Well, I have just returned from another work conference - this time in Mallorca, which was very hot and very beautiful. I got home last night at about 12.45am (although to me it was 1.45am) and was a very tired grumpuss. With the last conference of the year out of the way, and let me assure you it has kept me extremely busy, I can start concentrating on the changes going on in my own life, which I haven’t mentioned before but will hopefully go some way to explaining why the website and my general correspondence with you all has dropped by the wayside recently.
Si and I have decided to leave London after over four years here. There are many reasons - home-sickness, loneliness, exhaustion, expense of living here, the fact that after 4 years we know no one outside of our respective jobs, and the major stresses that living in London brings. Enough is enough. We hate it here now - London has tired us out and made us realise how much we loved living in Devon. So now begins the journey; the daunting task of restarting yet again.
And yes, I will be returning to teaching as a career.
McClane has recovered from his foot injury (so now it’s just a question of waiting for his next one) and he appears to have undergone a personality change. He has turned quite affectionate towards Si and me. He now loves cuddles much more than he used to and has turned quite licky. He’s less aggressive in the cage in general and seems quite chilled. Or at least I hope that’s what the deal is as I’ve noticed that he is a little off-colour and his back legs are beginning to look like Pocket’s did when he first started getting ill, so something to watch there. But another result is that he seems to be less top rat than he used to.
Pocket’s death did shake up the cage dynamic, even though Pocky was bottom rat. Gumby has been making a bid for presidency and has actually turned a bit mean. He’s been having a go at Piggy and Mumble, the two old boys, and has had to be exhiled to the naughty cage on more than one occasion. He gives me such a pathetic look of apology when he knows he’s been naughty (and he does know) but it’s all lies. As a result, Piggy has begrudgingly come out of retirement to keep the cage in shape and to take charge. He’s still the same old Piggy - happy, afectionate, silly, strong-minded. Very skinny and scruffy and his chest has been bad. But still the same old Pig. He always responds when you call his name, no matter what he’s doing. And the best thing is that he recognises all of his names - Piglet, Pig, Piggy, Mr Pig, Piglicious. All you have to do is call him and he runs straight over to you immediately like a well-trained dog. Bless.
I’ve just realised that I haven’t posted a great deal of pics of my boys on the main website for a while so I thought I’d post some “then and now” pics:
Gumby
Ptolomy
McClane
Mumble
Piglet
And I wanted to show you this too :) For ages i’ve wanted to make a cuddly Dervel - and I’ve finally done it!! Hope you like.
Well, McClane has managed to hurt his leg/foot again. I really don’t know how he does it - there’s nothing in their cage that could possibly injure him, except possibly if he fell from one of the shelves, and even then there’s a padded bed at the bottom that would break his fall. I need to put his hammock back, is what I need!
We noticed it yesterday when they were all free-ranging in the hallway - that little back leg tucked up against him as he hobbled. It’s an incredibly pathetic sight to see, poor little guy, because he’s clearly in pain. He’s been snuggled up with his brother a lot and sleeping in his litter tray - it saves him from having to walk when he needs to go to the toilet. Mind you, McClane has always viewed the litter tray as a convenient, stinky, bed.
McClane isn’t very affectionate and is the only rat that absolutely refuses to give kisses, but whenever he hurts himself all he wants is a cuddle from mummy. It’s sweet and sad at the same time. He’ll snuggle into me and lick my hand to pieces (or chew on my bra strap) and will be very affectionate. I guess when we’re poorly we all want our mummy to make it feel better. As soon as he’s well again he won’t want anything to do with me.
No, it’s not my birthday today - it was actually my birthday 2 weeks ago, but I was so busy I didn’t have time to blog, and dammit if I’m not going to use it! :) I can only use it once a year anyway :) And on that note - happy belated birthday to Lynn!! Mwah mwah.
But there is another special birthday today - Mr Pig! Yes, my special tilty-headed boy has turned 2! He is only my second ever buck to have reached his 2nd birthday (Mallow being the first) and it’s typical that all of my healthy, fit boys cark it, but the sickly, disabled weedy ones live for a very long time! But all joking aside, I am still very glad that Piglet is doing well.
He’s not 100% healthy, it’s true. He’s quite skinny these days, sleeps more and more and his breathing and lungs are still an issue. But he’s still happy and doing well, still has a good run around and loves his cuddles. And he still bosses the other boys around, so I’m confident he’s mostly over his bad illness and will be with us for a long time yet.
At the weekend I went out with Si and we fed some of the local squirrels. I’m trying to get back into ‘proper’ photography so I took the Beast (my camera) with me. I’ll put up more pics later, but here are 2 of them. And a lion.
It was definitely the right time for him to go. My heart’s broken. Poor little Pocket.
Well, this morning I made the decision that I didn’t want to make and desperately hoped I wouldn’t have to. On Saturday, unless something changes drastically, we’re going to have Pocket pts. This last week’s been a very hard one and he gone downhill very quickly. He’s having a lot of mobility problems and falls over alot now. He seems very weak and depressed - the only time he’s happy now is cuddle time, and even then you know he’s starting to suffer. I’m beginning to question whether he’s in any pain - certainly his breathing’s not getting better. And now, because he has problems with his back, he can’t eat or drink very well unassisted. As well as spine problems, it looks like maybe a pt - he can’t grip. Not only can he not hold the food, he can’t lift himself enough to eat it. I know he’s hungry because we caught him eating substrate and he wolfed down the avocado and curly kale we gave him last night as he can eat that just moving his mouth. But it’s not enough.
Obviously if the problem was just that he was struggling to hold his food but wasn’t in pain then I would move heaven and high water to get him to eat - as I am already doing. He can only really eat soft food that he doesn’t need to hold. But as I can see now he’s in his final days I don’t want to drag this out for him. Of course I will continue to feed him and care for him as I have been - I’m not saying I’m just going to leave him to it! But I feel that to make him spend the next few weeks hungry unless I’m there to hold his food is prolonging agony. Because obviously I have made adjustments to his cage - one level, nothing he can fall from, no substrate, no clutter, water bowls and low level bowls with soft food, and it’s not helping. He will only drink if I hold his water bottle to him while he is lying down, so is he not drinking while I’m at work? Also, with the exception of avacado, he will only eat if someone holds the food or holds the spoon with the food on it. He tries to do it himself but even with food he doesn’t need his paws for he really struggles. He’ll maybe take a mouthful or two, then it takes him 5 minutes to recover from the effort. Sometimes the food will just dribble back out from his mouth again.
But this is such a hard decision. I know I’m going to torture myself with ‘maybe if I’d tried harder to get him to eat’ even though I know I’ve done so much. I always felt guilty that when Hobbes had a PT I put him down too soon, and Pocket is very much like Hobbes in so many ways. I am struggling with my decision. I want to keep him.
Thankfully Gumby is pretty cured now, and Piggy is making vast improvements. Let’s hope he, at least, recovers.
Well, back at the vets again last night, taking Pocket, Piglet and Gumby (who has the early stages of myco). It was a new vet who I haven’t seen before but she was very lovely and very experienced and good with rats. She was telling me about some of the rat articles she had been reading lately, and how they now no longer think 2 drops of metacam is suitable for treating rats - they now think 30 drops a day is the way to go. However, to err on the side of caution, she told me to give Pocket 5 drops a day.
Pocket has lost more weight, going down to 590g, but she is utterly convinced that he isn’t in pain or suffering. He was very laid back at the vets actually - he’s been so many times now and nothing scary has happened to him so he’s a bit of a pro at it now. He was very relaxed, even when the vet was moving his head around to see how his neck was doing, and holding him so that he had to stand on his back legs. To be honest, it looked very much like he was enjoying it. Mr Cool.
Other than his weight loss, there is no evidence that Pocky has a tumour. Indeed, the vet thinks it might be neurological. We’ve noticed that when he lies down he’s half on his side on the back end, with one leg resting on his haunch. Every now and then he kicks it out and it seems quite involuntary - like some sort of nerve wiring in his brain is firing out random signals. That, at least, is what we suspect.
Gumby didn’t enjoy the experience quite so much. He tried to jump off the table a few times but otherwise was ok. Managed to smear himself in poop though 
Sadly things are not looking good for Mr Pig. His myco is advancing rapidly and is in his lungs badly. So far he has not responded much to medication. He is still himself - not losing weight (gaining, in fact), still has an appetite, still friendly, affectionate, playful and happy, but much more tired than he ever has been before. He is resting a lot. Having such scarred lungs makes it hard to breathe. It’s very sad to see. We will be treating him for 2 weeks and see if it makes any improvement at all. We’ll also be giving him metacam as well as baytril, to reduce any inflamation to his lungs and airways. In two weeks we may have to make a decision. It’s hard when they’re still active but in pain you can’t help them with :( I think even if he did respond to the baytril we may still only look at his lifespan in terms of weeks, not months. Sadly, the treatment he had been getting so far simply has had no effect. This morning he was just lying in the back of the cage, hardly able to move, so weak and tired it reminded me of Baldrick. He wasn’t in a good way at all.
We tried Dr Squiggles for the first time last night and it was instantly nicknamed ‘Rattie Crack’ - they drank for England! Gumby couldn’t leave it alone and was prowling around the water bottle impatient for his next fix everytime someone else wanted to use it! He was slapping everyone away if he felt he’d had to wait too long. I swear that if someone just brushes past him now he’s going to wet himself!
The little addict:
He was making us laugh so much yesterday. He’s gone through puberty now and he hasn’t changed in the slightest. He’s still incredibly playful and friendly. Well yesterday he was playing in the hall with Piggy and I was feeding them cooked, unsauced spaghetti strings. Obviously, spaghetti is long. Well, Gumby doesn’t like to drag his food so he was bouncing up the hallway like a rubber ball - then dumping it under the letter box. Part of me thinks he was stashing, the other part of me thinks he wanted me to think that the postman was delivering pasta. He is just such a happy, friendly, silly little boy. He is definitely one of the super rats. I’ll try and film him doing this.
Pocky isn’t doing so bad at the moment. He’s definitely weaker in his body and is struggling a little more to get around. But still brighter and more alert than he was. Piggy sadly isn’t doing so well. He is really struggling with his myco and is getting quite thin and weak. I don’t think it’s time for him yet, but I don’t think it’s too far off in the future. Poor Mr Pig. Thanks everyone for your kind words and support *hugs*
Thanks everyone for all of your kind words - they really mean a lot to us. Pocket’s health is still a worry - he’ll never be in full health again and that makes me so sad. Shouldn’t have favourites, really shouldn’t - but I do adore my grumpy old man.
He’s doing ok. There seems to be more muscle tone on his back legs and spine, he’s eating ok and walking around more. His coat looks lovely and shiney and he seems sparklier in himself. He tries to reassure me that he’s ok, and I try to believe him. I still don’t think he’s in pain.
McClane’s foot is now copletely better and he’s back to his bullying, grumpy ways. He thinks you’re all evil for laughing at his pics 
Piggy seems to be on a decline now though. He’s a tired old man now - still cheeky, still loving, still happy - but he’s slowing down, sleeping more and is having trouble shaking off his myco. A world without Mr Pig is unthinkable, so let’s not think it yet. But he needs lots of tlc.
I’ve also decided to take a break from lolrats for a while - hopefully just a month, but we’ll see how it goes. I’m just very very tired right now 
Love to you all x
Next Page »
