Questions for other rat owners

[Jennifer Piersol <jenP_97@yahoo.com>]

ameliagoldfeesh asked about rats and paralysis...

Well, it's been a while, but I owned a rat after I 
graduated from college (right after I got married) 
named Claire de Lune (but we called her Ratty).  
She was a pretty neurotic thing... very shy, but 
loved teasing and scaring our cats.  Anyway, when 
she was about 2 1/2, she got a tumor on her 
shoulder, and it was horrible.  She would 
occasionally bleed from her nose, and every once 
in a while, she'd get siezures (sp? - it doesn't 
look right).  But I think I first noticed it when 
she got a little clumsy and stumbled around when 
she walked.

We ended up putting the poor thing to sleep and 
burying her out under our only tree.  The people 
at the vet thought I was a little kooky for 
wanting to spend $30 to put a rat to sleep... but 
phooey on them!

I was a little disappointed that she had such a 
short life, but she was lovely while I knew her.  
And my family got their kicks out of suggesting 
baby names like Claire and getting, "Sorry, can't 
name the baby that - we had a rat named Claire 
once."

Jen P., fellow rat owner.