Mattsmom277
Active Member
My easy child (10 years old) worked hard and saved and saved her earnings, to purchase a pet rat she desperatly wanted. She was short but had worked for so long and so hard without dipping into her money that I gave her the money and she owes me chores etc to pay back. The rat itself was only $8.99 at a pet shop but we needed the cage, water bottle, bedding, food, treats, toys etc. It cost total of $120.00
She has named him Linus. He's been here for only a bit more than a week. She's been so good at caring for him and helping he acclimate and become happy to be touched. He pokes his wee nose between bars of the cage to "kiss" my difficult child's cat. It's too cute!!
So he's only about 11-12 weeks old. Cute as a button. I wake up this morning and he's ROLLING around like a pig in mud, in his bedding on his cage floor. Then he's spinning in circles. At first we thought "how cute", until it didn't end. He's laying low but when he's up, he's still rolling and spinning in circles. He was 100% normal when I went to bed last night
I google'd to find out what causes this and read it is likely a inner ear infection. I read that untreated, the infection spreads to the brain and the rat dies. Treatment is expensive, 30 days antibiotics, steroids for a week, and of course the vet fee for the appointment. I simply do NOT have that kind of money for her wee pet. I hope it doesn't sound mean. I hate any creature suffering or unwell. If this were a dog or cat I'd pay it. But a rats lifespan isn't long and apparently the treatment doesn't always work. I can't spend that kind of money on a "maybe it will help, but high chance it will die anyhow". I scoured to see if there was a home method to treat this, but I've read that there isn't.
I've seen other pet rat threads through the years, so thought I'd reach out to you all and see if anybody has any insight.
Linus is soooo adorable. Super friendly and highly intelligent. S/O spent an entire day building a super cool maze for him, and the little bugger figured it out in all of under 1-2 minutes. I like the little vermin.
She has named him Linus. He's been here for only a bit more than a week. She's been so good at caring for him and helping he acclimate and become happy to be touched. He pokes his wee nose between bars of the cage to "kiss" my difficult child's cat. It's too cute!!
So he's only about 11-12 weeks old. Cute as a button. I wake up this morning and he's ROLLING around like a pig in mud, in his bedding on his cage floor. Then he's spinning in circles. At first we thought "how cute", until it didn't end. He's laying low but when he's up, he's still rolling and spinning in circles. He was 100% normal when I went to bed last night
I google'd to find out what causes this and read it is likely a inner ear infection. I read that untreated, the infection spreads to the brain and the rat dies. Treatment is expensive, 30 days antibiotics, steroids for a week, and of course the vet fee for the appointment. I simply do NOT have that kind of money for her wee pet. I hope it doesn't sound mean. I hate any creature suffering or unwell. If this were a dog or cat I'd pay it. But a rats lifespan isn't long and apparently the treatment doesn't always work. I can't spend that kind of money on a "maybe it will help, but high chance it will die anyhow". I scoured to see if there was a home method to treat this, but I've read that there isn't.
I've seen other pet rat threads through the years, so thought I'd reach out to you all and see if anybody has any insight.
Linus is soooo adorable. Super friendly and highly intelligent. S/O spent an entire day building a super cool maze for him, and the little bugger figured it out in all of under 1-2 minutes. I like the little vermin.