Nona Says Goodnight

Nona is the one crouched

I noticed she didn't come when I called her. :(  32 months old, Nona was an active little gem until the day she passed.  She loved her cage mates and she was very loving to people too.   I adopted Nona from someone on CL that had her and 2 boys, Sherman and Patches.

Nona is the last of my AT&T girls that I adopted, separately, in 2007.  I'm so sad that she has left but I know she is back with her best buddies, Shäst, Precious (r), and Lucy.

Nona had been living with Isabella and Joey(n) these past few months.

Nona has been prepared for private cremation at OHS.

You're hanging again with your best buds little Nona!

Matriarch Shäst Passes

Shäst passed while I was at the hospital. She was 43 months of age. She suffered from advanced respiratory illness and had started to develop multiple tumors. (She also had cataract in both eyes but that doesn't slow ratties down!) Her name is Russian for "Piece of Luck." She was the first girl I adopted from OHS in July of 2007 at approximately 1 year of age. She was found on the streets of downtown Portland--SW 11th and Yamhill to be exact. She and her late cage mate Precious were the first to test out my cage concept that later became the RT-24 http://qualitycage.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=129_231_240&products_id=2306]. She took Lucy under her wing and was a great friend to Nona and of course her best friend Precious. Shast was 41 months old.

Be united with your friend little one and stuff as much paper as you want in cage wire! Shast has been prepared for private cremation at OHS.

Precious Passes

My only little lovey hairless girl, Precious, passed sometime today. The girls in Tickle Tower covered her with all of the blankets in the cage except the one she was laying on. I'm glad she got to spend the last couple of days of her life in the brand new cage surrounded by her friends. I was thinking of moving her, Shäst, and Starsky into a single level cage as they have all slowed down a bit. But now I don't think that is a good idea because one would be alone. Their lives are just too short. I have to say I'm glad she lived as long as she did, she was one of the ratties affected by whatever had swept through Vermin Village in the spring of 2008. I am guessing she was around 22 months, but she could be a bit older. She was adopted from Craigslist from a little girl that bred her to sell the babies back to the pet store. Of course that never pans out well so she rehomed her. Precious was a great girl and she and Shäst hit it off really well. They were soon joined by many other girls in Tickle Tower. It was for Precious and Shäst that I got the idea for the original design of my Quality Cage cages. So while Tickle and Mr. Chuckles get credit for founding Vermin Village, the girls get credit for my quest for the best cage.

Rest in peace little one.

Sadness and Sickness Sweeps Vermin Village

I'm so upset. Respiratory illness is sweeping through Vermin Village. I stopped using CareFresh, too dusty. I switched to Aspen. Also too dusty. So now I'm switching to kiln dried pine (yes I know) litter made by ABM. The Rat Guide lists it as an acceptable bedding and I have to do something. So we are trying that.

All of the fur kids are on lysine and antibiotics. It is a very long time. I noticed early on that Rico had BUGS ON HIM. What the hell? So despite the warnings, I had to treat everyone with Revolution. You aren't supposed to treat sick kids but they are NOT candidates for a bath AND the bugs work against them too.

Owen, one of the older boys adopted from a family in SE Portland, passed away around 2am Monday, April 21st. I was up all night with him, my rat Rico, and Precious. Rico and Precious continued to remain in the bathroom with humidifier and steam treatments as well as their other medication. Rico was also really bad. He passed away around 3am today, April 24th. He was not even a year old. I will write about both of them on another post as all of the babies deserve their own memorial on the blog. I just have to think of what to say since I've lost 2 and have the potential to lose a lot more, so close together.

Precious is still fighting. She is just a year old, hairless little girl. I hope she was caught early enough.

Others that have been sneezing and the ones they are caged with (so every rat in the room) is on lysine and antibiotics. I'll give them all lysine the rest of their lives and antibiotics twice a day for 6 weeks, which means I'm very busy.

I did get two boys, Mr. Beans and Boo from CL. They were offered as pets or snake food and after hemming and hawing due to the illness, I went and got them. I'll make a separate entry for that experience later. Right now I've got to go and medicate and clean a cage or two before I go to work.

Sherman, Nona, and Patches aka Ace

I'm just posting some shots for families that I got some of my ratties from. Sherman, Nona and Patches all came from the same family. Sherman hasn't bonded with any ratties. Patches has bonded with new rattie Spot and Nona has bonded with her cage mates some time ago.

Sherman is peeking out to check out why I opened the door. He moved too fast because he was sleeping in his hammock!

Patches, is checking out to see if any good food is bring brought in since I opened the door. He is bonding with his new room mate Spot. He's a playful little guy that likes to play tag. He had mites when I got him. I treated him with Revolution and he has been doing great! Mites are common and rats may live their whole life with them and never give off any real indication.

He also had frequent loose stool, but now that he has been put on a pretty restrictive diet, he has been doing great. Rattie IBS. :-) I have a cat that suffers from something similar and he is on a restrictive diet as well.

When Spot's sister Pip is spayed, she'll be moving in with them. That will be in another month or so. Meanwhile, she is recovering from a partial tail amputation due to a degloving incident prior to my acquiring her.


Here is Nona with her room mates--kind of reminds me of the more bars campaign from the ATT commercial. From left to right, Precious (hairless), Nona, Shäst, and Lucy. Open the door Mom!

Precious the Hairless?

Picked up Precious, the hairless female rat, on Tuesday. She is so sweet. Right now she is in a cage next to Shäst to become acquainted. Sunday will be bath day for my 4 boys (second treatment), so Shäst and Precious will have one too. Then it is vanilla and bathtub time for the 2 girls. (Vanilla is used to mask the scent, the bathtub is used because it is neutral ground.)

Then I go to scrub the cage. I'm actually expanding it and it will be bigger than any other single cage I have, just over 5' tall! I got a metal nail file to smooth each wire cut. I also got door cards to help with that! Just fed them their breakfast. The babies are getting BIG. Baxter loves the wheel, he appears to be the only rat out of the 4 that use it.

Oh yeah, with the cage expansion for Shäst and Precious, they will get a wheel. I picked one up at Quality Cages in Portland.