Treat July 16 07 -- June 23rd 08

Treat left me yesterday... he really tried but in the end, his body couldn't take it anymore.

I've had Treat and his brothers since they were 4 weeks old. They were the sweetest bunch. At 6.5 weeks old, there was a freak happening to Sheep, while playing, his jugular was nicked and he bled to death.

So it was Boo and Treat from then on. Treat was a joker, a player... the fun guy at the party. Most rats loved him, he wanted to be everyone's buddy. He welcome the new rats readily, as long as they were in for a good game of tag.

Early June, Boo became sick, a mysterious illness has plagued the jorats home. Boo died within 24 hours.

Two weeks later, it was Treat. He's gone.

I will miss my Treat, my fuzzy little guy with the twinkle in his eye.

Have fun Treat... the world is now yours.

 

More illness...

This is Ma now... Treat is very sick. On Saturday, I found my darling boy Radar gone. He had been bleeding, he went quick.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then Sunday morning, poor Treat started to bleed. He started to get worse and worse, he bled and awful lot. I was sure he wouldn't make it through the night. He's hardly eating.

He was brought to the vet this morning. The prognosis is guarded. She offered to have him put to sleep right there. I look at my Treat, decided that we both are going to fight for this. I'm not ready to let him go to his brothers... He's still mine right now. And I need him so much. So she pumped him full of fluids and gave him a shot of dex.

Fight my little Treat... fight like mad Baby. 

Illness...

There's been something going around us and it's made Ma very worried. We are worried too. My best buddy, my cuddle partner, my brother has died from it. I will miss my Boo bro. We heard that an old rat has died too. Her name was Mielle. She was 38 months old. I sure hope I can live that old. My Boo won't, that much I know. But the vet told my Ma that she thinks it was a virus and that is has done it's course because nobody else is getting sick now.

This is definitely a lesson to learn. All rats carry their own mixed bags of germs, bacteria and other undesirables. So it's really common sense to quarantine your rats. Sure hematuria is not a common symptoms of a contagious infection, but if that rescue April would have been quarantined, we may never have gotten sick. So we just never know...

Don't take a chance, keep us healthy, make sure all new rats are quarantined and healthy before they settle into the colony.

Boo is missed by all of us. He was a great rat, he was friends with everyone. Not even Nessie would bully him cause he was just so lovable.

Be free Boo and Mielle, we will meet again.

 

The Puppet Master

Want to have some fun with your human?

Dive into the shirt just when they are about the stand up. Then run to the top, near the shoulder and act all sweet so they will keep you there. They really can't resist a sweet face, seal the deal with some kisses too. Oh and they really like it if you gently paw at their face to give them more licks.

Ok once you've got them in your clutches, this is when the fun begins. Run down to the hips. Amazingly, the human instantly swings out her hip. Then, run to the other hip and that one will swing out. Run up the leg and the leg comes shooting up. Run back up on her back and she bends forward. While you are giggling and laughing, ignore her calls and pleas. If she tries to grab you, run up the arm and you'll see it go straight out in the air. run to the other arm now before it reaches over to grab you. And to make your human stand very very still, jump up on the head. Oh god, I never had this much fun. The view is great from up there. And just when you think the human will grab you, if you start grooming that hair and making it all comfortable the human will actually stop and enjoy the feeling of rat hat.

Yes... we are the puppet masters!!