Many ratties have passed through my household over the years,
each with their own unique personalities. Most lasted 2 or 3 years, but there were a few that didn't make it even that long. They're a hardy animal. I've had a few with missing legs and tails, one missing an eye, and the boys do play a bit rough sometimes, causing some panicked "HOLY SHIT THERE'S BLOOD EVERYWHERE" moments... but the one thing that they can't seem to handle very well is tumors.

One of the girls I adopted came with a small lump on her underside. It got progressively bigger, until she too couldn't quite walk right... so we took her to get it removed. The vet charged us a whopping $400 usd, but she thankfully went on to live a few more years, as she was relatively young when we took her in. We had her spayed at the same time, as we were told it may help to keep the tumors from coming back. A tumor did eventually start to come back, but by that time she was so far along in her life, that it didn't cause her too much discomfort.

After she passed, we ended up with a new pair of girls. They were some of the sweetest rats I've ever met. We had two boys in a huge cage at the time, so decided we'd get the new girls spayed and let them live together. We went to the same vet office that we took the girl with the tumor, knowing they'd be well taken care of. The vet who treated our previous rat no longer worked there. We dropped them off, and awaited the phone call saying we could pick them up. We got it, and the chipper receptionist said "They're ready, come pick them up!"

We waited in the office for 45 minutes before anyone would talk to us, and when they did, it was that same receptionist, who said "Oh. Yeah, actually, they died. We used too much gas. Oops."

Not only did she lie to us and tell us that they were fine, she brushed it off as if it didn't matter. We knew the risks, but thought they were in good hands. The receptionist then had the nerve to try to charge us anyway. After a lot of fussing, they finally let us have the bodies, and we gave them a proper burial, staples and all. We did not pay for the botched surgeries. I never did get to talk to the vet directly, only the receptionist. He didn't have the decency to come tell us himself. I will not be going there again.

tl;dr: Rats are awesome, and most people don't acknowledge that. My condolences.
( Cukeasaurus was once known as Misanthropy., Fri 1 Feb 2013, 8:17, 1 reply)

How did i go 38 years
and not know that mice have necks.
( browser still relating boring anecdotes into a void on, Fri 1 Feb 2013, 22:18, closed)