Gone but not forgotten - Siggy October 8, 2007

Siggy came with her sister, Albie, as babies from a petstore with the sales inducing comment of being the "ugliest rats I have ever seen". We disagreed wholeheartedly finding hairless rats to be incredible and gorgeous.

Siggy didn't have the bossy personality of her sister but was an alpha in her own way, deferring only to her sister. Comparatively, she was shy and fussy, taking treats, putting them neatly in a corner and running up to get more only to take them to the pile and come back. She would not start eating a treat until I left the cage area, seemingly wanting to make sure that no more were forthcoming. When we would have our outside the cage sessions, she would get agitated at being away from the cage, only being comfortable hiding in my shirt or in a fold of the blanket that was used. Unlike her sister, she was content to sit with me quietly and enjoy being petted.

There's something somewhat fragile about hairless rats. While a lot of rats can live over two years and good stock (well bred by careful breeders) can live for three and sometimes the odd occasion four years, out of the four rats we have had, I don't think any lived over two years. It won't be a disincentive to having hairless but just something to always keep in mind - they are with us for an even shorter period of time.

Siggy was a robust and healthy girl but did get a lump a few months before her death with a successful removal. Then, pretty much immediately after fully healing, she started growing another. This was shortly after her sister died. Then, as I was watching it and debating on when to take her in, she started to lose a little weight and get a bit of a squinty eye. She also seemed to be having a little trouble walking - like the others had when they had had a small stroke.

We decided to take her in to the vet to have it checked out. I wasn't sure if she had a head tilt (ear infection) or a bit of a stroke/tumor. The vet was concerned about a tumor and gave us some antibiotics and other meds to give her. If it was an infection, then it should clear up and then we could think about getting the lump removed. If it was a tumor, then it wouldn't clear up and just be a matter of time. She did okay taking the medicine and didn't look to be worsening. Two days after the vet visit, we found her dead in the cage, in one of the tubes that she liked to hide in with a treat on her.

We will miss our Siggy baby but we are so happy that she will be with her sister again at the bridge.

Gone but not forgotten - Albie September 10, 2007

This is crazy Albie. We brought home her and her sister Siggy from a pet store. They were quoted to be "the ugliest rats I have ever seen" from the young man who sold them to us. We found them gorgeous and a heck of a lot of fun. Albie was nicknamed "demon rat" on occasion from me due to her red eyes. She was such a small girl and, funny enough, turned out to be an alpha rat. Bedlam would occur in the cage and it would be business as usual to see that it was Albie asserting her alpha-ness over another rat. This continued with the three boys, who at the smallest is twice the size of Albie. Plus, she was the nosiest little busybody. She was always the first at the door, pushing her cagemates out of the way to get to whatever it was. She had to know what others were getting. She was also quite fearless outside of the cage, riding my shoulder and wanting to check out the cat. Albie also was always on the go, making it difficult for our visiting sessions outside of the cage. She was so restless and always wanting to look at something.

She ended up with a lump and we had it removed. The vet told us that the lump had its own blood source and that we could have the lump checked for malignancy. We felt there was no point, as there wasn't much we could do for her if it was malignant. We decided to keep an eye on her and enjoy our time with her. She did very well for about four months or so and then started to lose a little weight. It wasn't much, not enough to be concerning. Then, on September 9, pretty much overnight she went from being somewhat energetic and lively to slow, lethargic and listless. I knew the end was coming when she would just sit with me. She never just sat with me.

We kept an eye on her overnight and on Monday she looked worse. Luckily, I was able to spend some time with her and when I was wiping her face off with a cloth, she had a seizure and died. We are thankful that she did not linger and suffer and that she had to make the "death ride" to the vet.

She was such a strong personality and will be greatly missed.

It's been a while....

It's been a while since keeping up to date on what has been happening. It's been such a stressful and busy summer in a number of ways - job, family, pets, etc. It's going to take a little while to just come out of the bone-weariness of it.

Lately we have been dealing with a somewhat sick cat and the rats. We lost Albie in September and then just under a month later we lost Siggy. We are now down to eight rats, with a couple starting to show their ages.

We feel that six is our maximum and won't be adding to the group until we get under that number. While we feel good with the reasoning behind being so far over our capabilities, I have felt sad that I haven't been able to spend the time that I would have liked because of the volume along with all the above issues that needed attention. Memorials to our beautiful hairless ladies upcoming.