Batman who came to us just before Christmas is doing really well!

When we saw the pictures we were all pretty sure that he would have to have both of his eyes removed. Our vets agreed after we emailed them the pictures. But once he actually arrived in rescue, we were really surprised as they weren't nearly as bad as anticipated. Our vets were also really amazed and basically said that "somebody must have been praying a lot". Our vets didn't feel that anything needed to be done at this point but that we should basically wait and see....

He went back to the vet earlier this week to have his eyes re-checked. Batman generally squints or has his eyes completely closed so we were a little concerned and wanted them to have another look. He does have cataracts in both eyes. His eyes don't seem to bother him though. He also doesn't seem to be in any kind of discomfort or pain.

Batman is completely blind. Rats don't have the best vision to begin with and they rely heavily on their whiskers to get around (You can read more about rats and their whiskers by clicking here). Due to the fact that Batman is a hairless rat though, he's only got a few whiskers and the few that he has are very curled. Basically they are pretty much useless as well. Don't feel sorry for the little man though! He's a little nervous when he's in a new area but you'll quickly notice how he is figuring out the space and how he is basically forming a mental map in his head. Once he is familiar with an area, he runs around like any normal rat. In his cage he manages the various levels, ramps, hammocks etc with no problems at all. We do take some extra precautions to make sure everything is safe for him though. Better safe than sorry.

Batman is an extremely sweet rat! He loves to be petted and held as long as you announce your presence before hand as otherwise he can get a little startled. He even gives kisses!

Now that he is done with his quarantine, we'll work on finding him a partner in crime. We just had the last two DTES SRO girls spayed on the 26th and once they are recovered we will see that we can introduce him to one of them - He deserves a girlfriend after everything he's been through!

Rescue is always such a roller coaster ride full of high and lows, with the good and bad things coming in waves. Unfortunately the wave of bad news continues on... We lost two more ratties this week.

On Thursday we lost sweet little Bunki. Bunki was part of the DTES SRO group that came into rescue in May/June of 2009. The rats were inbred and weren't well socialized.

Because of that, Bunki and 3 of her sisters (as well as 4 males) were/are still waiting for forever homes. Their wonderful foster mom Susan decided to pay to get them all spayed so that we could hopefully increase the chances of them getting adopted. Spaying also helps to prevent tumors so it's always good to have them spayed as it benefits their health. We unfortunately also saw some abnormalities in rats from that group: Undescended testicles in several males and a female had a very weak uterus that practically fell apart when she got spayed - Yet another reason why we wanted to get them spayed. We thought it would be a win win situation for the girls.

Unfortunately we were reminded that even a routine procedure like a spay done by an experienced vet is still surgery and comes with risks...

When they started anesthesia, Bunki's heart just gave out. Our vet tried to revive her but unfortunately she never woke up again. Bunki didn't show any kind of health problems prior to going in so this was a huge shock and we are extremely saddened. Sleep well, baby girl.

(We had her sister Zoulfia spayed on Thursday as well and she did great. We had several other girls from that group spayed previously and they all did great as well so it was most likely just a fluke. It's still so so sad though).

Today we also had to say goodbye to sweet little Daphne. Daphne only just came into rescue last night. Daphne is a Rattus Rattus (also known as black rat or roof rat). She was found as an orphan and was raised by a person who then kept her as a pet but now she had to get rid of all of her rats. We agreed to take in her 3 wild rats. On Wednesday we were told that she was sick. We asked her previous owner to please hold on to her until she was better and that we could provide antibiotics. Unfortunately the previous owner showed no compassion and said that she had to get rid of her now. To make sure that Daphne wasn't going to end up on the street, we agreed to take her now and put her through a stressful ferry trip as we felt we were the only chance she had.

When she arrived and we checked her over, our fears became true - She was really really sick. We started her on antibiotics and booked her in to see one of our vets today.

Unfortunately with every hour that passed it became more and more apparent that she was suffering - Every breath was a struggle, she had no quality of life left. She was in end stage lung disease and from experience we know that she wasn't going to get over this even with antibiotics and so we ended her suffering in a humane way at the vet. RIP Daphne, we're sorry that our help came too late for you.

We're so grateful that our wonderful fosters Teri, Susan and Margaret & her family as well as our vet were there for Daphne in her last few hours and showed her that there are people who care.

Lola came to us in November along with her partner in crime QTip. The two were given away as snake food on Craigslist Seattle. A woman saw them, took them in and then asked us if we could take them.

While QTip proved to be a bit of a challenge as she's known to chomp down, Lola was nothing but a sweet, beautiful itty bitty little angel. The only time you had to watch out when it was treat time. Lola LOVED treats and turned a bit into a snapping turtle as she was just so excited and couldn't get them fast enough.

Just before New Years Lola showed signs of respiratory issues and so she was put on Doxy and Baytril. She had also lost a bit of weight so we also started supplementing her diet. She was ok until January 4 when all of the sudden she also had a head tilt. She was seen by our vet the same day and was put on a different antibiotics as well as prednisone. She was doing ok, was stable and seemed to adjust to her head tilt. But unfortunately when I woke up today and checked on her she wasn't well. She wasn't able to co-ordinate her legs and so she was doing the alligator roll to get around. She had no quality of life left and so we made the hard and sad decision to let her go.

She was a very special little girl and even had a forever home lined up. Life is so fragile. She will be missed.