Not again! Facing a VERY hard decision regarding euthanasia. :(

**luckies4me** · 09-19-2003, 12:51 AM

Well looks like tomorrow we will be taking a trip back to the vets. I would be at the ER right now, but they know nothing about rats, and after talking to my vet we have agreed to wait til morning to bring Sterling in.

He has a huge gash, not bleeding but pretty bad, on his penis. He has been trying to "dominate" Icey, and will not leave him alone. He is on his back mounting him every second of the day, when he eats, when he sleeps etc. I thought Icey would give him a quick nip a long time ago, but instead he waited longer and went full throttle after Sterlings penis. Just a little bit deeper and he would for surely be missing something. I guess this will teach him a lesson. He is now seperated and I will not allow him with Icey again, because that would be a trajedy waiting to happen. I just didn't think he would bite him "there".

So, he is in the bathroom, the bleeding has stopped and the wound has to be kept open so that they can assess the damage tomorrow. I will be keeping him in a bigger critter keeper for the night so as to not cause any more damage, and his litter will consist of bath towels.

Now here comes the hard part. Do I wait and see if he could be fixed, or should he be euthanized. The reason I ask is this, Sterling will NOT leave Icey alone, what is he does this again to another rat, if he recovers from this, and the same thing happens, what if the next time is his last time? Rats can kill eachother. Sterling is NOT a tame rat. He was a rescue from a local pet shop where he sat in a small mouse sized Critter Keeper for two months suffering from mites, and not having been fed for ages. So I took him home. He was treated for mites and a URI.

There has been a few times he has "attacked" me, when I go to reach for him and even you pick him up he cries out like you are murdering him. He has bad dominance issues, so I would not feel safe putting him with other rats. But is it fair for him to live his life alone, when I can't even handle him? It seems like a sad existence to me. I am torn on what to do.

I just got over rehabbing another buck, whom Bandit decided to go over, and was bit in the foot exposing the bone. Believe it or not, this is common for bucks trying to fight for dominance, and sometimes they are just bit in the wrong places. Well Jedi is now doing fine, even though he faced amputation at first. But now this! And mind you, these are all petshop rats, besides poor Jedi who was just the victim of one of Bandits bad moods and not wanting any more company. I have never had a problem with any of my breeder rats having nasty attitudes.

Even though Sterling is not the nicest guy on earth I still love him, and want to do what's best. So should I just let him heal and keep him all alone where he will get no attention and risk my own hands to keep him alive, or should I euthanize him? Any advice would be appreciated. I really just would like to go and stitch him up (doubt they would though, they left Jedi's wound open to allow it to drain in case of infection, they usually don't stitch them up, which I find very weird, but well, their the vets. Rats heal amazingly well though!) and have him change into a sweet boy. Am I a sucker for doing this? People always tell me I should euthanize the poor animal, but how could you when they have been with you so long?

**luckies4me** · 09-19-2003, 01:24 AM

Nevermind, on the 29th Bandit has an appointment to be neutered so I think I will take Sterling in too, and see if that helps any. He really can be a sweet boy so I am not willing to give up yet, and usually neutering changes them enough to act tame, so hopefully this will work. However I am still unsure on whether or not I should put him in with another rat. Perhaps a female? Maybe after he is neutered I can try with a younger male rat so that dominance can be worked out fast, and he most likely wouldn't care anyway since he was neutered, so he wouldn't go around mounting everyone!

Anyways, now that I look at his wound it really doesn't look that bad, I am just surprised he was bitten down there so close. Right now he is laying on my lap as I type, tuckered out. Once he is out of the cage he seems to do fine.

So NO euthanasia, but he will lose his manhood! Pray that this helps my little guy. I woud hate to have him as a single rat for the rest of his life.

**wolfsoul** · 09-19-2003, 12:24 PM

Poor Sterling.

Frisco is a big bully too. Only I wish that mounting was his way of showing dominance. Nope, it's attacking without a cause!

Good decision!

I was going to say "get him neutered!" Lol.

Maybe put him in the female cage?

**luckies4me** · 09-19-2003, 01:23 PM

The only thing is that Wrinkles my doe is amajor barberer, as in she wants to me everyone look like her, as in she doesn't want them to have hair! I am currently looking for a hairless female for her, so that she doesn't stip everyone bald. She's just a big lover is all, poor girl. She's my fav! She doesn't know she's doing it, she just thinks she's giving everyone a good cleaning, OR she is wondering why all these other ratties have fur. Maybe she thinks their weird.

Anyways, it's not looking good for Sterling as he penis will not come out. The vet wants me to give it til tonight, and if he hasn't urinated he will be euthanized because it looks like his penis is no longer aligned with the opening, which it has to be, or he will urinate inside of his own body and poison himself.

**luckies4me** · 09-19-2003, 01:24 PM

You think after owning rats for 17 years I would be used to this!

**CathyBogart** · 09-19-2003, 09:16 PM

Poor baby.

Good luck with him. I hate how many health problems ratties have.

**luckies4me** · 09-19-2003, 09:32 PM

He URINATED!!!!!!

I swear, I have never been so happy for a rat to pee on me lol.

It's still not perfectly aligned but it looks like the more the wound dries up the more it's shifting. He had some sort of weird wax stuffin his penis that I saw sticking out so I took that out and it looks a lot better. I do not think it was dried semen, it was a waxy substance. Perhaps dried urine something, or just mucous? I am really not sure. But after that was out he dribbled. So we will see how it goes.

**CathyBogart** · 09-20-2003, 02:35 AM

I've never been so happy to hear about someone's ratty peeing on them!!!!!!

**luckies4me** · 09-20-2003, 10:07 AM

Originally posted by kingrattus
Was it the colour of pee?? if so it could just be the penis lubercant. Male dogs have it all the time.
It also could have been puss or a scab...
I think green is bad or at least to be conserned about (infection).

No it was not puss, nor urine or urine colored, nor was it a scab. It was exactly what I said,
a white clearish waxy substance. Either it was dried semen, or it is clear mucous from the wound. Rats rarely
get infections from bites as long as they are kept clean, however hairless rats are very prone to abscesses and cysts after
scratches or bites. Rats are very clean and do a good job of keeping their wounds clean. There really is not risk of
infection to the wound since he is on antibiotic ointment and Clavamox. The only concern would be infection in his urethra, which
of course is his pee tube. But even that is a long shot. Our main concern is to get him to urinate often, and the two holes aligned again.

But again, the thing I pulled out of his penis was exactly like I said, hard waxy substance, in no way resembling puss. If there was infection
you would be able to smell it. It was most likely dried semen or mucous, most like mucous because it looks very much like a mucous plug that doe's
get after they mate, which is visible the night after conception in female rats.

As of now, he looks more aligned already, and is eating/drinking and has a ton of energy. He is laying on my lap right now suggled in the
pocket of my sweatshirt, releshing all the love and attention he is recieving.

Here lets see if he wants to say something.....

=tlkvfr jj

ytttttttttttttttttttttttttttt

Ok, lol he left a lot of space up there but I think in ratty language it spells, I LOVE YOU! Of course he's
saying that to his mommy.

Anyways, he seems like he's doing fine and as long as he keeps urinating he should be ok. I'm very optimistic.
Next week he won't like me as much though, since I'm taking his manhood away. Then I think I will introduce him
in with Bandit, who will also be neutered on the same day. Two neutered males should be fine. As soon as he is better he will go in
with the smaller boys. He has always been with other rats, but for some reason he was always trying to dominate Icey, he has never
done anything like that to another boy, so hopefully by being in wth smaller boys he will be dominant, until he turns more girly,
and then him and Bandit will live together in their own cage. After all, Bandit and Sterling have been together their
whole life. So I think they will be fine with eachother.

But um yay, he just peed all over my back so I think it's time to put him back!!!

**luckies4me** · 09-20-2003, 10:18 AM

Here is a pic of his wound when it first happened.

Yes I DO take pictures of every injury for my records, especially breeder rats. This way I will know how fast they heal, if they suffer any complications etc. It also helps determine whether or not I will use the rat for breeding. Of course Sterling is a petshop rat, so he will never have children of his own.