additional quarantine measures for "stray" rat?

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temblabamomo

temblabamomo

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2010
Messages
5,048
Location
Southeastern Virginia
Went yesterday to meet a rat at our local shelter, will be picking him up Monday after work. They have no history on him, except to say that someone brought him in and said he was a "stray". They have a strict "don't ask" policy at the shelter, and as long as no gross negligence or abuse is suspected, they don't ask questions, they just take the animal. But they seem to think someone just found this little guy wandering out and about. He was docile and seemed very sweet, I'm guessing he's maybe 2ish? Definitely not a youngster, but appeared healthy on the outside.

I'm just concerned that if he's been wandering outside, he may pose more of a risk to my boys at home. Are their any extra measures I need to take with quarantine? I plan to put some Revolution on him as soon as I get home, but anything else? I'm terrified of my boys catching some horrid disease.
 
If he is a pet rat and had contracted something nasty from wild rats, then I'd say you would see it in his coat, eyes and breathing. Keep him in a different room of the home for a couple of weeks.
 
Thanks. Had a chance to talk to the shelter manager yesterday, he said they've had the rat for about a month now and he's been perfectly healthy. His coat is nice a soft and clean, eyes and nose and ears and teeth looked fine. We haven't even had any new home sneezes :D . He's extremely sociable and friendly, and my guess is that whoever brought him in just said he was a stray, because saying "hey i don't want to bother with my rat anymore" just makes them look bad/lazy/apathetic/etc. But I'm still keeping him in his own room, for now.
 
As you surmised, there's only "surrendered" and "stray" and stray means a lot of different things. In that month he's been healthy at the shelter he would've presented with any of the nasties he could have had. I would dose him with Revo and just be careful for the next 2 weeks, but nothing extra I would imagine. :)

Can't wait to "meet" him :joy:
 

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