Pet Forum / Mammals / Rats / October 2003

Took our two girls to the vet last night, got Baytril for them both.
One day into the treatment and Boomer is obviously doing better, thank
God!!
We were starting to feel pretty nervous about Boomer getting so weak

Firstly i would like to say a huge thankyou for all your best wishes for
Charlie.Forgive me for invading a rat group with cat chat but you will soon
understand why.Charlie was allowed back home today -he was suffering from a
flu-like virus although he had had all his vaccinations ...

Sarah and Snowball had really bad colds.   The two weeks
of Baytril has helped immensely.  (Almost finished two weeks.)
They are (basically) not sneezing at all now but on rare occasions
I do catch them sneezing.

Mariette, you brought up a good topic for a post.
Damn scabs!!
I'm really starting to think that scab can be a result of just plain and
simple "over grooming".

Back when I was a kid, we raised rats, but somehow, I never
appreciated back then how loving and personable our ratty friends are.
Sure, I thought they were cute and all, but I never connected with
the furry critters like I have with our two girl ratties.

I used to breed white rats for roughly 6 'generations'. I used to give
them baths every now and then and once they got over the initial shock
of suddenly being in water, they quite enjoyed themselves.  All except
one.  One of my rats, Stashy, absolutely hated baths.  She was so

Well, they're not actually babies -- they're three months old.  But
they are adorable.  We picked them up yesterday.  Their previous
owner's landlord changed the pet rules when the lease was renewed, so
she couldn't keep them.  They came with their own homemade cage, which

Apparently  doxycycline is not available in this country at all.My new vet
who is from New Zealand said she used to use Vibravet over there but it
suddenly disappeared from medical supplies list.She doesn't know why but
guesses it had something to do with the financial side -as in ...

Before my mom's Charlie died, he had been to the vet's twice, the second
time with little hope. The vet's office called the day after Charlie died to
see how he was doing. My mom told them he had passed on. They offered their
condolences and that was it. Today, my mom received a ...

Well I really have to wonder about my Cairo baby !!!  All the way to the
Vets in the car he was busy grooming himself.  Secretly I think he has the
hots for the Vet.  The way he sucks up to her makes me puke..LOL.
 The Vet is very happy with his progress so we shall keep him on

Hi Joanne,
I think Stanley is going to be a PEW but I think Niles may be going to be a
Cappuccino on White like what Phoenix is... still a bit early to be definite
though and I haven't really had a chance to have a good look at him yet..:)

My two girls have been getting along fine, after a short period of
Alhambra showing Boomer who's boss.  They are so cute, snoozing
together. Boomer is a cute, cuuute baby who my wife and I bought at a
small mom-and-pop pet store last week.

Last weekend, I decided to pull up my sleeves and give my rats a bath. I
used bunny shampoo because it is made specifically and ph balanced for small
animals.
After the rats got over the "I'm drowning, I'm drowning" fear, I think they

Apologies if this is one of those Frequently Asked Questions that has
already been answered many times!
My male rat Chomsky's bottom teeth (the two big ones) have started
growing sideways so they don't wear down like they normally would. If

Is everyone okay?  I know at least a couple of you are in the Southern
California area...... at least one in San Diego.  I'm in San Diego
myself and am getting ashes all over the place but luckily, no fires in
my area as of yet.  Does anyone need anything?  Are your families and