Oliver
the PEW left outside on his own
My, that's a lot of laundry humans have. |
And that's a lot of music humans have. |
 I wonder what the humans have too much of back here? Yogis I hope. |
Updated 07/19/2012
His story
This was a posting on one of the Rat forums -
Very young male rat (approximately 8 weeks) needs home --Seattle Area
I'm quite upset and don't want to go into too much detail, but I have found
myself as care giver to a very young male rat that is in need of a home. He was
found outside (not by me), and came into my possession today. He is at a
friend's for quarantine, and will be coming here if I can't find a home for him
by the end of it. He appears to have been bought as someone's snake's dinner and
released outside when said snake would not eat him. He seems very healthy,
though he does have a small gash on his side near his leg that has completely
scabbed over and appears to be healing well. I'm calling my vet Monday to get
him in to have it looked at.
If you are able to give him a home, please email me at
****. If you could include in your email how many rats
you have, what you feed them, your vet info, ect. that would be great. I really
want to find him a good home, so I would like to meet with you before agreeing
to send him home with you. I just want to make sure he goes to a great home, so
I hope anyone considering giving him a home will understand.
Thank you,
****
So I waited a while to see if anyone would respond. As far as I could tell - no one did. A second plea from the person was issued and that was when I responded. She was a little upset because she felt that because he was a PEW that no one would want him. I don't understand that as I find them just as cute as other rats. And if someone gives the argument that because PEWs were raised in labs and made to have health issues, well, my home has a a couple of PEWs and I have had more cancer and bad health issues from my non-PEWs than the PEWs.
****
Here is a response from the young woman -
No, I have not found him a home yet. Would you be interested? I've only met him twice, but even at such a young age he seems to be quite the character. My friend who is QTing him said he is starting to be a bit more comfortable around her. She's also been keeping his two small gashes clean (that appear to be completely healed with just the scab remaining, but I've had her cleaning anyway with salt ater to prevent an absess), and he appears to be in great health even though he was found outside. He has a very healthy appetite, and is a typical baby rat.
****
The young woman who did the posting wanted to meet with me beforehand to put her own mind at ease that Oliver, or Oli, was to have a good home. So we met and we talked a lot about rats in general and about the ones we have had. I brought with me some pics to share of the ones we have had in the past.
She agreed to let me have him and we met and he came home with me.
****
Here is her response to that affect -
I'm so glad to hear you'd be able to take him. Would you be introducing him to your boys as well once he is older? He's still quite young, so it should be fairly able to get the older boys to except him.Would it be possible for me to meet with you before he comes home with you? I know you're LMR approved, and I'm sure you'll give him a wonderful home, but it would really help put any worries I have at ease.
****
That sounds like a great place for him. Some rats his own age would definently help him come around. I'm sorry to hear about your little one and his tumor, but he has lived a good, long life. My last girl passed away at 37 months old a few weeks ago and also had a tumor the vet didn't feel comfortable operating on. Didn't bother her at all till her final day thankfully.Thank you so much for giving him a home!
****
He is still does not like to be picked up, but he is fine being petted and she says he always runs to the door of the cage to find out what she's doing when he hears something. He will come out of the cage by himself if given the chance, and is okay with being handled once he is out. The last time I saw him was when I dropped him off at her house, and he was quite the fear pooper/peeer then, but she tells me he doesn't quite so much anymore.****
So - now to tell about how Oliver is doing -
Unfortunately on the first day I made a BIG mistake and Marty, a siamese boy paid the price. Here is what I posted on our Group's forum -
Yesterday, 05/10, I was cleaning the cage of the Everett Boys since I was
getting ready to rearrange my office to allow for one of the new big cages.
Well, I had them out and this new guy, Oliver, was in his cage on the bed. Next
thing I know, I heard a loud squeaking and saw Marty on top of Oliver's cage and
Oliver was attacking Marty's feet through the cage. I snatched up Marty and held
him to see if he was all right. Well - part of a back toe was bit almost
completely off and his nose was bit too. Oliver is just fine of course. I
cleaned off the toe and tried to get it to stop bleeding. But every time I did,
Marty started to lick it again. I made an appointment for 5/11 to have our vet
look at it. I feel so guilty. I should have known. Oliver is so new here and I
didn't think about my gang climbing his cage. I separated Marty into the travel
cage with cloth in it instead of litter. I gave him a dose of Amoxicillan and
some Metacam for the pain. He slept a little while after he ate some fresh corn
on the cob and broccoli.
05/11/2011 - Today -
So the vet amputated the hanging toe on Marty. They masked him to make him
really sleepy and used lydacane (sp?) on the toe to numb it some more. Then they
cut the rest of the toe off. Oliver had already bitten through the bone so it
was easy to remove the rest of it. They added a bit of suture glue to stop the
bleeding. I was actually hoping he would have taken care of the toe himself, but
he didn't. And the bite on the nose was a flap, so she cleaned it and laid it
back down and added a bit of suture glue there to keep it in place. But I think
Jake, who I had brought along to keep Marty calm, licked it open before I got
back home and was able to separate them again. Right now, Marty is sleeping
quietly. He will have metacam for the pain and Bactrim now for 7 days to prevent
infection.
Two days ago I said to Marty and Hamlet - "What can I do to help tell you two
apart?" So - now that Oliver helped out here by giving Marty one less toe - I
will say that the old adage of "Be careful what you wish for" is soooo true.
But I still feel bad. :-(
****
Here is a response from the young woman who had Oliver after reading about what Oliver did to Marty -
I just saw on RatsPac about Oliver biting a toe off one of your boys. I'm so sorry about what happened to him. I hope he heals up well.
He never bit me or my friend while he was being handled, and never tried to grab me through the bars when he was here that one night. I just called her to ask if he ever grabbed her through the bars, and she said he did once or twice when she poked her bars through the cage to say hi, but he didn't draw blood or even leave a mark. I had told her not to stick her fingers through the bars or feed him through the bars, so I imagine she never told me because of that.
I really hope this doesn't effect your decision to start introducing him to your other boys soon. He's really too young to start showing hormonal agression, and I really think it just was because the other rat's food poked into his cage, like with my friend's fingers. I'd hate for him to be alone for a few more months while he waits to be big enough for a neuter.
****
On May 14th I wrote this -
Oliver has let me take him out without any hastles. He sits on my shoulder while
I work on the computer. Each time is getting longer before I start to feel him
shiver. And now when I enter the office, he comes out from wherever he is in his
cage to the door. I talk as I enter the room so he knows it is me. Progress
comes slowly and only to those who are patient. :-)
So today more progress was made. I opened the door and put in a dandelion flower. He didn't take it from me. So I went on cleaning up his cage. Then I noticed he was out of his box staring at me. Then I got nervous. The area around his nose and mouth was discolored. Just enough to make me wonder if I was really seeing a color difference. I decided I was seeing it and I was getting a little worried. Then all of a sudden I let out a huge laugh because, as I am sure all of you readers have figured out, the discoloration was from the flower! Duh!
But he stayed there staring at me in his cage. So I reached in slowly and touched him. He didn't run or back away. I started to pet him and massage his back and pet his head. After a while I noticed he was drifting off. He was soooo cute.
Last night I had him out again and on my shoulder. He was perfectly happy sitting there while I was walking around and then sitting at my desk. He does not potty while he is out of the cage. Once he starts to get uncomfortable, I put him back in and off to the corner of the cage to do his business.
So right now we are making great strides in making friends, learning who is boss and working on not being afraid of the sounds of our home. I would expect him to make friends with some of the other boys soon.
---------06/02/2011------
Well, he is certainly a man of his own. He likes to sleep during the day and trying to get his attention is almost impossible until he is awake in the early evening. He has learned for sure what yogis are and the sound of the container brings him running from the tube. I took down the hammock that came with the cage and put in a tube because he wasn't using the hammock at all. Within 15 mins I couldn't find him in his normal places. Then I realized there was a lump in the tube - sure enough he was tucked inside it. He was really happy there.
---------06/28/2011--------
I haven't put in an update for Oliver in a long while. Let's see. Oliver now runs to the cage door but still squeals as I pick him up from inside the cage to come out. He has never tried to bit me and loves to have his back scritched. He is staying out longer and longer before getting too nervous and wanting back in his cage. He eats anything I give him. He loves fruits the best. He is BIG now. I will weigh before my next entry to see how big he has gotten. But I bet he rivals PuppyJack's 604 grams.
He has started to parallax now when I enter the room to see me. I still make sure the light is on and I start to talk to him when I come into the room to make sure he knows it is me.
He is such a handsome PEW.
-----------08/13/2011----------
Well - Oliver certainly looks like a mature boy now. And he loves to see me come in to the office. He knows I will come straight over to him and give him some attention. We have mostly gotten over the screaming when I try to take him from his cage. Mostly because he loves to get back rubs while he is cradled in my arms. He must have been frightened pretty good outside or wherever he was before us if he screamed when being picked up. He did it not just when I reached in his cage to get him, but when I picked him up from my desk to put him back. Now he is getting to be a two handful of rattie size. Maybe it is because of this he is not screaming so much. My gosh - you would think I was murdering him or something.
So the new routine is this - I open my office door. I start talking to him before I even take one step into the room. I wait a moment, still talking, to make sure he is out of the tube or house he has so he can see me. I make sure there is enough light for him to see me also. I arrive at his cage and open the door. I pet him behind his ears. If he receptive, then I reach in and pick him up enough where I can slide my other hand under him for support. Then he is out and cradled in my arms. He snuggles against my face. Then he has to sniff my entire face which of course tickles from his whiskers. Occasionally he will like my ears. Fortunately not the inside of them like Hissy, our 21 year old cat likes to do to our 3 year old dog, Rescue when he is very sleepy. Then Oliver climbs to my shoulder where he stays while I work. Of course my work will now take twice as long because I am almost constantly petting him instead of working. So I can't resist. I bet most of you can't either. haha
When I am done then I pull him back down in to my arms - kiss him on the top of his head, and take him back in to his cage. Then he darts in, spins around and waits patiently for a Yogi - or two if he is fast enough to grab two.
And he now eats everything. He seemed to be turning his nose up at carrots, but now he is even eating them.
He is a very sweet and cuddly boy.
11/13/2011 -
It has been a while since I last posted about Oliver and this posting will be of good news. He has since grown up to be a beautiful large PEW. And very friendly. He loves to nuzzle his nose at your nose. You need two hands to get him out of the cage not - not to prevent him from squeaking, but just to hold him. And since my younger daughter has moved out on her own leaving her room empty, well, we have used that as a meeting place for Oliver to meet two spayed girls. He loves them even though he is twice their size. One is an orangy white pink-eyed girl named Tessa and the other is a deep ruby-eyed white named Julie. He seems to get along much better with Tessa. Could it be because their eyes are the same color? Who knows. So he is rooming with Tessa, slowly. She has taken to re-arranging their house and he isn't totally cool with that. So I give them breaks from time to time. Eventually, they will settle down and breaks won't be necessary.
He still loves to sit on my shoulder while I am working. But I have to put him back when I start the hot flash thing since he covers up my neck now. And he has learned to brux louder which is so cute.
He loves his yogis and has to have two or he gets that sad man look. So he has me trained well there letting him have two.
07/19/2012 -
Oliver is still on his own. We have tried others with him, but he just prefers to be on his own. He is a big guy. Over 700 grams. But he is well formed. He squeaks a lot when you pick him up, but once he is in your arms, he settles down quickly and enjoys the rubs.
He had been sleeping inside a wooden hutch. But it never thought that was very comfortable. I had tried standard hammocks and large tubes. But he just didn't use them. Recently I added a Heavy Duty Hammock giving him another chance. A couple of days later I looked into his wooden house and got started and worried that I didn't see him. As I bent down a little more to search his cage I realized I was looking straight into two little eyes which being full aware of his twitching whiskers and nose. So sweet. When it is hot in the house, he sleeps in the hammock. I guess there is more air going through there.
09/10/2012 -
I took Oliver to the vet today. He was the one where someone tried to feed him to a snake, the snake didn't want him so the person put him outside to fend for himself. The person that finally rescued him thought he was young. That was around May 2011. But the vet and I agreed that he is at least 2 years old right now and is 719g. He is a PEW. So I have his birthday as 09/10/2010 now. And he is the talkiest little guy. He always has been. Usually when you try to pick him up. But sometimes, when you have been giving him love scritches he starts to talk, like he would be bruxing, but only talking. He isn't that crazy about being held but he sure loves to be pet. I can put him to sleep doing this as he gets oh so relaxed. I took him to the vet today because it looks like he scratched his left eyelid and it created a blister like thing. The vet opened and cleaned it with a cotton swab and now he is on Bactrim which unfortunately he doesn't like. But he LOVES yogurt - phew! I also have a topical drop that is ok if it gets in his eye. It doesn't look bad, but I didn't want it getting worse. She also clipped his nails since they were fairly long on the back feet.