Solo Rat

[krelean]

Hi there
So, I'm down to one spayed female rat. I had 5 this time last year and have lost them to tumors, illness and old age. The female I have left is approximately 20 months old. She's never really bonded with us or the other rats we had. She doesn't seem to be affected too much with the loss that occurred earlier this week, should we be concerned about her being alone till she passes? I don't want any more after she is gone, the vet bills and care is just too much for me...we took great care of the ones we had, I just can't take the lifecycle and heartache.
Would it be more tramatic to find this one a home than it would to just play with her several times a day?

 

[smilez_n_hugs]

I would recommend getting her a friend. Do you have a rescue near you so you could foster a friend or two for her?

 

[KayleeBby]

fostering a friend for her is a great idea!

 

[tinytippytoes]

Yeah there are plenty of older females that would love a friend. My Lacey bonded with me after she lost 4 friends. She was my oldest living female ever. She lived to 4 years. When she got a tumor thats the only reason I said no more for her. But she always until then had a girlfriend to snuggle up with.

 

[jorats]

With a spayed girl, you could even foster a male. You could specifically ask for older rats too.
But if you can also find her an awesome home who's care equals yours and she would get buddies, then I'd say go for it.

Another but... if you don't want to foster and wouldn't really know the home she would go too, then she'd do best staying with you. Be prepared to spend an awful lot of time with her.

 

[krelean]

I'm going to spend about 10 min with her no less than 4x daily right now. Our biggest issue and ongoing issue, she is skittish. Who wouldn't be if you were born for hawk food, right? When you hold her all she wants is back in the cage. If I just put my hand with her in the cage, she gets so calm and falls asleep. I know she isn't doing great, I just am so afraid to be in the situation for more illnesses. I swear all we have done this last year is medicate rats and it's financially draining!!

I'm gonna talk to the rescue over here....

 

[Joanne]

I think if you have less than an hour to spend with her every day, she definitely needs a friend (or two). They need hours of company a day! However, if you start spending hours with her a day, she should start to get much less skittish, and may come to really enjoy hanging out with you.

 

[jorats]

Oh dear, I was thinking more like spending hours and hours each day with her. Hopefully a rescue can help.