricot’s health and skin problems we felt we had no choice but to have it removed. Even though the lump was very hard and immobile it was removed easily and after a good nights sleep Apricot was full of bounce and acting as though nothing had happened.
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Pepper
A few weeks ago we lost our big cuddly baby, Pepper. It was very sudden and we were totally unprepared for it. He and Pippin had come out to play at night like they always do, and while Pepper was his usually naughty attention seeking self, we noticed there was some blood in his urine. Pepper was a very naughty rat and he alway liked to pee on things when he was out, so we knew he hadn’t been bleeding when he was out earlier in the day. There was no sign of blood in his cage, and because it was gone 9 o’clock at night we decided to leave him and see how he was the next day.
When we got up the next morning we found Pepper had passed away in the night. It was a devastating day for us, Pepper was still young and with everything he and his brother had survived the last few months we thought we were through the worst of things.
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Peach and Apricot
Things have been a bit difficult with Peach and Apricot, the respiratory problems that have been plaguing Apricot, and two of her brothers, started troubling her sister Peach. It is really weird because they are not ill like you would normally expect with a respiratory problem in rats, but their breathing sounds terrible. It is hard to explain, but the noise they make is like a rattle and it is all the time, both girls and their brothers are physically fine and run around and get into trouble like healthy rats.
To top it off, the girls they seem to be suffering from some sort of skin condition. It started off with them scratching themselves very badly around their faces. My first thought was mites and I treated all the girls with a spot on mite treatment, but it didn’t help. They were turning their pretty little faces into horrible scabby messes and weren’t allowing them to heal.
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Pippin
It has been a difficult couple of weeks with Pippin and a few times we were really scared we were going to lose him. I’m pleased to say now though that he has made an excellent recovery and we are very hopeful that he is going to be all right.
Pippin’s abscess operation
To start with, Pippin’s operation to remove his second rather large abscess had to be brought forward when it became apparent that the abscess was going to burst. The lump had developed a large black spot on it, which meant that the skin was dieing and the infection inside would escape. We called our vets and they told us to bring him in immediately to have it removed, which we did.
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Pippin
Everything seemed to have gone well after Pippin’s last operation. We were relieved when the vet told us his previous lump had been an abscess and once his wound had healed up we thought that was the end of it. Unfortunately another lump has come up, pretty much in the same place as the last one.
We talked our options through with the vet and have decided to put Pippin through another surgery. We could have had the abscess lanced, but the vet explained that their is a risk with small animals that the infection from the abscess will leak into the surrounding tissue once it has been punctured. If they operate they should be able to get all the infected tissue out without bursting the sack the puss is in. It all sounds really disgusting.
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Pepper
Pepper gave us the fright of our lives last Thursday. We played with him and Pippin in the morning, as usual, and he was happy and bouncy, climbing on us and generally being his mischievous self. When they both started to slow down we popped them in so they could get a drink and some food. They are both terrible for not going in by themselves when they’re hungry or thirsty, they just start doing naughty things so we’ll put them away.
Anyway, we popped them in and they had some food and water and settled down for a nap. It was barely fifteen minutes later and Pepper started making this terrible sound. He was gasping for breath and this horrible stuff seemed to be coming out of his mouth. We grabbed Pepper, put him in a pet carrier and took him straight to the vet. When we got there we handed him over to a nurse, who took him straight through to the back to see a vet, and we had to wait in the waiting area while they helped him.
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Pippin had the operation on his lump yesterday and everything went smoothly. We picked him yesterday afternoon and the poor little guy was still a bit wobbly. He was very glad to be back in his home and hid himself away for a good sleep. Come the evening he was looking a lot brighter and had some food. And when we checked on him this morning he’d climbed up to one of his favourite beds higher up in the cage and even came out for a little play.
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