Early August updates features:
Miyuki's Luxury Geriatric Menu
Some soft food recipe ideas for elderly rat
The Power of Glucosamine / Chondroitin
Nutritional supplement for elderly ratties with movement problems.
Ahhh! More Babies! Minami & Koyuki
We welcomed two new ratties! Check them out!
Miyuki is getting old. It's very sad, but she is ageing, and has 2 huge tumours on her lower abdomen. Recently she has been having a lot of difficulty eating solid food by herself. So the alternative was to make her some healthy soft food that she can enjoy, and keep up with the calories because these tumours are sucking up every bit of her life. She is a survivor.So this is the menu I came up with. Of course she doesn't get fed with all these everyday, but I try to give her the widest variety of food without compromising the quality and the nutritional requirement. As she can not eat in large quantities, I am hoping that the choice of food attract her appetite....
Glucosamine / Chondroitin
As your pet rats get older, he is more likely to have medical problems. My old rats Fuyume and Miyuki seemed to have suffered from an illness, very similar to arthritis when they were 22 months. Arthritis is a condition in which there is pain and stiffness in the joints. It also seems to get worse in cold and humid weather. In the case of my rat, Fuyume's hind legs seemed to have weakened, not having enough strength to move it back and forth. Then her front legs seemed to be stretched forward and stuck there. Her little front paws were clenched into fists, unable to hold her food. Eventually the muscles grows weak because she would stay lazing around for too long.This is what seems to happen to many older rats as they reach to their golden age. Mobility and flexibility is definitely lost as your rat gets older (http://www.rmca.org/Articles/oldrats.htm). However I never heard of rat arthritis, but I could see my rat was in a lot of pain and my vet was highly unlikely to give any treatment for rat joints problem. It got to a point when I was considering euthanasia, I accidentally came across this article.
http://www.rmca.org/Articles/arthritis.htm
And with my desperate attempt, I rushed to a chemist to buy Glucosamine / Chondroitin supplement. The formula I bought came in water soluble form so that I can dissolve in their drinking bottle. Carefully working out the dose that the article had recommended, (around 62.5mg of glucosamine, 52mg of chondroitin per lb (450g) day).The results was shocking. The article said it showed the effect in 4 days. In my case, 2days. My rats is on it at the moment. She could not even if her head up to eat but now she is running around and climbing. She seems much more stable on her feet. People, this is worth trying as even a preventative measure for mobility problem in older rats. If you want to know more about it, feel free to e-mail me.
More Babies
Date of arrival: 20th July, 2001
These beauties came from a pet shop in Wimbledon. My intention was to get just 1 rat to keep company to Sayuri, but when I saw Minami, I knew she has a wonderful character and would get on so well with Sayuri. They were even identical, other than Minani being slightly darker. On the other hand, I have never seen a Himalayan rat before and I was amazed how beautiful Koyuki looks. And I ended up bringing both of them back....I can't leave one of them behind on her own!
This is Koyuki, meaning Little Snow in Japanese. She is himalayan, has a little chocolate smudge on her nose and on the base of her tail. She is very shy, but polite young lady. She is occasionally put in the same cage as Miyuki, to keep her company as other rats are too naughty for good ol' Miyuki The first time she met Miyu, she just went up to her and curled up next to her. She must have been around 6 weeks when she first joined our furry family. Very young girl, may be she was missing her mom and sisters.
This is Minami. Her name means Beautiful Wave in Japanese. I bet you she will turn into a Tsunami one day! She is Buff hooded, but her V-shaped mark on her forehead is getting darker day by day. She was around 8 weeks old when she came to live with me. She has a curious a lot of personality as well as energy. I have never seen her sleep. She is not at all afraid of humans, she finds it rather amusing climbing and exploring me.
