Gone But Not Forgotten - Nibble - Saturday, April 14, 2007

As blogged previously, Nibble had been "stroking out" a little in the sense that her two front legs were losing capability. She would lose most function for a few days and then make a recovery. This happened twice. Also, when Virginia was initially taken to the vet's Nibble went with her to see about a few smallish lumps that she had. This lump didn't appear to be getting bigger but did appear to be getting harder.

Then, last week she became worse and progressive to the point where she wasn't able to move very well. She was having trouble eating and then really not able to eat at all. I sat and held her for a number of hours on Thursday and Friday kind of hoping that she would pass. She was one who hated to go out and hated to be fed medicine. She was impossible to trick to take her medicine.

We took her to the local vet to have her put to sleep on Saturday. We had seen the same thing in Snort and it is a very hard thing for them as eating and drinking is near impossible. The vet checked her back feet and lower spine and it appears that the problem was coming from there. He pushed into her back a bit and it was painful for her. What I figure is the lump that was around her genital area had moved into her back. He suggested that we could try shots of some kind every eight hours. I passed on that. It would have been very difficult and painful for her - she is not and has never been a good patient. She would have been in pain and unhappy and her last month(s) would have been those of misery. The vet said that the likelihood of it helping too much was low but that he had to offer. Maybe if it was the cat and would have benefit... sometimes with the rats there is only so much that can be done with reason.

Nibble was a sweet little lady that could be moody. She almost didn't come to us. We brought her home because of the cage situation with Houdini. She became quite mellow in her old age but still had the ability to give a good bite if fingers came into the cage and she wasn't in the mood for it. Nibble and Boggle were paired to come out together to sit on the couch. They had a great temperament together and Nibble often liked to go into my sleeve and sleep on my shoulder. She was so pretty and soft being a light colored lady with her black eyes.

We will miss Nibble greatly, as we already do. It's such a shame that these lovely animals are only with us for a couple of years.

It's been awhile, yet again

Frankenrat, alias Virginia, ended up having two lumps removed and was also spayed. She looks quite good and has healed up rather nicely. Clementine is on antibiotics for her rash. I don't know if that's going to do it for her. She is so small and seems that she is not thriving. She isn't getting beat up or terrorized in the cage - I've been watching to make sure it isn't a "stress issue". Something to watch for. Albie has a lump and will need to have that removed but will do it shortly. I will probably take her when I take Clementine in for a recheck. They always want to see them to confirm the obvious. Nibble is still with us. She had another stroke-like few days where her front paws weren't that strong but is somewhat back to normal. The hardness in her groin/genital area hasn't become larger so that's a positive sign. She's still with us! The other ladies are well. Siggy is actually about twice the size of Albie.

I'll have the opportunity to be home more as well as I am going to be working part time days at work now starting in about a week. Graveyard was so quiet which is good but it is such a lifestyle change. Husband works days and it was always very hard to come home and go right to bed. It's like regular shifters coming home at 5 pm and going to bed and getting up around 3 am. It will be interesting to see daylight and people again. I guess I have to comb my hair on a regular basis again!

We also did the incredibly stupid again on Monday (April 9 for my senile mind). We picked up three male rats. A bit of a story attached to this one. Perusing Craigslist (always on the lookout for bargain cages, etc) and saw that someone was giving up three male rats and it was one of those COME AND GET EM OR ELSE ads. Emailed my inquiry and was told that they were with the ex-roommates, owner at another place, couldn't keep rats, not sure if they were being taken care of by ex-roomies. Asked the owner whether there were any other people interested, asked about the cage, etc as we have NO room and really don't need another three rats, especially males as they need to be housed separately. After getting virtually no info (which always leads me to believe the worst), I told the owner that I would take them and to call me. No call. Hoping for the best, I go about my business and LO! about five days later another ad wanting to rehome three male rats. I email and find out it is the same three rats and now THEY can't keep them either. Idiots off to the rescue. We get there and the poor animals are in this crappy cage in a dark room. I'm not going to slam the kid taking care of them as he probably was trying but it didn't look to be the best of situations. I didn't pry but it seems that someone is sick and didn't want them there. I hope the kid keeps in touch as I would like to keep him updated and send pics of their cage.

Asked the kid if he could toss the cage and took the boys home in our cat carrier (we have a cat carrier for multiple rodents travelling). The poor things are in this very small cage (for them) but that will be remedied tomorrow when I drive to the boonies to get a nifty cage for them.

So now 11 count em 11 rats. The boys are very nice looking rats. I think they are a bit dehydrated and hungry but we'll get that sorted out. They have eaten the lab blocks, peas, dog biscuits and a chocolate chip. It looks like we'll be calling them Larry, Curly and Moe. Larry is all black, Curly is black and white and Moe has one red and one black eye. Curly is quite a large boy. That will take some getting used to. They felt healthy, as far as I could tell, when I gave them a grope. Pictures to come!

Husband is a little concerned. So am I, for that matter. It could be a lot of work if things go wrong at the same time. I'm hoping for the best and all stay healthy and well. We just won't be replacing as each pass on. There's only so much we can do and we are well over our limit. We talked about getting these three boys and felt that we could. They need a stable home and care. Not sure how long it will be because I have no idea how old they are. The only ones I know about are Nibble, Siggy and Albie because they were babies. The rest are crapshoots.

Wish us luck! Two cages and 12 sets of eyes watching us.