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Is it ok to keep a lone, elderly rat?

1354 Views 7 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  SonicRat
I have a male pair of rats (2.5 years) but one of them has been aging more than than the other. He's doing really bad. I'm actually at the vet now with him and I don't have high hopes...

I foresaw this and was preparing to get a new rat for weeks now but I can't find an older rat and introducing a baby to male rats sounds stressful based on my research. Right now I am pretty heartbroken over my sick rat so... I don't know if I can deal with getting another rat.

I want to keep my surviving rat and am willing to spend 2-3+ hrs daily with him for the rest of his life... but if it's inhumane I can also rehome him even though, for me, that is the worst case scenario and I worry that will be such an adjustment for him at the end of his life.

Any advice? What would you do?
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My sick rat might be ok for now based on what my vet said (he's still at the vet), so I might have a little more time to decide what I am going to do. But I do have a couple local rescues. I will look into my options and contact my local rescue to see what they have to say.
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updating this thread just in case anyone was still concerned.

my sick rat did wind up passing away from pneumonia despite treatment. :( my current rat has been alone for a few days but i am picking up two new boys today, so not for long. i don't want to give him up but he also doesn't deserve to be alone... after much looking i finally found some rats that were an appropriate age to introduce to him. i know that i will love them as much as i do my own.
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