Nixon performing a trick.

isn't she cute? :')

More Nixon.

well, I decided that as soon as I get paid again (which isn't till next month, but that's better than nothing, I suppose. I really can't squeeze out any money right now) I will take Nixon to the vet. the scab on her face just got better, and of course, I discovered a new one on her neck :/ I'm not even quite sure what's going on with her anymore. she gets those scabs one by one. one will go away and there will be a new scab. always just one. Nixon is such a pretty rat, but the scabbing makes her look rather sad :/ other than the scabs, she's fine. she eats, drinks, goes to the bathroom, sleeps and plays normally. I don't know what could be causing the scabbing anymore. and it's only around her face and neck, nowhere else.

Nevermind..

remember how I just said I can't get Nixon to stay still? well I was wrong.
after putting Garbo back in the cage I started looking around for Nixon.
normally, I can easily lure her out of her hiding places by shaking a box of pasta or opening the bedroom door, but neither one worked. I started looking for her in her usual corner, but I didn't think she'd be there because I hadn't seen any movement in the corner (the corner is covered in old clothes that we don't know what to do with, so the rats play there)
I found her under Robert's old hoodie, and she was just hanging out there. didn't look like she was in a hurry or anything :D I moved some of the clothes around, and she tried to pull them back to where they were before I moved them, as if she didn't want to be disturbed. it was pretty cute :) after that I just grabbed her and put her back in the cage and gave her a treat, which she thought she could take out of the cage and into her lair. well, by then I had already closed the cage so she had no choice but to eat it there.

well, now I know where to look next time if she appears lost :) and maybe I can let her hang out there like I let Garbo sleep in the bookcase.

blind rat coming through!

I think it's safe to say that Nixon's nearly blind:
whenever she gets really excited she runs into things - headfirst.

it's okay though because blindness isn't really a disability in rats since they have a poor eyesight and mostly get by on their excellent hearing and sense of smell :)


it's just funny seeing Nixon run around like there's nothing wrong with her (well not that there really is anyways) and then see her bump into my foot or a shoe lying on the floor :D


also the rats have been extremely rowdy lately.
but it's okay - we've had a lot of fun during our playtime and I've gotten some good laughs out of the crazy rats even though their rowdyness often gets me a little worried they'll hurt themselves :s

Eye update.

well...Nixon's eye hasn't gotten any better nor any worse.
I'm not really sure whether that's a good or a bad thing.
I'm really fighting the urge to take her to the vet.
my mom and Robert both think I'm just overreacting and I've really tried to reassure myself that they're right but I'm also really worried since I can't seem to find any kind of information on products that I could use so that the swelling will go down and to prevent infections.
if I was at my parents' house we'd definitely put some bepanthen on it (an ointment that is safe for mucous membranes and works well on pets) but since it's only sold in europe we're out of luck. I can't seem to find anything similar over here despite all my googling.
I've tried two different message boards and one of them was finnish so of course they recommended bepanthen. I had a lot less luck getting any responses on the other message board.
(and unfortunately you can't send creams and things like that overseas. otherwise I'd have my parents ship me several tubes of bepanthen this instant!)

if it was a scratch anywhere else on the body it wouldn't be a big deal.
but it's next to the eye and infections in that area can be really nasty.

I guess it's not infected right now since there is no pus coming out of it.
but it is still swollen and will bleed a little if she rubs it against something.
I saw her scratching it earlier. I don't know if that's good or bad.

I guess I'm just gonna have to keep monitoring her and if it gets worse then probably take her to the vet.
while it's not getting better nor worse I might as well keep searching for products that are rat safe and that will help her heal.

Poor Nixon.

Nippy has a scratch next to her eye again :(
it's a lot smaller this time and it didn't bleed as much and she hasn't been squinting at all so that's good.
she's a little swollen around the eye like last time though.
we haven't taken her to the vet since it wasn't really that serious last time either and this time I actually know where she got the scratch from.
I'm just kinda worried it might get infected or something :/
we were thinking about buying neosporin or something like that but it makes me a little nervous as the scratch is close to her eye and what if it's bad to put it that close to the eye? :/

Ratventures.

Garbo's adventures in the blanket shelf of the closet.

school is done for the fall semester which means more time to spend with the ratties!

lately they've been acting up and I've had to put them back in the cage very quickly but today the ratties were being really nice. even Garbo who usually runs away from me and gives me that "see you later" look.

Garbo has discovered that at the end of the hallway there is a closet and that she can actually open the door herself. the bottom shelf of the closet if full of blankets so I don't blame her for wanting to go in there. I would too if I was any smaller :D
whenever she'd go in the hallway she'd try to run away from me but today she was being very sweet and didn't mind me supervising her activities. she'd come sit in my lap every now and then and she insisted on climbing up on top of my head at one point.
she was being such a good girl that she even rode back to the living room on my hand without making a big deal out of it :) good girl Garbo! I didn't have to give her a treat because Nixon had made sure that there was something to "come home to" in the cage.

Nixon's adventures were a little different. I've noticed that she doesn't really explore for the sake of exploring. she is actually looking for food whenever she's running around in the living room and today she found a plate with yesterday's pizza crust. it looked so funny and cute when she grabbed a big piece of crust and ran with it in her mouth. she did actually manage to get it in her igloo.


I noticed that the rats really tell you if they don't want something in their cage. as I was wrapping some christmas presents I put a piece of wrapping paper in there cause I thought they might want to shred it and use it in their nest. Garbo didn't agree and grabbed it and tried to shove it through the bars down on the floor.
speaking of which..Garbo really hated the old blanket they had. she'd always shove it out and Nixon would have to pull it back in. they have a new blanket now and they both seem to like it since the blanket hasn't left the igloo yet :D

it's friday and as you may have noticed from reading this blog that means it's cage cleaning day. I bet Nixon is going to go on a search for more pizza crust and Garbo is going to hang out among the blankets again.

oh and did you know that when a rat is 6 months old in human age it's actually 15 years in rat age? I found a chart on a rat site I go to. aww. luckily female rats will remain playful so I won't have to worry about them aging that much :)

Nixon's first time to the vet.

as the title says Nixon had to go to the vet for the first time today.
good thing I had prepared for the day this would happen and looked up vets that would see small animals!

last night I noticed the corner of her eye was bleeding and there was a lot of dried blood around it. today she kept squinting and had more dried blood around it so I decided it was time to call the vet in case it was something more serious.

poor Nixon was scared and actually tried biting me a couple of times :(
but once we got to the pet hospital she fell asleep for a little bit.
everyone there - including the people waiting for their pets thought she was so adorable :) one lady actually came up to us and asked what her name was and said she was really cute.
the people at the hospital were very nice and kept us updated on what they were doing while we waited.
I thought it was a little funny that Nixon's papers have her name and my last name printed. as in her name is Nixon -my last name- :D

they tested her for ulcers in the eye but she was fine.
they said everything was fine and it was just a scratch.
her fur and stomach were normal and apparently she had behaved well :)
I was worried she was going to be scared and try to bite everyone but luckily that wasn't the case.
in fact - when they brought her out she was energetic and didn't seem scared at all!

on the way home she was being good too.
she didn't poop or pee herself and she wasn't trying to chew on the cage bars.
we made a quick stop at a store on the way home and she slept while we were in there.

when we got home she ran to the cage immediately and after eating the blueberry I gave her she went right to sleep. she slept a couple of hours and just an hour ago we gave her her medication.
I thought it would be hard to get her to take it but I was wrong: she even tried to grab the syringe from me. she got a big energy kick out of her medicine and came out to hang out a little together with Garbo.
she was very playful and jumped on my hand playfully "attacking" it.

Nixon is supposed to be on medication for a week and the swelling in her eye has gone down a lot. she isn't squinting anymore but I can tell it's still a little swollen.

I'm glad it wasn't anything serious :)


edit: forgot to mention that the discharge(?) they gave us suggested that we cut her nails to prevent scratches like this. I know nothing about cutting rattie nails and actually it sounds a little scary to me. I haven't really found any info on it either so I'm not really sure if I should do it or not :/

it's funny cause it's true.

"Q: My rat sways back and forth while standing still. I something wrong with him?
A:
Rats have poor eyesight and this movement is often used to detect motion. It is more common with pink-eyed rats. "
(from the RMCA rat FAQ)

I couldn't help but chuckle a little when I read this.
Nixon, our pink-eyed white, does A LOT of this.
she looks really funny when she does that. it looks as if she's assessing the situation on the floor.
when we first got her I was a little worried too, but I later discovered that it was due to her poor eyesight. now I'm even less worried cause apparently it's typical for pink-eyed rats and I've never seen Garbo do that.

speaking of Nixon, here is a picture of her on my arm from the other night :)



I think I'm gonna go check up on the girls and see what they're up to!