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Post by adoptaratcanada on Jun 17, 2009 0:03:17 GMT -4
Jumping! Hit his head? ;D You got it! I've taken to calling Thor "Snoopy" (as in Charlie Brown). One of their nests is a chinchilla bath house and he insists on sleeping on top of it! It comes to a point on the "roof" but he manages to stay perched on there! He also spends alot of time just "doing stuff" on top of it, too! Silly, I tell you, just plain silly
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Post by adoptaratcanada on Jun 16, 2009 22:39:49 GMT -4
...so says Thor the Maniac! If anyone is hanging from the bars, or sniffing the top of the cage (from the inside), you know it's Thor! He's decided he's above using such pedestrian items as rattie walkways. He was ready for action in vertical position and I could hear him thinking (and doing!), "I'll just shimmy straight up the bars, continue past the shelf and hang a horizontal right to bypass the ramp and shoot right past the next shelf and to the top!!" He's nuts! He's picked up the bad habit of flinging himself out of the cage onto me! Fortunately he's done it only when I'm quite close! Yikes. 10pm each night is the commencement of mass "popcorning" time! Earl Grey made the mistake of revving up right below the lowest-hanging shelf. Ooops. Linda
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Post by adoptaratcanada on Jun 11, 2009 18:17:29 GMT -4
So you are assuming crystals caused by Baytril?? Not really. The vet said he didn't feel crystals (and on a few websites i read they suggested you'd see crystals in the urine, which I haven't, and he's peeing without difficulty), but if it *doesn't* go away entirely, crystals are a possibility and therefore a *chance* the baytril caused it...but I don't think so, since he wasn't on it long. Of course, I'm only *assuming* they have to be on it long. It's prescribed routinely, so I can't see it being so popular if it can cause problems that quickly. All the things I read about a baytril/crystals connection didn't mention if it was from long term use. I know some rats have to be on antibiotics their entire lives, if prone to respiratory outbreaks. PS: I forgot...from what I've read/understood about crystals, it's the crystals that irritate the inside of the bladder, and cause bleeding. Since there's no blood, maybe there's no crystals. Bottom line..I have no idea ;D
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Post by adoptaratcanada on Jun 11, 2009 17:58:49 GMT -4
Thanks for that input. I did the test strip and it showed NO blood, and again, the vet didn't feel any crystals in the bladder or lumps.
Somewhere I read that baytril can cause crystals in the urine, but I would have assumed that that was with prolonged use.
Now Earl Grey is off the baytril, and I remove the coloured chew toys on the weekend, I think it was. The vet suggested keeping him separated from his brothers to check the urine, and to see how often he's urinating.
For what it's worth, the pee over the last day or two is almost normal.
Hopefully that's the end of it.
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Post by adoptaratcanada on Jun 10, 2009 21:13:29 GMT -4
From your link: >> Color is bright red, not brownish red. << Yours was not bright, right? right
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Post by adoptaratcanada on Jun 10, 2009 18:56:56 GMT -4
Earl Grey was at the vet today to look into the discoloured urine. The vet gave him a very deep exam and said he couldn't feel any crystals or lumps, and EG had already peed himself dry. He gave me a dipstick to test his urine for blood. He also mentioned something about porphyrin in urine, which I never head of, and got distracted in the conversation and didn't follow that up. I just did a search (rat porphyrin urine) on google which brought up lots of results of porphyrin in rat and human urine (didn't know it was in humans, too). Some are just footnote references, and some I'm just to tired to try and translate to laymen's terms, so I'm just not getting it Ok, I just added the word "pet" to my search and this site came up: en.allexperts.com/q/Pet-Rats-3537/2008/3/blood-urine.htm which doesn't answer my question, but makes me think porphyrin in the urine is not out of the question. Anyone familiar with this? Thanks!
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Post by adoptaratcanada on Jun 8, 2009 0:36:50 GMT -4
You may need to keep each in a carrier separately to be sure who is doing what when. Oops, I should have said. Yes, I am doing that.
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Post by adoptaratcanada on Jun 7, 2009 23:51:10 GMT -4
Earl Grey seems to be the one doing most of it (the chewing, that is). I'm not sure how much they drink...they do, but not tons.
I think I have it narrowed down to him doing the pee, too.
I've put them in a carrier lined with paper towel, but they don't pee then, of course! I guess I'll have to try keeping them there longer.
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Post by adoptaratcanada on Jun 7, 2009 22:26:34 GMT -4
If they sleep next to hemp shavings won't they get the munchies?? ;D I would say hemp bedding - which I have heard of for horses only - would be softer for rats than aspen, and thus better. Don't they like sleeping where the house is?? lol they don't need recreational drugs to get them eating! LOL So...sleeping in the igloo NEAR the shavings, or even ON it should be ok, you're saying. As for the little bath house, it took them a while to figure both it and the hammock out. Now I find them in both spots quite often, but still the bottom igloo is the place of choice. Sleeping on aspen is fine, it just does not seem soft - maybe why they line it with tissue. I would encourage them to sleep off the ground level. More for comfort, or for possible resp. issues? What color IS the pee? I don't think you said. One St Patrick's Day in bars I drank loads of green beer and ate green guacamole dip - but the pee stayed the same color. You say that like you were hoping! Ok, the pee... First I saw it on the fleece and was flipping out because it looked so dark...and perhaps reddish. I dabbed it up to get a better look and realized with better light it didn't look bad after all...just darker than clear. The lightshade on that lamp is purple so everything looks dark! And the shelves are dark purple, so that doesn't help! However, sometimes when I look at it on the fleece, it still looks darker than it should. Verging on brown, which I don't think it good. I don't know if that's because it's sat a bit (?). On the old cage, the top portion (the metal wire) sat inside the pan, resting right on the bottom. Pee would collect there and when I'd clean it, it was pretty gross, usually brownish. However, I don't want to be rationalizing away any potential problems. When I see a pee in question, I dab it up and run to better light then it doesn't look so bad, so maybe I'm imagining it. I haven't seen *red*, but it does seem quite a bit darker than it ought to be.
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Post by adoptaratcanada on Jun 7, 2009 21:21:38 GMT -4
Ok, the new boys have a nest on the top level of the cage (a chinchilla bath-house, actually), and a hammock. I'm ordering more soft nesting places. They have an igloo on the bottom level, similar to this, but a bit bigger, square and with 2 entrances: They prefer sleeping in the bottom one. On the bottom level, I have the pan lined with fleece, and in the nest, they have paper towel. Now I have the concerns with at least Earl Grey possibly eating the paper, and someone was chewing holes in the fleece. I think it's also EG who likes to pull it all into the igloo. I had been thinking of switching to hemp shavings on the bottom level, which I used with my first rats, and which I really liked...attractive, low/no dust and easy to maintain. Is there a problem with them sleeping that close to it? Are shaving generally just used for "floor areas", away from sleeping areas? (jeez, I feel like a dolt asking these questions...it's just that none of this ever came up with my other rats!!) If I use shavings on the ground level, should I encourage them to sleep elsewhere? Admittedly, if I do that, they have alot more floor space to run around in. Then again, they DO like sleeping down there. If it's ok for them to sleep near it, what ought I to opt for inside the nest. I'm thinking if he/ they already chew paper, is something like CareFresh right out. I know that fluffy nesting stuff isn't supposed to be good. I'm worried about them ingesting stuff that can harm them, and alot of the worry stems from the discoloured pee (which --by coincidence or not-- is coming from EG, I think). I've removed the coloured wooden toys and will call the vet in the morning. He's fine otherwise, very active and with a good appetite. They are at the end of the antibiotics they had for the respiratory thing, which would have hoped would nip a UTI in the bud, so I'm hoping there's not something else bad going on.
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Post by adoptaratcanada on Jun 7, 2009 20:54:29 GMT -4
Thanks for the info, Hams! I didn't know hamsters aren't allowed colour toys. I'll see what else I can find.
I feel like I'm starting from square one.
I'll post further (more specific) questions in another thread about bedding again.
Thanks!
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Post by adoptaratcanada on Jun 6, 2009 19:41:27 GMT -4
DE and MD are adjacent, and they are small states. When I asked where in MD Kent was you did not tell me, and I did not care enough to look! ;D= I had actually asked her at the outset if she's near a state line, but she never got back to me on that point until the DE came up.
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Post by adoptaratcanada on Jun 6, 2009 19:39:42 GMT -4
I find that vaguely insulting. . . to rats. I always talk to my critters, but in real words. Many of them know some things, such as "get out", "get off", and endearing comments. I assume your rats like kisses.
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Post by adoptaratcanada on Jun 6, 2009 19:34:19 GMT -4
It probably is. I would not worry about that. But then again I never see mine eating it. Maybe yours just CHEW it a little? That's what I"m hoping..they chew it and spit it out. I'd just like to SEE it! I remember years ago when I had gerbils, it was easy to see how they were chewing their paper to make a nest. My old guys tended to shred, rather than chew..never saw any of them do anything close to eating it. From what I can find online, a tiny bit won't hurt, and they really are probably not swallowing it, and I'm just not noticing.
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Post by adoptaratcanada on Jun 6, 2009 1:26:38 GMT -4
I never put paper towels in rodent cages - only soft toilet tissue, which is apparently more water soluble. I doubt if it is dangerous for (bigger) rats, but I sure would never put it in for gerbils or dwarfs. Just to be safe. You know, I've never about that - either of them. I thought (?) I had read way back that paper towel is ok for nesting. Yikes.
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