Surviving pet advice...

[haele]

Four years ago, the kidlet adopted three young ratties. Over the past two years, two have died (stroke last year and diabetes a month ago), and we have one fairly healthy survivor, Peaches, left.

As with most tweeners, the kidlet's interests have changed, and I (evil stepmom) has become the primary caretaker of all critters in the house, now numbering five. DH and I try to spend as much time as we can with Peaches, but that doesn't seem to be enough; he's gotten very listess and uninterested since Jonathan died a month ago.

Does anyone have any advice (other than to get another rattie - which wouldn't be fair to that baby as we have several other critters demanding our attention) to keep him from being so lonely? I was thinking of a small stuffed animal, but toys never seemed to interest him much.

Haele

[RebelOne]

1. Pardon my ignorance, but what is a rattie?

[ernstbass]

2. I'm assuming you refer to a rat terier

If you are referring to a dog, he needs a companion. Dogs are pack animals and he has always had another dog around. What about adopting an older dog who won't require a great deal of training?

[Lisa0825]

3. What other critters do you have? (nt)

[haele]

4. Pardon - rattie is slang "pet rat" in our family

Peaches and Jonathan in better times:



Our other critters are two young cockateils (Sylvester and Chuckles given to us by one of the kidlet's friends a couple months ago, no picture yet)that are in the process of learning to talk, two 15 year old cats, Moggy and Willy:



and Shari, the very dumb, very jealous mutt who's not sure if she's a people or a kitty.



Haele

[haele]

5. Self-serving kick

We're trying to encourage his interest a bit. It's working a bit, but not much. I've got a bad feeling he won't last the summer.

Haele

[IndyOp]

6. I am sending you and Peaches good thoughts --

Though I think what rats like best is other rats -- they are colony animals and alone life just isn't the same. Beyond that - life can be made more interesting by letting him roam a safe area larger than his home cage and/or providing new foods and/or smells...

:hi:

[egadsbrain]

7. I thought you meant rat terrier too!

:rofl:
I had a couple of lone rat companions in the past. Mendel was a sweet, hooded female, and Nu Lin Hung was an all black hooded male. I never felt that they missed having rat companions and both lived to be quite old before dying of cancer. I did have elaborate set-ups in their aquarium homes though and they did spend time out with me. You can construct all kinds of "jungle gyms" with cardboard tubes and oatmeal containers for example. There used to be a rat fanciers group here in New york City. I'll try to find a link later and post it!

[jeanarrett]

8. We've had ratties for the past six years. I knew right away what rattie

you were referring to. You do know that their life expectancy is only about three years? We are on our second set - Delilah and Daisy are girls. I got Delilah from a freecycler who hand-raised her from a baby. She came with a sister who escaped while we were moving and our neighbor found in his house. He had been complaining to me about the "big white mouse" in his house, but sadly, he could not catch her and she died. I bought Daisy at the pet store as a toddler, but she is a little less social than Delilah. They are very sweet, loving pets. Much more so than any other rodent types. For most people, it's getting past the tail. But they are so loving.

Our first two rats, George and Squeakums came from the "school raffle" at the end of the year when someone had to take the class rats home. My daughter got one and her friend got the other, however, when friend took her's home, her Mom screamed to "get rid of it!" So we got both. They were also very loving and bigger than the girls. My daughter used to walk down the street in the summer with one on each shoulder with tails hanging down her back. Quite a site!

After about three years, George got sick and they start fading really fast. Their eyes will go first, usually, and they weep a substance that looks very much like blood! It is not blood, but looks like they are bleeding from the eyes. Weight loss, etc. and there is not much you can do but keep them as comfortable as possible. Several months after George, same thing with Squeakums, and we petted and held and loved him as much as gently possible, until he too passed into rattie heaven.

So if your other one is a few years old, it may very well be old age and he is just starting the slide. It took a couple of months and wasn't real pretty--but you know what the vet will say. They can't do anything but offer to put them to sleep. Ours didn't seem to be in pain, so we just loved them until the end.