[Cam]

Hello, I hope this is in the right post category. My rat Stewie got cancer (the vet was pretty sure it was cancer) and he had to be put to to sleep. Now it is just my rat Gizzy and I.

Normally in this situation I would get new babies to keep him company, as babies are not seen as a threat and it's easy to do introductions. However, after having many generations of rats for 10 years now, I need to maybe be pet free in a couple years, as I will be making some career and living changes in a few years.

Gizzy and I spend a lot of time together, he free roams, and has a lot of great toys, play areas and things to explore, as well as a quadruple decker Critter Nation cage he can go in and out of. But I can tell he misses Stewie for sure.

Gizzy will be 2 in January. My idea is, maybe I can adopt an older rat to keep him company, but I am worried he won't accept him. He was the alpha with Stewie, and truthfully there were moments when they would have arguements it seemed. They would always end up cuddling together the next day, but Gizzy sometimes would try to be a tough guy and I would occasionally separate them until he chilled out.

In the past, I had an older rat that I tried to introduce to 2 nearly full grown boys, and each time I tried (using advice from this forum on introductions) it didn't go well. That rat, Jerry, even tried to viciously attack one of the other boys, who sought shelter on my foot, and he ended up accidentaly biting me instead. Still have the scar.

What do you think I should do? I snuggle with Gizzy on my lap each night, and he has a good life, but I'm worried he will be sad without a friend. He's in great health even at 2, so I'm pretty sure he will be around for a while. Would it be outrageous to think maybe I could foster an older rat, try to introduce them, and if it doesn't work I could return the new guy to his previous foster home? That would be less than ideal obviously, but I don't want to end up having to keep 2 rats separated in my apartment like I had to with Jerry. Or should I just keep the situation as is, with just me and Gizzy? Would love some advice.

 

[Boxes_scree]

Hello, I hope this is in the right post category. My rat Stewie got cancer (the vet was pretty sure it was cancer) and he had to be put to to sleep. Now it is just my rat Gizzy and I.

Normally in this situation I would get new babies to keep him company, as babies are not seen as a threat and it's easy to do introductions. However, after having many generations of rats for 10 years now, I need to maybe be pet free in a couple years, as I will be making some career and living changes in a few years.

Gizzy and I spend a lot of time together, he free roams, and has a lot of great toys, play areas and things to explore, as well as a quadruple decker Critter Nation cage he can go in and out of. But I can tell he misses Stewie for sure.

Gizzy will be 2 in January. My idea is, maybe I can adopt an older rat to keep him company, but I am worried he won't accept him. He was the alpha with Stewie, and truthfully there were moments when they would have arguements it seemed. They would always end up cuddling together the next day, but Gizzy sometimes would try to be a tough guy and I would occasionally separate them until he chilled out.

In the past, I had an older rat that I tried to introduce to 2 nearly full grown boys, and each time I tried (using advice from this forum on introductions) it didn't go well. That rat, Jerry, even tried to viciously attack one of the other boys, who sought shelter on my foot, and he ended up accidentaly biting me instead. Still have the scar.

What do you think I should do? I snuggle with Gizzy on my lap each night, and he has a good life, but I'm worried he will be sad without a friend. He's in great health even at 2, so I'm pretty sure he will be around for a while. Would it be outrageous to think maybe I could foster an older rat, try to introduce them, and if it doesn't work I could return the new guy to his previous foster home? That would be less than ideal obviously, but I don't want to end up having to keep 2 rats separated in my apartment like I had to with Jerry. Or should I just keep the situation as is, with just me and Gizzy? Would love some advice.

That's a difficult situation and I'm sorry for your loss 💕 I think trying to find someone who would be willing to let you foster an older rat for a little to see if it works out well and if it doesn't returning the older rat would be a good idea. I don't know if you'd be up for this as it sounds like you have such a close bond with Gizzy, but a lot of people surrender their older rats to rat rescues so they can be paired with another older rat so you wont have to deal with the same situation later down the line. However, I think that it would be best to try introducing an older boy to Gizzy with a backup plan in case Gizzy doesn't like the other rat. Some people say its fine to house rats alone in your particular situation so there are differing opinions, but the majority of people say to try finding a friend Good luck with Gizzy and I hope you get the advice you want!

 

[Mkd]

Loneliness is devastating. Get him a friend.