# Home for 3 whole days :(



## Reedrat (Oct 17, 2014)

Picked up my new babies after putting them on hold at the pet shop 3 weeks ago, and now know I was a couple days to late putting them on hold. Cookie gave birth to eight babies on her third day with us! This was last Thursday so they are now five days and seem to be ok in spite of the poor conditions mom came from. It's just frustrating because this is the reason I put them on hold, to prevent babies! Plus she is so young herself, only ten weeks!


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## mimsy (Jun 8, 2014)

Oh no. Not what you expected at all, with everything being planned and all. 

I gave my Mother rat infant soy milk to help boost her a bit, I would think with Cookie being so young it might be helpful to her. Once the babies get old to enough to start eating on their own a little they will enjoy it as well and keep them a little fuller to help out Cookie a bit.


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## Reedrat (Oct 17, 2014)

Thank you! This might be a weird question, but my youngest daughter is almost weaned and I have a lot of frozen breast milk, could they have it? I will likely not use it all!


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## mimsy (Jun 8, 2014)

LOL Kinda surprised me with that question. But ya, I think it would probably be good. Their needs are pretty similar to our own which is why we use human formula's over animal ones.


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## Reedrat (Oct 17, 2014)

I once had some one ask for some breast milk to put on thier cats eye! Her cat has an infection and she wanted to put the milk on his eye! I gave it to her and I guess it worked. But it was pretty odd.


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## Reedrat (Oct 17, 2014)

*Babies*

Top is on day one and the bottom is today at 6 days old. One appears to be black another is also quite dark, the others might be blue like mom.


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## Reedrat (Oct 17, 2014)

*Cookie*

Here is mom!


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## shayfoxx (Oct 13, 2014)

youve got a full house now


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## Hey-Fay (Jul 8, 2013)

Breast milk is fine and works just as well as formula believe it or not. We recommend the soy formula because not everyone has breast milk on tap!


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## Reedrat (Oct 17, 2014)

Please Help! Cookie has been on antibiotics for myco for 3 days but it doesn't appear to be helping, I'm afraid she will die! I've been supplementing the babies to help her out, they are now 18 days old. Is there anything I can do to help her more?!?!


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## PawsandClaws (Jul 22, 2014)

What antibiotics has she been on? You should normally see improvement within 5 days on Baytril/doxy combo but since she is quite young Zithro is a good alternative. What are her symptoms? What is her age? Is she drinking? Is she eating? Sorry for the stream of questions, just trying to understand.


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## Reedrat (Oct 17, 2014)

She is on Zithromax because they didn't want to risk the others with her being a nursing mom.


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## Reedrat (Oct 17, 2014)

She is maybe 12 weeks max, I've seen her eat and drink but I have also been giving baby food purée and human breast milk to help with hydration. Very labored breathing, red discharge at the nose and weight loss as well as fatigue. She barely left the nest yesterday


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## PawsandClaws (Jul 22, 2014)

Honestly, the very labored breathing is worrying since it can quickly progress to respiratory distress however it may just be that the antibiotics still have not fully kicked in at this point. Her eating and drinking still are good signs. If she is having a breathing episode, you can give her a tiny piece of dark chocolate and it will act as a natural bronchial dilator - opening the respiratory passage temporarily. Obviously it does not treat the underlying infection, but it can provide some relief to your poor girl while you wait for the zithro to work. At the 5 day mark, if you are still seeing symptoms (and no significant improvement) I would go back to the vet and get another drug added. If you see signs of respiratory distress (the rat may open her mouth and you would hear a clicking sound or she may run around frantically, you need to see a vet ASAP). Hopefully this does not scare you, I just want you to be aware of what that looks like since when I first saw it I had no idea what was happening. It sounds like she is just exhausted from fighting off the infection and nursing the pups. Try and keep her hydrated with high water content veggies and fruits (since this is very important) and watch out for signs of it getting worse. There are other pediatric safe medications that you can try if the zithro does not work.


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## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

I generally wouldn't advise it but soon the pups will begin sampling hard food and eating less so I would maybe consider separating mom from babies at 25 days and giving them soy soaked lab blocks.


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## Reedrat (Oct 17, 2014)

Braved the -14 degree weather to get cookie to the vet yesterday, it seems cookie now has pneumonia so we came home with a steroid and new antibiotic, she seems a little better today but I'm still so worried. She is such a sweet little thing, loves cuddles and kisses. I hate that she has had so much discomfort in her short life. Babies are very keen on eating lab blocks soaked in milk mush so that is hopefully helping her out a bit.


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## Reedrat (Oct 17, 2014)

Eating lab block mush.


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## PawsandClaws (Jul 22, 2014)

Looks good. I am glad some of the stress of feeding has been taken off mom. Still really important for her to stay hydrated and warm while the antibiotics do their job. These things can deteriorate quickly but since she is quite young, I have hope she will make a speedy recovery. Let us know how she is doing.


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## Reedrat (Oct 17, 2014)

I am heartbroken to report that cookie lost her fight with myco and pneumonia today. I am definately not going to buy another pet shop rat again even if I have to drive to another state to find a breeder! Our poor cookie! Such a sweet beautiful thing. My husband gave me the bad news when I got home and I just couldn't believe it, scince she seemed like was doing better. I'm just glad I could give her love and comfort at the end of her life.


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## PawsandClaws (Jul 22, 2014)

I am so, so sorry. That is terrible news. Unfortunately with pneumonia, rats can deteriorate very quickly. Poor Cookie, rest easy.


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## kksrats (Jul 25, 2014)

Poor girl. Unfortunately the stress of having a litter can be enough to cause a myco flare up and it makes it much harder to treat. I thought for sure that I was going to lose my Isis when she had her litter. I hope all of the babies are doing well.


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## Reedrat (Oct 17, 2014)

So far babies are doing well, Cookie's cage mate Siri, is keeping them clean, and they are enthusiastic about the food mush, but I'm sad they've lost thier mom.


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## Ratpax (Aug 24, 2014)

What a heartbreaking story.

I'll light the white candle for poor Cookie.

As for the babies--are any of them showing respiratory signs?

Are you already set up for when you'll need to separate them by sex? You going to keep them all?

(If so, you're more woman than I am, hehehe!)


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## mimsy (Jun 8, 2014)

I'm so sorry about your loss. What a rough time you've had. I'm glad to hear the babies are doing well and it's nice your other girl is taking on cleaning up the babies and showing them the way of the rat.


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## Reedrat (Oct 17, 2014)

I have a solo boy, Kevin so will be keeping at least one boy as a cage mate for him. I will also keep at least one girl to stay with Siri. I may end up with all three girls though as I wouldn't want to home one by herself. I have a tentative home for two of the boys, but honestly with everything happening with Cookie, as well as my k9 training and roller derby practice, and work and my four kids, I haven't begun to look. I have a spare cage for the boys for separating so that is no problem. And so far none of the other rats have any resperitory signs, thank goodness!


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## Reedrat (Oct 17, 2014)

It's bittersweet but all of my babies will be off to thier new homes! I feel sad to see them go but feel so blessed to have found three amazing homes each with rat experience and each willing to take a pair! We are keeping one female, Ginny and one male, Sirius. I hope our rocky start is past and will have mostly smooth sailing from here on out!


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## RattieLover1331 (May 21, 2013)

This honestly made me cry that she lost her battle.

A few months ago, I lost my Cookie to pneumonia..

I wish you and the babies the best.


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## Reedrat (Oct 17, 2014)

I'm sorry for the loss of your cookie! It was such a sad beginning for us but I am positive we can only go up from here! And I think the babies have as good a shot as I can give them!


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