Wee old fogey

Mouse has lived the longest of any of our ratty girls, she was adopted from the SSPCA at 8 weeks old back in August 2010.

She has "something" wrong with her but we're not sure what. About a month ago we found her lying on the floor of her cage barely able to move. We gave her a dose of metacam thinking she would slip away within the hour, this was at midnight.

The next day she was back to bumbling about so we took her to the vet who suggested a pituitary tumor, other brain tumor or a stroke. She went back to the vet a week or so later as we felt the metacam wasn't doing too much for her. We saw a new vet who suggested a steroid and so she started on half a tablet daily. She's now down to 1/4 of a tablet every two days.

We nearly had her put to sleep this Monday as we found her with a very wet and smelly toosh, I made the appointment for after work but during the day it occured to me that she might be suffering from a water infection. I rung the vet and he agreed that it'd be worth trying her on antibiotics in case this was what was going on (When a rat can no longer keep itself clean it's time to stop in my opinion).

Her wee fuzzy tooshy is now clean and dry and she's still bumbling about and eating reasonably well.

We know we won't have her for much longer but she's such a special wee girl it's nice to think we still have a tiny bit of time left.









For all her 2 years and 8 months she's still quite bright.

How long do rats live? She looks very sweet and must have a zest for life. She must be very happy with you.

She is the prettiest rat I have ever seen so pleased she is doing better.

Awww

bunnytoes said:

How long do rats live? She looks very sweet and must have a zest for life. She must be very happy with you.

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Females rarely live past 2 years and 6 months my girl rats have died at the following ages, it looks very morbid but I've included what they all died of as well.

Scrabble - 2 years 6 months (hind leg deterioration, was getting messy toosh constantly)
Cluedo - 2 years 5 months (chronic respiratory disease)
Marble - 2 years 6 months (hind leg deterioration, was getting messy toosh constantly)
Domino - 2 years 4 months (chronic respiratory disease, tumor)
Jigsaw - 1 year 2 months (pituitary tumor)
Silver - 1 year 10 months (chronic respiratory disease brought on by choking on a nut)
Heidi - 2 years 8 months (mammary tumors and eye infection)
Rasha - 2 years 1 month (chronic respiratory disease)
Reba - 2 years 2 months (unknown)
Bounce - 2 years 5 months (chronic respiratory disease)

Boys tend to live longer. When we get a girl rat that reaches the 2 year milestone then we start being very vigilant with them. They're prone to respiratory problems along with mammary lumps. When they reach 2 years and 4 months that's when we start feeding scrambled egg, porridge and baby food daily.

So sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!!! And what an incredible age. :thumb:

She has such a beautiful face

She's beautiful looks like she has a lovely fuzzy coat.

Gorgeous agouti girl, her red ticking is fabulous. I agree, after 2 they are elderats and we also start feeding baby food once they get past that. It really helps them keep their weight on.
2 years 8 months is my record in a girl. She had 3 tumour removals but then got a uterine infection. My record in boys is a bit unknown, but I think Tegster must have been over 3. I got him and Henry from the RSPCA as adults said to be 18 months and I had him for over 2 years. My own estimate of his age at adoption was that he was at least 9/10 months old as he was full grown and filled out.