Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Caring for a rat with a head tilt

My precious girl, Saoirse, now has a head tilt from her ear infection....this means she will not be able to live like a normal rat.

Since her sense balance is completely gone...she cannot walk without sliding/falling/rolling....so she must be supervised in an area without anything to climb on or she will fall off and injure herself. Her new home is now a giant plastic storage tub with windows cut out for air. She cannot be in a cage because she will try and climb the bars and fall. She gets visits from the other rats and I'll let some stay with her in the tub.

The fact that she cannot walk straight does not stop this girl, though. She still roughly shoves things out of her way, burrows into blankets, shoves my hand away if she wants to get past and loves to get out and explore. ]

I love this girl so much. She'll be a grandma for the second time this weekend!