Update on: Anti-Social Rescue Rat

[RatKat]

I'm having issues posting a picture...I'll try later...



So as some of you may have read-I had a horrible story to tell about a little sweet heart named Horis who had a ruptured mammory tumor at the worse time of year...

Well I felt like rescueing a rat on kijiji...because Hamilton is horrible to rats-really why do ppl offer them for free...don't they know about snake owners?

Anyways he's an absolute joy! He snuggles and gives kisses-curls up in my shirt or sits on my shoulder...He's beautiful.

The former owner kept him in a gerbil cage-and had too many cats. But he doesn't have respiratory problems or mites/ticks/lice....not itchy at all.

I tried to introduce him to my friends amazing rats-one rat at a time. We went with the gentle old boy- well first Little Rescue freaked out when the rat came near me. He wouldn't let the other rat near and started shrieking-then ran up my shoulder. So I left the room to let my friend supervise...and he ended up curled into a ball shrieking whenever the old boy would come near. I came back in the room and picked him up-he was close to a heart attack-and curled into my shirt while looking at me with eyes that said..."Don't make me do that again"...

So little rescue is a guard dog who is afraid of other rats...what do I do?

I'll try it again-but I don't want him to die from the stress.

It's just such a weird behaviour. I know it's a common belief that rats need to live together in order to be happy-but what if that isn't possible. Could he still be happy as long as we spend alot of time together...is there such a thing as a one-person-rat?

Little Rescue's Story Here: viewtopic.php?f=54&t=22924

Advice please!!!!


At the moment I am going to put a hold on finding him a new home. I don't want to traumatize him. He's just getting used to me.

Any suggestions on a name for him?

I AM NOT PLANNING TO KEEP HIM ALONE!!!

 

[xxchelle]

Please please don't keep him alone. With time and patience and sometimes a neuter, I truly believe that ALL rats accept friends. And I really believe it's so detrimental to a rat's mental health to be kept alone forever, no matter how much human interaction. Can you imagine if you lived alone your whole life, never even talking to another human being? You'd end up so depressed.

 

[RatKat]

Please please don't keep him alone. With time and patience and sometimes a neuter, I truly believe that ALL rats accept friends. And I really believe it's so detrimental to a rat's mental health to be kept alone forever, no matter how much human interaction. Can you imagine if you lived alone your whole life, never even talking to another human being? You'd end up so depressed.

Here's the thing. Not giving up. Just preparing for the worst case. Some people are happy on their own-can rats be the same. I'm just startled by the physical response he had.

I don't want him to live alone. But if he's going to have a heartattack everytime a rat comes by-I am also not going to force it. For now we'll take it one day at a time-and my friend will bring her rat boys over for a visit once a day =)

 

[jorats]

He needs to warm up to the idea of a rat buddy. You do that by having him live next to the buddies. Then you introduce them on neutral ground where the rat buddies have never played before, you do this for a week and so on... Don't allow him to run up you. Don't feel sorry for him. You've rescued him, he's now having a great life so keep a positive energy around him. With patience and perseverance, you can get him buddies.

 

[RatKat]

He needs to warm up to the idea of a rat buddy. You do that by having him live next to the buddies. Then you introduce them on neutral ground where the rat buddies have never played before, you do this for a week and so on... Don't allow him to run up you. Don't feel sorry for him. You've rescued him, he's now having a great life so keep a positive energy around him. With patience and perseverance, you can get him buddies.

But here's the thing...we tried letting him sniff the cage and he just squeaked and ran. Then went into fetal position.

 

[smilez_n_hugs]

You need to be in the mind set that having a lone rat isn't an option. With enough patience, determination and possibly a neuter your boy will have friends.

 

[RatKat]

You need to be in the mind set that having a lone rat isn't an option. With enough patience, determination and possibly a neuter your boy will have friends.

Trust me-I am in the mindset of "I want this little sweet heart to bond with other rats, so I can get him adopted out/get another rat to befriend him."

Neutering tends to curb aggression/territorial-I just want to know how is it going to help a rat go from shy and scared to outgoing? It's a fairly dangerous operation general anesthesia is required and post operative infection can result in abscesses. He'll need anti-biotics. He's a healthy rat who is young enough to survive-but how is putting an introverted rat through all of an operational trauma supposed to make him warm up to rats? Clearly this rat has been through some trauma and has been left without a friend for a while.

I am VERY willing to let him interact with other rats. And I'm willing to let it take a long time. But I am not willing to put him through a surgery when it is unnecessary. I almost feel that neutering is overly recommended.

Will removing his balls suddenly make him more willing to interact with rats? With all due respect-please do not take any offence-I just don't really see why the initial response is neuter him! It sounds like a quick fix. ignore the pun.

 

[smilez_n_hugs]

My initial response wasn't to neuter, I just stated neutering as a last resort rather than having him live alone. The reason he is so unsure of other rats could be because his hormones are getting the best of him so a neuter would help and neutering isn't a dangerous operation if you have a good vet.

 

[RatKat]

My initial response wasn't to neuter, I just stated neutering as a last resort rather than having him live alone. The reason he is so unsure of other rats could be because his hormones are getting the best of him so a neuter would help and neutering isn't a dangerous operation if you have a good vet.

Thank you-I like scientific reasons for neutering=)

I just think that this might be moving too fast for him at the moment. So I am going to just borrow my friends rat hammock tomorrow and see if the scent of other rats is something he can get used to. Once he settles in the hammock-I'll be sure to move the cage nearby his friends-to-be =)

Do you guys think this would be alright for him?

 

[rat.charmer]

Neutering reduces aggression in the castrated rat; they don't tend to pick fight. In addition, neutering also reduces the frequency that the castrated rat GETS attacked - maybe the others sense he is not aggressive?

 

[xxchelle]

Neutering rats is actually very safe as long as you have a rat-knowledgeable vet. In the past year, between rescues and friends' rats and personal rats, I've had close to 40 rat neuters done. Not ONE had complications during surgery. Not a single one. As for post-surgical, two brothers developed neuter abscesses, however we found out later that they were prone to abscesses in general.

They do not need antibiotics unless an abscess develops, which given my experiences rarely happens, as long as you keep the cage clean, etc. The most meds I've had to give was pain killers the next day. That's it. I've never had a rat get depressed or have any negative emotional reaction post-surgery.

Smilez_n_hugs is a good person to ask about this, she had a nervous/scared boy neutered and it did wonders for him.

Neutering helps calm males down so much, hormones can make males aggressive, scared, shy, etc. And neutering completely removes that from the equation.

 

[jorats]

When cages are involved it always intimidates someone. So that's not a good thing to ever try, introducing through cage bars.

You need to take it slow with the buddies in the home. I've had all kinds of rats introed, from loner all their lives to scared and aggressive. I've never ever encountered a rat that needed to live alone. With my help, that rat ended up with a happy cuddly life with buddies.

 

[RatKat]

When cages are involved it always intimidates someone. So that's not a good thing to ever try, introducing through cage bars.

You need to take it slow with the buddies in the home. I've had all kinds of rats introed, from loner all their lives to scared and aggressive. I've never ever encountered a rat that needed to live alone. With my help, that rat ended up with a happy cuddly life with buddies.

The cage definately intimidated poor Little Rescue. Hence why I am not trying that again. However didn't you suggest making the cages neighbouring. How close?

We're just going to take it very slow. Poor little dude.

 

[mamarat]

Place the cages side by side but not too close they can reach it with their paws. Good luck.

 

[RatKat]

Place the cages side by side but not too close they can reach it with their paws. Good luck.

Thanks

 

[sketchi]

your story sounds similar to Milky (who I adopted from Chelle, here). he was a VERY whiny, vocal, anti-social scaredy rat. (he loves loves loves people though) I received Milky on Jan 16, and successfully intro'd him to rats in MARCH 26! it took nearly three months of persistent intros (and a neuter!), but now he enjoys hammock snuggles and all is good. he's still very vocal and whiny and somewhat anti-social with other rats, but I can see he's a lot more entertained now that he has buddies.

it was a difficult intro with bites and stress, but I really think it's worth it. just keep at it, you'll succeed eventually! they all come around, they have to. :thumbup:

 

[RatKat]

your story sounds similar to Milky (who I adopted from Chelle, here). he was a VERY whiny, vocal, anti-social scaredy rat. (he loves loves loves people though) I received Milky on Jan 16, and successfully intro'd him to rats in MARCH 26! it took nearly three months of persistent intros (and a neuter!), but now he enjoys hammock snuggles and all is good. he's still very vocal and whiny and somewhat anti-social with other rats, but I can see he's a lot more entertained now that he has buddies.

it was a difficult intro with bites and stress, but I really think it's worth it. just keep at it, you'll succeed eventually! they all come around, they have to. :thumbup:

Your story gives me hope. Thanks for sharing

 

[Moon]

Sketchi, post a link to your intros thread for RatKat so she can read what you had to go through. Your story is the perfect example of what being patient can do.

Another reason to possibly consider neutering is he may be a male who would do better with females if the other males make him overly fearful. But certainly, give it some time. He needs to get used to the smell/sound of other rats again before he can meet them.

 

[sketchi]

I was going to! searching up most relevant threads. n___n
I made a bunch of panicked 'WHAT DO I DO' intro threads, but this one seems the most helpful: viewtopic.php?f=22&t=17948

lots of great advice from other people in there!
and of course, the final result: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=18316
:joy:

good luck!

 

[RatKat]

Update: Little Rescue Rat is doing well! Saw the vet and he's got a clean bill of health. I also brought one of my friends rat's blankets to show the vet how he responds to the scent. And just as he had responded when I tried to put in their hammock into his cage, and when I tried to introduce him to my friends beautiful rat-he curled up into a ball and shook while shrieking.

The vet wants me to stop trying to introduce him to others for at least 3 months. He listened to the Little Rescue Rat's heartbeat and said that if I continued to try to get him to know other rats it could possibly kill the Little Rescue. He suggests that if he still reacts that way in 3 months to perhaps consider the option that he's been either too damaged by past occurrences, or that he perhaps has essentially mental issues (my words not his-he used bigger and much fancier words).

He wants me to wait the 3 months before considering neutering. He doesn't really think it will help too much. His concern is how violently he reacted to the smell of other rats. He's worried that the operation could cause him more stress. The rat apparently goes into a seizure-like state.

In the meanwhile he gave me wonderful suggestions on how to keep him engaged. He was a bit in shock at his own recommendation-"I normally wouldn't say this, but I think it would be best to isolate him from rats right now and perhaps in 3 months from now give it another shot."


I know some people here are concerned about leaving the rat alone. I promise I will try again in 3 months. However I have to agree with my vet. His physical response is very strong-and it takes him a while to recover. It's almost like a seizure. Poor little dude.