Please help, my poor rat is so....?

Question

lonely. her sister had to be put to sleep because of her huge tumors. not she is all alone. Tobie (my rat) has Myco and i can't get another rat due to the fact that it is contagious. what can i do to keep her happy?

Answer 1

get her lots of toys to keep her busy

Answer 2

Mycoplasmosis is a disease that all rats carry. Most of the time, it doesn't cause any harm. But when a rat's immune system becomes weak, usually because the rat has another illness, is old, stressed, poor environment or diet, etc, the myco can take over their system and start showing symptoms.

Usually, a three-week round of antibiotics can control the disease and put the rat back to normal. Have you considered just taking your ratty to the vet for a treatment and then getting her a buddy or two when she is healthy again?

Honestly the best way to make her happy is to get her a buddy. If she is a bit older, you could get a pair of young females. When she isn't around any longer, you wont have a lonely rat again.

Good luck!

If you "know all about myco" then I don't understand how you can use the disease as an excuse to not get her a friend. Myco is treatable. If she has "been on Baytril for quite a while" and it's not working, you need to get your vet to increase the dosage or put her on a combination of antibiotics like Batril and Doxycycline, or doxy/amoxicillin, or clavamox and Baytril or something. Bacterial resistance to Baytril sometimes requires an unrelated drug. The longer she has it, the more damage it's going to cause to her lungs and respiratory system. It can also cause intra-uterine or vaginal bleeding which can lead to many other problems.

Also, are you sure it's myco? What exactly are her symptoms? Did your vet do any kind of tests? Congestive heart failure has very similar signs to Myco.

You say you work in a vet clinic. That's great! You should know all about ELIZA tests, then. Did you have one done on your rat?

And since you're a "rodent expert" like you said, you should already know that nothing you can do for your rat is going to make up for her being alone in her cage. No matter how much time you spend with her, she is always going to sleep alone, eat alone, and there wont be anyone around to groom her. You can try setting up playpens with lots of toys, you could start trick-training her to keep her mind stimulated, etc.

What exactly is it that you think qualifies you as a "rodent expert"? The reason I am asking is because you are constantly posting false, inaccurate information when you answer other people's questions, and you don't seem to know very much about your own animals.