Pet Forum / Mammals / Rats / July 2005

Our eldest, Kairi (about 26 months old), is really having a lot of bad
'luck'. She's had a slow growing tumour for several months. Then she
gets a tail injury & we discover more large tumours.

Now after having the end of her tail amputated eight days ago, after it
mysteriously got pinched somehow, she's gone & got the same injury again
- which has also opened up the wound from the amputation.

This is obviously too much of a coincidence to be chance. I've noticed
she drags her tail now rather than carries it as the others do & I'd
assumed this was due to the first tail injury, however I now think I've
got that the wrong way around.

Two of the tumours are near her back legs & I think they must be the
reason she can't carry her tail anymore. Aside from some minor mobility
problems & this, she seems otherwise fine - enjoys her food & if
anything is more sociable now than six months ago.

However, I think the change regarding her tail, meaning it now tends to
get dragged behind her, has somehow resulted in it getting trapped
somewhere in their cage. The damage looks like the tail has been pinched
from either side by something rounded, with one side of the pinch
tighter than the other.

This would be consistent with her pulling her tail into a narrowing gap,
getting it trapped & then struggling until she manages to back out.

Problem is, what do we do now? We only have one large cage which they've
all been happy in for eight months & I can't be sure where the damage is
happening. She'd hate to be moved to another cage (she's the alpha) on
her own, but we can't let this keep happening. It's causing too much
distress for her & big vet bills for the treatment, apart from which,
she'll eventually run out of tail :/

If I could figure out where the problem areas are I might be able to do
something. The cage is the Superpet Ferret home shown (not very clearly)
here: http://www.ciao.co.uk/Superpet_Deluxe_Mutli_Floor_Ferret_Home__6232437

Better pictures can be seen here from someone else who also thought it
would make a good rat home:
http://www.rattycorner.com/ratrecords/cage/superpet.shtml

ATM I'm guessing her tail is getting caught between the cage & a shelf
corner/edge (which are rounded) when she's moving between levels using
the cage walls to climb.

For the time being we'll put the shelves into three level groups of
three, so that the only way between levels is through the central holes
in some of the shelves & via ladders & hammocks.

Any ideas or suggestions would be most welcome. This is so frustrating,
not knowing exactly what's going on.