Pet Rat

[Desert Arabian]

I am really sad! On friday I took my rat Oreo to the vet, to have her tumor checked out again. We had x-rays taken etc. Let me tell you, looking at a rat x-ray you can't help but chuckle 'cuz it looks so silly!!! Anyways, her tumor has gotten much bigger, about the size of a tangerine. It is between her back legs, by her butt. It is not cancerous, thats good. But the one major problem is since it is by her butt and it is so huge, it is pushing her anus and vagina way out of place. Her anus is actually on the side of the tumor, by her hip!!! She can still pee and poo, but the vet said in about a month or so, it will get so big that her anus will be blocked and she will have to be put to sleep. We looked into surgery for an option. The total??? $570.00 + !!!!! Plus... she would have to endure about 3 weeks of recovery etc. I am afraid that it will stress her out way too much. Plus she's getting pretty close to her life expectancy, even with out her tumor. They said she could die during the surgery, and another tumor can grow back in the same place. She is really happy and normal right now, when she decides her time is near, we will have her put to sleep. I just hope and pray that I don't come home from school to find her dead in the cage. Oh geeze, let's not even go there!! I will update everyone if anything pops up.

~*~*~*~*~YellowLabLover*~*~*~*~*~

I included a picture of Oreo at Punkin (her daughter) & Peanuts birthday party. You can see her tumor.

[Desert Arabian]

I just had to put this picture of Punkin and Peanut on here, 'cuz it is just too cute!!

Peanut is Skittles daughter, Skittles died in my arms on August 3rd. (Lilac and white)
Punkin is Oreos daughter. (Black and white)

[Aspen and Misty]

O I will keep Oreo in my thoughts. I pray the poor girl will live a happy life till the end. I am glad you deced to let her live out her days and put her to sleep when it gets to be to much. I am so happy she has a loveing owner liek you. ::hugs::

Ash

[Aspen and Misty]

Taht is so cute you had a birthday party for your ratties!!! They are lucky they have such a great owner! What did they have as a birthday cake? Hee hee. I just migh have to have my 2 girls a brithday party dureing may. Hmm something to think about.

Ash

PS: How did you get them to wear the ccute hats?

[Desert Arabian]

Thank you so much for thinking of Oreo and I.

Yes... they did have a little slice of birthday cake too. I also wraped them a present full of little goodies. They loves walking all over it, and tearing at the paper. For the birthday hats... I took an index card and curled it up. I then took a hole puncher and punched holes in it. and threaded rubber band though the holes. They stayed on good and tight. Oreo had a loose rubber band, so hers kept on falling over her eye, so she pulled it on. The other two didn't seem to mind it much.

[Desert Arabian]

Aspen & Misty-

On "How do you travel with a fish" you asked me what I used to travel with my rats. I figured I'd answer it here, seeing that it deals with rats. Anyhow, I have two different "travel cages" I use. It depends on where we are going, and how many rats are coming with us. The wire cage was only $38.00 and the little fabric one was $11.99. The wire cage is made by Da-Mars and the fabric one is made by Super Pet. I like the little one best. Inside it is extremely tough plastic, with thick screening for vent holes. I put a little cardboard box inside with bedding, for when they have to go potty. I usually put them in the small one, until we get to our destination, then I put them in the big one. The rats don't seem to mind the small one, when I have them in the big cage, they are piled on top of eachother, crammed in the corner anyhow. Here are some pictures.

~*~*~*~*~*~*YellowLabLover*~*~*~*~*~*

[Desert Arabian]

Here's the small cage, close-up.

[Desert Arabian]

Here's a close-up of the larger cage.

[Desert Arabian]

Here's a close-up of the inside of the small "cage"

[Desert Arabian]

Since we're on the topic of cages: here's a picture of their indoor cage. I must add.. it is way more cluttered with toys, this is an older picture.

[Desert Arabian]

Ok... LAST PICTURE POST... I SWEAR!!!

Here's their outdoor cage.

[Aspen and Misty]

I love the indoor cage! My 2 rats just live in a 10 gallon turtle tank. I recently built a second story though. I don't like how small it is but my parents are refusing to buy me a bigger one and I am atempting ot raise moeny to buy a bigger one. My friend is giveing me her old bunny cage but I am afreid the cage sides will be to big. I think I just might cover them in chicken wire, as its not that expensive. I hate the travel cage we have at the moment and really want to buy a new one but don't know ehre to get one. I am going to type in the names you gave me in yahoo search thing and see what coems up.

Thanx

Ash

[Aspen and Misty]

I went to Super-pet.com and I think I found what I want. It is a cat carrying cage but I checked it over and it looks good. I am going to the pet store tomrrow and I will look at some cat cages. Here is a picture of the one I might order.

[Aspen and Misty]

i also found this one.

The one story cage is 10.09
The two story cage is 13.90
and the threee story cage is 17.00

Im ight buy the three story one, and depndeing on the size make it there home or traveling cage. I also might conect tubes (I alreayd have these) to the aquirium to the cage.

[Desert Arabian]

That's really cool! I used to have a cat carrier for the rats too. It has circles for air vents, instead of the slashes, like the one you want. In a matter of 15 minutes, they had one hole that was the size of a quarter, and turned it into the size of a plum. It was rediculous, they did that to two of the holes, so finally I had to think of a better thing to transport them in.


~*~*YellowLabLover*~*~*