Depressed Rat

[3ratlover]

We had to put Shirley to sleep about a week and a half ago.  Now Emma is all alone.  She seems really depressed.  She has really slowed down eating and just hides.  She just does not look right.  What can I do for her?  I am going to a local rat show next month and if they have babies I will be getting two.  Will this help Emma to have two new cage mates?

[Scubbs]

She needs a friend.  Rats don't do well on their own.  Are there any rescue rats available in your area?  It'd be best to get one or two now, so that she won't be waiting weeks and weeks for the rat show (then 3 weeks for quarantine).  Poor girl 

[Telfordrattie]

AWWWW!!! I agree she needs a friend.  The sooner you can get her one the better.  In the mean time, all the time you can spend with her outside of her cage the better. If she can't have another rattie mate, then the next best thing is her momma.  Give her as much love and outside roaming and attention as possible.  She will surely enjoy that!!!

[ratlets]

I agree... sooner is better.  My friend lost 3 rats in a short amount of time, leaving his last girl alone. She was severely depressed.  He got two new babies, and she perked right up.

[Arwen]

I agree about getting a friend or 2.  I had an Old man that I rescued and i put him with babies and he absolutely loves it.  He has perked up and thinks he is their dad.

[Mischief Mistress]

I remember about a year and a half ago a virus ripped through my mischief leaving 2 girls and one intact boy. The male had lost 5 cagemates, he was depressed, although he lucked out on not dying from the virus, he might as well have had it since the depression was ripping through him as the virus did to the others. After the vet and a huge tube of water in his body and love/care meds and getting back on his hands he was ok. After the two week treatment of getting him to survive I had the opportunity to keep him well with a new friend. He is old now and slowing down, but he had a wonderful life. Good luck to your baby.

[Sun of Samsa]

I had three girls in a cage and recently put one, FitzRoy, to sleep. FitzRoy and Darwin were my first two girls, and later on we added Willow (and other rats that my parents adopted from us  ). Darwin and FitzRoy, though not inseparable, had a special kind of respect for each other. They napped together, groomed, but spent their time apart--FitzRoy was more of a people-rat than a rat-rat. Since she's passed, Darwin has been terribly depressed. She spends most of her time in her hammock, looking sadly at us, or hiding in her hidey box when I come in to feed them. Willow has calmed down a lot, but I wouldn't say she's depressed. She was never people-oriented, but now she seems to be very interested in my SO and myself.

That's how it goes for us over here I can't add another rat to the fold, so I'm hoping Darwin will come out of it slowly.

[itschelsea]

tee's still a little depressed, cause she was never used to being with any other rats.... but getting two lil himis really helped her out! get friends for sure.

[3ratlover]

I can't spend time with Emma outside her cage.  She will jump off the coach and run back to her cage.  When she is out her breathing gets really rapid and her hart beats very rapidly.  She has never been a girl that liked to be touched or outside her cage.  We got her as a blood sister to Lavern (PTS in February).  Lavern had lost so much blood before and during her surgery for a uterus tumor so the vet sent his nurse to get a rat for a transfusion.  When we got her she would freak out if touched even in her cage.  She is much better then that now but still is not really a people rat.  She just stays in her cage and looks sad since we put Shirley to sleep.  From day one Shirley and Emma were best friends.  They slept together cleaned each other and did just about everything together.

[Bekah]

Getting the boys saved Dana's life after her sister died.  She got sicker and sicker and just acted like she was giving up.  She'd had poor health for most of her life, but she really perked up once she and the boys were together.  It's been about ten months, and she's 2.5 now.  She's not feeling well at the moment and is slowing down, but she's happy, thanks to her boys.