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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I’ve been meaning to update about out sweet little guy Bramble for some time now.  He has done us so proud over the last two years.  Having been the poorliest of all his siblings, there were times when we thought he wouldn’t make it to adulthood, never mind old age.  It has been a wonderful, but scary, journey looking after our wheezy little rat.  But our Bramble was a fighter and he went on to outlive all of his siblings and matured into a beautiful, slightly cranky old age boy until he passed away peacefully.

Bramble had been on his own since his adopted brother Chestnut had passed away, and I’m pleased to say he had coped very well with this adjustment.  Bramble has always been a bit of a cuddly rat and he loved nothing more than being curled up at the bottom of a pile of sleeping rats.  But Bramble being a little fighter made the adjustment.  Derek and I tried spent as much time with Bramble as we could, though as an old boy he liked to sleep a lot.  He did still appreciate his meal times though, and made sure he was awake everyday to help us finish our dinners.

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It was silly to have little old Smudge living alone in her rather large cage, especially with two new boisterous young rats in the house.  We didn’t want to move Smudge from her home – even though she spends all her time in her rat igloo – it just didn’t seem fair to her after loosing her rattie sisters.  So, we moved our new arrivals Tula and Tilly in with Smudge.

Smudge is a very easygoing little rat, and she’s not that big so we didn’t anticipate any problems with introducing the young rats to her.  And I’m pleased to say everything has gone smoothly.  We kept the girls separate for a few weeks just to give them time to settle in and make sure they were healthy and then they pretty much moved straight in with Smudge.

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I’m very sad to say our shy little guy Chestnut passed away yesterday afternoon.  It was a very sad end to what had been an exciting weekend of new rattie arrivals.  His passing was very peaceful, and though we don’t know exactly how old he was, I’m pretty sure he had reached a good old age.

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Our new rats Polar, Panda & Tiny curled up in bed

When we were at the pet store yesterday collecting our little girls Tula and Tilly, I caught sight of a beautiful big boy rat.  He obviously wasn’t a baby and I couldn’t resist having a little look at him.  There were two other rats in the tank with him, though I only saw their noses peaking out at me.  I felt so bad for the big guy, as most people only want baby rats and growing up in a pet store is no life for such an intelligent little critter.

As we were there picking up our new girls there was nothing I could do, and I didn’t think Derek would be too impressed if I asked for more rats then and there.  So I decided to wait until we were home and our new girls were settled.  Not that I needed to worry, as Derek was thinking about the big beautiful boy too.

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Tula

I admit we weren’t planning any new additions to our family, if anything we were thinking of taking a break from keeping rats. We have adopted a lot of rats over the past 12 months, many of them old or with health problems, and devoted a lot of time and energy caring for them.  With so many of them passing away, we have been feeling a bit heart broken and exhausted.  It seemed like taking a break and recharging was the best thing to do.  But when I saw a gorgeous little black hooded rat bouncing around her tank yesterday – while on a quick trip to the pet store to pick up supplies – I could not resist.

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Muffin

More bad news I’m afraid.  Muffin had what we initially thought was an abscess on the side of her face.  The lump came up very quickly and burst within a couple of days, as you would expect.  We immediately started bathing it with salt water and giving her Baytril.  Not all of the swelling went down with the burst abscess and worryingly a strong smelling fluid was starting to discharge from Muffins ear.  Her jaw had also gone out of alignment, with her bottom teeth pointing diagonally to the right, making it very difficult for her to eat even baby food.

We consulted our vet, and she speculated that Muffin has some sort of fissure, which was causing the fluid in Muffins ear and probably draining into the abscess.  As we sadly expected, she told us we could do nothing more for Muffin that what we were doing.

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Apricot with her Mum, Daisy and sister, Peach

As I’ve said before, Apricot had been very ill for a long time and over the past month her condition had deteriorated.  She had been scratching her skin a lot more, and she had quite a few open wounds.  They weren’t deep or anything scary, but they must have been causing her some discomfort – not that Apricot ever let it show.  She had also developed a head tilt and was having problems with her balance, so she would often topple over when she was running about.  On top of this she had two tumours, one behind each armpit.

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