Albert

[jennifervb]

Hi Shelagh!!!!! :hugs:

I can tell you... I HAVE been busy!!!! Aside from dealing with my four feisty fur faces, I had the pleasure of having an allergic reaction to an antibiotic I am on! I look like a strawberry! I see the doc today, for a follow up, and I hope that he has some brilliant idea on how to get rid of this rash! I crack myself up when I look in the mirror! :laugh4:

I went to Whole Foods and bought probiotic, Strawberry&Cream, Kefir for Albert. He gets two servings a day along with his unsalted saltines. Of course, everyone else gets kefir too since they practically scale the walls when they smell it. LOL :roll:

Roquefort has been scheduled for a neuter next Tuesday. He is making life very difficult for Ben, Basil and Albert so it is time for his little gonads to part company. Roquefort is actively trying to take over, as the alpha male, and has riled Basil to the point where Basil is, not only, taking his anger out on Roquefort.... but he is also taking it out on Ben. I won't have that.

Out of my four boys... Basil is the only one "masculine" enough to be able to handle his testosterone levels. Nevertheless, he is reacting badly to Roquefort's influence. Albert continues to heal and has his follow up appointment tomorrow. Roquefort goes in on Tuesday morning and will come home, hopefully, on Wednesday (sometimes they keep them for 2 nights if there are complications).

I will, of course, be visiting Roquefort on Tuesday evening for scritches and cuddles. Dr. Davis has learned not to put e-collars on my rats so he should be able to get some rest after surgery.

I have a great time telling colleagues that I spent most of my $600 tax refund on getting my rats neutered!!! I get a huge kick out of the "you must be a psychopath" looks I get... :laugh4: :laugh4: :laugh4: :laugh4:

 

[jorats]

His poops are still very runny? Usually, I find the saltine clears that up within 24 hours. You can stop it now if it's not working.

 

[jennifervb]

of COURSE as luck would have it, Albert refused to poop for Dr. Davis!

She gave me some probiotic powder to mix with yogurt and said that diarrhea could take as long as a week to clear up.

Needless to say, he pooped up a storm on the ride back home and they were, thank God, normal!!!!! :happydance:

His incision is closed and there is only a tiny little scab left which Dr. Davis said didn't matter. I did intial intros, in the resident playground and all went well until Basil decided to park himself in Albert's cage and shred his paper towels for him!!!

Huge fight in the clubhouse! I couldn't get to them because they were inside the clubhouse and their scuffling made it impossible to lift the thing off of them!!!! :shock:

What was amazing was that there were no squeaks or grunts. They made absolutely no sound at all! Fortunately, it ended as quickly as it started and no one suffered any injuries.

I followed your advice and got myself some coroplast and zip ties!!! YOU ARE AWESOME JO!!! $30 dollars and my drywall is safe!!!! :hugs:

 

[jorats]

Ah... I should have warned you, when doing intros all cages are off limits! Cages is territory and can cause extreme aggression.

Good news on Albert and his back to normal stool. :joy:
I hope your intros continues to go well. Was Roquefort in there too?

 

[jennifervb]

Ah... I should have warned you, when doing intros all cages are off limits! Cages is territory and can cause extreme aggression.

Good news on Albert and his back to normal stool. :joy:
I hope your intros continues to go well. Was Roquefort in there too?

Roquefort actually managed to keep his nose out of things. I believe he is gaining a healthy respect for Basil, who has knocked him around, quite a bit, during the last week!

Roquefort still threatens Albert's nose with his incisiors but tomorrow's neuter should help cap that attitude! :wink:

 

[LeesaLogic]

I'm sorry to hear of Albert being a bitey boy!

I have two brothers that were fighting. My philosophy with fighting is no blood, no foul and figured they needed to scrap and push and squeak and mount to decide who was gonna be alpha. I did end up separating them for a few weeks after I saw some fur fly (literally) but no blood. After I got baby Sylvan, I decided to try intros with all three and amazingly that worked well.

 

[jennifervb]

Lord, what a week!!!! Sorry for the delay in responding but I have been in training and did not have access to the internet.

Good news on the home front. Roquefort and Albert now live in the big cage with Ben and Basil and all is going really well! I bought one of those triangle hammocks from Wonderrodent and came home, last week, to find all four boys munched in there together!

Both Albert and Roquefort did really well with their neuters and all incisions have healed up. Roquefort has lost weight but Dr. Richards is not worried. She said that his ordeal with his old family, the transfer to an inept shelter, the intros with 3 new rat men and the neuter were enough to wreak havoc with any little system. He is not sick, lethargic or porphyrin stained and he enjoys his treats and food. He is simply smaller than the other three and they steal from him.

To curb that, I am giving him his treats outside the cage. He is also getting high protein treats and extra portions of veggies. Dr. Richards suggested Ensure twice a day, which I am giving him as well. I added some high fiber bread and peanut butter to his dish this morning and that was obviously good enough for him to stick his paws into! :laugh4:

At Dr. Richards' suggestion, I will be getting him some Gerber's Organic Baby Food as well. Albert has not bitten me since his neuter. He is always hounding Basil for a body groom and it is fun to watch Basil tend to him. Ben and Roquefort like to cuddle with each other but I did, actually, see Albert and Roquefort sharing a paper bag in their play area!!!

They were snoozing next to each other and all you could see were two, little, noses lying side by side in the bag. These are the same boys who could not even be in the same room together without having a fight. Albert popcorns all over the place and Roquefort is consistently finding ways to get over the coroplast barrier to come work out with me. (nothing like doing tummy crunches with a rat on your chest!)

We have a go with this group, ladies and gentlemen!!! It was a long, hard, 4 week process with intros, biting, fighting, hip swinging and fur puffing but I have a ton of patience when it comes to my babies. Roquefort is happy and has learned that it doesn't suck to have companionship.

Dr. Richards told me that she is really impressed with all my rats. She said that she can see just how good they have it with their bright eyes and beautiful coats. Heck.... I give them tastes of my crab/artichoke spread when I put it on my bagels. The stuff is expensive but a little seafood, once a week, seems to do well for them!

Thank God we are through the worst of things. There were a few really scary moments where I wasn't sure if they would ever get along. I take special care that my resident boys do not see alot of stress and Albert and Roquefort were impossible in the initial stages.

6 weeks and many ordeals later.... we have finally made it. Basil has established himself as the resident alpha followed by Ben. Albert and Roquefort have been able to accept their subordinate status and actually seem to be happy with the pecking order.

Let's be realistic.... a 425 gram Albert will never outdo a hefty 700 gram Basil. Now all I need is to get Roquefort back up to 425 from his current 402. He was heavier this morning after last night's huge dinner and this morning's heavy breakfast. I'll get him there... no worries. The little man is a garbage disposal and will eat practically everything I dish out. :wink:

 

[jorats]

I'm so very very happy to read that all is now well in Jen land!!
To get some weight on your boy, ease off the protein but give high fat. High protein can cause liver and kidney problems. But high fat will kick his metabolism into gear. When you give him his baby food, add a bit of olive oil. Goat's milk would work great too, as well as avocado.

It must have melted your heart when you saw the four of them in a triangle snuggling. :heart:

 

[jennifervb]

I'm so very very happy to read that all is now well in Jen land!!
To get some weight on your boy, ease off the protein but give high fat. High protein can cause liver and kidney problems. But high fat will kick his metabolism into gear. When you give him his baby food, add a bit of olive oil. Goat's milk would work great too, as well as avocado.

It must have melted your heart when you saw the four of them in a triangle snuggling. :heart:

Thanks Jo!!! I will do exactly that! Olive oil in the baby food and I actually do have avocados in the house so I will give him some of that when I use them.

Goat's milk is obtainable from Whole Foods so I will get a small carton. I didn't know that too much protein could cause liver and kidney problems with young rats but I will lay off giving it to him. I don't want my boy to get sick. :love6:

It was really heart-warming to see the distorted triangle! I had no idea that all four were in there until they came out believing I had treats! You could only see two heads in the entry way which means that Basil and Roquefort were underneath Ben and Albert! :heart:

I absolutely hang on my rats. A guy I work with is married to a tech from my vet's office. It is great to have him promoting my rats with those colleagues who don't like rodents! I now have another colleague who wants to meet my boys. She sits in the neighboring cube and sees all the pictures I have up.

She was having trouble with her son and told me that she sometimes wishes that she had rats instead of teenage boys. LOL!!!!

Nevermind that rat boys can be just as troublesome as humans.... :wink:

 

[mamarat]

That is such great news. A neuter does wonders for those hormones. lol Any pics of your sweeties?

 

[jennifervb]

My problem, Mamarat, is that I do not have (nor can I currently afford) a digital camera! Is it possible to have a cd made from a disposable camera? (Sorry for the lame question but I am not AT ALL knowledgeable when it comes to photography!!!) If that is possible then I can shoot a ton of pictures of my boys and upload them! I will ask when I go to Walmart today!

All is going well in rat land! Basil has lost weight and now weighs in at 695 from a whopping 713! Ben weighs in at 550, which is about what he has weighed since his begin of adulthood. Albert weighs in at 450 and Roquefort is gaining weight with the Ensure, Organic baby food, goat milk and olive oil enriched treats I have been giving him. Right now, Roquefort gets all his meals outside the cage. He has gone from 404 to almost 425 but the others still steal from him.

I find that giving him his meals outside the cage allows him to eat in peace without the upset of having to defend himself and his teklad block. His coat is glorious!!! It must be because of the olive oil! Roquefort gives me kisses and cleans my earlobes for me. Basil is my resident face groomer and Ben and Albert take turns doing my nails. I have my own spa right at home. :laugh4:

 

[lilspaz68]

This is all such wonderful news!!! I am dying for pics too. How about a disposable camera (film) and a scanner? LOL

Everything sounds sooo comfy and happy with your ratboys and Roque already up to 425 grams??? :happydance:

Perseverence and neuters were the key to longlasting friendships...ahh what a nice thing to read on a Saturday morning. Thank you Jen. :heart:

 

[jorats]

At one time, that's what I did, load the pics on a cd from a normal camera. I do believe it can be done at Walmart.

It's so great to get an update on your now very happy boys!!