# Do rats pine/grieve?



## beanieboo-rattles (Jan 3, 2008)

Just wondering since rattles died Dulci and Hollie are alot more subdued and seem to be looking for her.


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

Some rats do, some don't seem to. But yes they can get incredibly sad when they lose a cagemate. When I am nursing a sickie, and they are close to passing, often ALL my rats will be very quiet and subdued, like they know.


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## amandahoney (May 14, 2007)

in my experience, i'd say definitely, yes. i even had one rat "bury" her deceased cagemate by piling up all the fleece and cardboard she could get her paws on, on top of her "sister". i'm not sure what that means, but i'm guessing it was an expression of grief, or bewilderment at what had happened. you also have to watch out for stress-related flareups of illnesses or parasites that can be aggravated by the loss.


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## OnlyOno (Apr 4, 2007)

from everything that i have heard, yes. i'm sure that like in all species, there are differences in how each individual accepts loss, and we may not be able to pick up such things on each of our rats, but yes, even if they didn't like each other, they must understand death and that one of their roommates is no longer with them...


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## mishasmom (Jul 21, 2008)

Yes they do grieve. My male rat Snickers still misses his brothers.


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## Nicomuse (Sep 25, 2008)

I had one of my rats get really depressed after her sister's sudden death. Not a week later she herself was gone. It was terrible. Now the rest of their cagemates all seem very confused and a little less active.


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## hacraxy (Jan 11, 2008)

Yes they do. I've heard from many ratowners that after the death of one rat, the rat who is left alone aften dies not long after his/her friend. When one of my two rats died in January then the one left alone was so depressed that I was afraid I would lose him too. He wouldn't eat anything for few days, when taken out to play he would just snuggle up on my lap instead of the usual running-exploring around the livingroom. After about a month I got him two new friends he never really accepted them like his first friend, but he was much happier and got along with them just fine (but they weren't THAT close).


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## KayRatz (Apr 5, 2007)

Yes. Zinc's age really came out so much stronger in the couple of weeks after Klardae's death, and she went from being the nervous rat to wanting nothing more than to be with me. She hardly even ran on her wheel for the first month or so. Having new cagemates really helped her.


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## tiffrobbins (Sep 5, 2008)

We recently lost one of our boys and his brother went into what I can only describe as a very deep depression. They'd never been apart since the day they were born. He didn't want pet, he didn't want treats, he didn't want to do anything but sleep. We were getting very worried about him. He even went so far as to let our 4 month old boy become the dominant male. He's a year old and outweighs the little guy by 1/2 a pound. One evening he was even being aggressive toward me. He's never been aggressive in his life.
This all lasted for about two weeks.
Then all of a sudden. He decided to be our sweet, fun-loving boy again. He regained his dominion & was excited to be alive again. Not any problems with him since. So I'd just let time pass and she'll move on eventually. Just be there for her.


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## Ratty1100 (Nov 17, 2007)

Mine are now, too grieving, alongside with me. 
The don't run around and play, they sleep in a pile and and their noses are red with porphyrin.


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