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rat update
Feb. 28th, 2006 09:20 amKeturah died in my hands at 3 a.m. It was not a surprise; only once have I seen a rat as sick as she was fight back enough to survive and be OK afterwards.
It's a blow because she was an extra special rat -- gorgeous and friendly. And I had plans for her; in another month I was going to breed her to one of my older boys. The babies would have been fabulous.
( photo back here )
So... I have a vet appointment in a little bit to have a blood draw done on one of her cagemates, to test for various evil rat viruses. The vet will also take Keturah's body for a necropsy. I will drop the blood sample off at Charles River Labs in Wilmington, and come home and try to sleep. I slept very badly and can't even think about going into work today.
For those who don't know, there are a couple of rat viruses that can wipe out half the rats in a rattery, or at least do serious damage. The main ones are Sendai and SDA. They are endemic in pet store rats, and carried easily on clothing etc. This is one of the reasons I don't show my rats anymore, and I ask visitors to the rattery to not go to pet stores for at least 4 hours before visiting. I suspect that my rats don't have Sendai or SDA (mostly because I have no idea how they could have been exposed), because there are no more sick ones (other than the usual chronically ill elderly rats), but they may have something else.
It's a blow because she was an extra special rat -- gorgeous and friendly. And I had plans for her; in another month I was going to breed her to one of my older boys. The babies would have been fabulous.
( photo back here )
So... I have a vet appointment in a little bit to have a blood draw done on one of her cagemates, to test for various evil rat viruses. The vet will also take Keturah's body for a necropsy. I will drop the blood sample off at Charles River Labs in Wilmington, and come home and try to sleep. I slept very badly and can't even think about going into work today.
For those who don't know, there are a couple of rat viruses that can wipe out half the rats in a rattery, or at least do serious damage. The main ones are Sendai and SDA. They are endemic in pet store rats, and carried easily on clothing etc. This is one of the reasons I don't show my rats anymore, and I ask visitors to the rattery to not go to pet stores for at least 4 hours before visiting. I suspect that my rats don't have Sendai or SDA (mostly because I have no idea how they could have been exposed), because there are no more sick ones (other than the usual chronically ill elderly rats), but they may have something else.
