RI and Quarantine?

[ATez]

Can i honestly say i never heard you need to quarantine a rat who has an RI?!
Why do vets not tell you about this?? Crank has had 2 RI and Pickle never had any of those problems during his life.

Also when can you be sure a rat is cured?
I mean i want to get new boys so Crank isn't lonely but does that mean they're all going to become sick from touching stuff Crank lies around in?! :shock:
He's been off meds for a day now and was on the medication for 18 days. How long should i wait?

anic:

 

[lizmo1221]

It is impossible to quarantine a rat that has a URI. All others in the cage and their airspace have already been affected. Quarantine will only work if the sick rat has never been in the same house as any others. Once you realize one is sick, all the rest have already been exposed.

Some rats are more suceptible to flare ups of myco than others, thats why you are seeing some rats sick more often than others.

The rule of thumb is to medicate one full week after the complete absence of symptoms, but at absolute minimum, the rat should be on abs for two weeks. I should note as well that it is impossible to cure myco, the root issue of a URI, but you can treat and cure the infections it causes. All rats have myco.

 

[victoria]

Are you asking because you're looking for a friend for Crank?

 

[ATez]

Are you asking because you're looking for a friend for Crank?

Yes, and after loosing her love my mom was also thinking of having new little friends.
She's very lonely and the thought of owning rats again made her very happy and excited about it!
I'm personally looking for a male who's around 1-1/2 to 2 years since that's Crank's age, so they're most likely to be together untill the end.
A friend of mine was going to drive me and my mother to the SPCA in a week or two.

I'm going to try to talk my mom into buying a CN, for now she's going to take my old cage.
She told me she's a bit scared of baby rats (rofl) but she wants the rats to choose her.

I think little Crank gets lonely. He's been asking for more attention and sometimes follows my feets around the house untill he looses sight of me (he don't see as well as Pickle did), or he climbs on the computer chair and sits there for 10 minutes and does noise with his teeth. I hope they're happy noises!

 

[ATez]

The rule of thumb is to medicate one full week after the complete absence of symptoms,

He stopped making the chirp noises just 3-4 days into treatment.
To my knowledge it was his only symptom, besides the noise he was still acting the same.

I'm still going to keep an ear open in case and i plan to bring him to the vet next month to make sure it's all gone for now AND he needs his back claws clipped.
I'm too scared to do it.

 

[victoria]

You should probably get two buddies for Crank so you don't find yourself in the same predicament in a few months. The SPCA here adopts exotics by appointment only, so make sure you arrange that prior to going down. Many of the animals are in foster homes, so they may prefer that you go down to the foster home to meet them.

It looks like the SPCA only has young rats at the moment and Le Refuge has a pair of females. http://www.petfinder.com/pet-search?ani ... rch=Search If you contact Le Refuge you may be able to get those females spayed at a reasonable price, as they are part of the faculty of veterinary medicine. (Le Refuge takes in very few animals at one time, so they may be able to quarantine for you too.)

There's also this ad, but they are female. The woman may be willing to part with them without selling the cage http://montreal.kijiji.ca/c-pets-other- ... Z260034350

ETA: These guys look like they really need help, if they're still available http://montreal.kijiji.ca/c-pets-other- ... Z258944232

And this one, the may be willing to deliver: http://montreal.kijiji.ca/c-pets-to-giv ... Z260360814

 

[ATez]

Thanks for looking for me but i was really looking for just one male and please don't say the same thing will happen in just a few months... Crank isn't so old! :sad3:

I wanted to go to the SPCA with my friend and mom. My friend will drive us there but i can't use her as a taxi whenever i need her! Gosh she took me to the vet so often already... I don't mean to sound ungrateful tho!!! I've already looked around Kijiji and i've written to some people. Some who never replied, some want to sell the cage with the rats or some are just way too far. I also don't want to take in a rat who's obviously sick, right now i can't afford it... financially or emotionally.

I'm going to write to that last add you posted and ask if they would be willing to bring him to me.

EDIT: o and i wrote to the SPCA a bit ago, they told me when i'm ready to go to email them and let them know.

 

[Moon]

I too have to recommend that you look into getting a pair if you can. That way there's only one lone rat while intros take place. What if you get a single and intros take a LONG time? Then you've got two lone rats!

Just saying, if you can handle adopting a pair, it's a much preferred solution.

 

[victoria]

I didn't mean to sound cold, just that in 6-9 months, they may not both be with you. That last boy would be perfect for you but intros may be difficult if he has lived alone his whole life. I posted the ads with both you and your mom in mind - the pair of girls at Le Refuge are young adults and there may even be a way to arrange transport - it can't hurt to ask. Good luck with you search :hugs:

ETA Moon beat me to it.

 

[ATez]

Aye, i understand what you mean... :/

It would still be a problem if they got sick all one after the other tho. After spending over 1000$ trying to save Pickle and then buying a CN+accesories i'm pretty much broke (and i wasnt counting on Pickle dying.. ). I have put back about 120$ back for rat funds in a seperate bank account and i'm hoping to get it up to 400-500$ within a few months so i can feel that rat wise i'm stable enough.

Right now Crank is doing ok but if his RI flares up again then i'll need that money for him.
So i don't want to jump on the first couple of rats i come accross with. :/ Will i feel bad leaving behind a sick rat? Yes. But i just can't right now, i don't run a rat rescue like a lot of you guys but if i can find a rat who's already been alone during his life and give him a nice home and a new friend then i will. I'm just hoping to find a healthy rat for time being.

Please don't think of me as a bad rat person for this.

 

[ATez]

I didn't mean to sound cold, just that in 6-9 months, they may not both be with you. That last boy would be perfect for you but intros may be difficult if he has lived alone his whole life. I posted the ads with both you and your mom in mind - the pair of girls at Le Refuge are young adults and there may even be a way to arrange transport - it can't hurt to ask. Good luck with you search :hugs:

ETA Moon beat me to it.

Aye, i wrote to them and i'm hoping they can bring him to me. I can seperate my CN into 2 (Crank hangs out more at the bottom anyways) and put the new boy on top. Then i can switch them up and down for them to get used to their smell. I'm okay with slow intros too, it took me 3-4 months to get my boys to run up to us and trust us.

 

[victoria]

You're not a bad person, it's better to know your limits than get in over your head. Moon and I are trying to tell you that it may be harder than you think to introduce a lone rat to Crank though. I know the SPCA doesn't post all of their rats on their Petfinder, have you contacted them to inquire if they have a lone boy? Most rescues will not split an adult, bonded group. If you get two healthy babies or young rats, they will be easier to introduce to Crank and much less likely to have health issues in the near future. (One young rat would not be ideal for Crank because they will just want to play and Crank won't be able to keep up.)

 

[Moon]

I totally understand what you're getting at, and you're not a bad person for it at all. Victoria and I are of the same mindset that two slightly younger rats may be a better option and easier to introduce to your older man. Certainly no one is saying for you to jump on the first rats you see, but I don't want you to discount the idea of a bonded pair either since there's a lot of pros to going that route.

You know Crank best though and if you really feel that a single older cagemate would be better than a slightly younger pair, that's absolutely respectable.

 

[ATez]

OOOHH, now i think i understand what you guys reall mean! :/

But yeah, two young ones would piss him off which is why i thought another old fatso would be perfect. They could both lie around together which is what he likes to do. He's also not really cuddly, if you scratch or pet him he'll go away so maybe an old one who's slowly gonna groom him would be better then two little hyper rats who want to play and steal his food.

But you know i might change my mind once i'm in front of the rats.
Or maybe i can get two older ones if they are healthy and come in pairs.

 

[victoria]

When I was left with a lone 30 month old girl I went out and got a pair of 1 year-olds. They kept each other entertained and kept Cloud company, helped her groom, etc. When she passed away two months later they I wasn't in the same scramble to get rats to keep a singleton company. Their relationship with Cloud wasn't the same as the relationship Cloud had with her sister, but it was enough that she wasn't horribly depressed and didn't cry when I put her in the cage.

 

[ATez]

Aww... Pickle would cry when we put him back hehe... but Crank is a whole other rat! He's lazy and loves his cage, taking himself OUT is sometimes more a chore for him! :giggle:

But i get what u mean, i just got back from my mom's house and took the time to think about it and yeah i think getting 2 rats might be an option. There was actually an add with THREE rats on kijiji that i saw. The girls said she loved her rats but didn't have time to take care of them anymore because she was a student. I haven't got a reply from her yet but she's also far and i'd seen her to bring them here...

For now i'm asking around but we'll see what happens.
My only criteria right now is the rat/rats must be healthy.