The 3 Amigos

RELLA

After PRRR brought Princess Rella back from the brink of death, I was the lucky one to be able to adopt that little treasure.

At first, it was thought that Rella may not be a sociable rat with other ratties due to her lack of, or should I say, NIL rat socialization experience. So, I prepared myself to have a ‘loner’ rat, but with massive amounts of human time and cuddles to make up for it.

Due to her previous owners neglect, Little Rella had permanent lung scarring and was still a little on the skinny side. Whilst in the care of PRRR, she certainly had put on weight since she first arrived there. Her lung scarring led her to constantly breathe twice as fast as she should normally. This was another thing that I had to prepare myself for along with on-off medication when she needed it. After all, it wasn’t her fault that she was left with permanent health issues!

I was more than willing to adopt that little girl, despite her age and her potential ongoing medical issues, as I felt that she deserved so much more than what life had already dealt her. As it turned out, Merlin (see other rescue success story) was adopted at the same time Rella was and I felt that the two of these rats may have to live apart, with the aim to get Merlin a buddy soon after, if Rella was unable to be socialized with him. It was decided that after a few weeks of the two being in my care that we would attempt socialization between the two.

Needless to say there were two nervous rats and one very nervous ‘Mum’.

Although I had rats prior to these two, I was never once in a position to have to begin ‘socialisation’ classes so, thanks to PRRR’s advice, I was given the right methods to try to get these two together. These tricks of the trade included ‘masking’ their scents, providing yummy treats and conducting these sessions in a neutral and supervised territory.

After doing this for about a week every night for approx 1-2hrs, and the reactions from both being very positive, I decided to place them both in the same cage and monitor them closely.

I am ecstatic to say that Rella has beaten the odds of being a loner rat for the rest of her life. She accepted Merlin and he in turn, accepted her (not without a few scuffles to begin with).

It was the most heartwarming sight to see the two of them snuggle up together, like they were always meant to be together.

This was a huge achievement for that little girl, who at first, no-one was sure that she would ever accept a ‘buddy’ to live the rest of her life out with.

Rella’s skin had cleared up and she had gained approx 50gms in about 3weeks!

She learnt how to groom another rat and be groomed, and knew what it was like to ratpile, even if it was only the two of them! All the things that all ratties should be able to experience and just be allowed to be a happy and loved rat!

With her background, she truly is a miracle that firstly she is still with us and secondly that she is the most affectionate little girl.

I still look at her with the slightest feeling of sadness, due to what she went through prior to PRRR’s involvement, but to see her so happy and to know that she will never be in ‘that place’ of her life ever again, is the most rewarding and heart melting feeling and I am a proud mum who has been able to offer her that!

She is without a doubt the utmost beautiful little girl!


MERLIN

I was lucky enough to be offered the adoption of Merlin and how glad am I that I was!

Poor Merlin had a few hormonal issues developing whilst in the care of PRRR and it became apparent that he needed to have his hormonal overload removed, despite the funny image left in my head by Lynne that Merlin became very protective over her pot plants and bared his teeth at her in doing so.

So PRRR were kind enough to give me the option to have him neutered and adopted and I jumped at the chance.

PRRR kindly kept Merlin for the surgery recovery period and a week after his neutering, I collected Merlin and Rella (see Rella success story) together.

Merlin melted my heart the first time I saw him. He came to PRRR with a special, but strange, little story and it has always left me wondering ‘where did you come from?’.

It was hard to believe that the squishy, cuddly little boy I took home that week, was the same little ‘hormone-surge’ that I heard him to be, prior to that.

Merlin loves his sleep and still loves his plants!! He will always be the ‘rugged outdoor type’ and has the most adorable little face on him.

He and Rella have become best of friends, which is truly lovely to see. He is such a sweet little boy who has now become very squishy and full of affection.

When he is not asleep, he is bolting around wanting to play with anything and anybody. He is always acting the clown and has such a wonderful and humorous personality.

He has put on a fair bit of weight since he has been living with us and now weighs 374gms and shows no signs of slowing down! I’m not sure how much longer his hammock will be able to take his weight.

He has been the best remedy for Rella and somehow seems to connect with her. Maybe, just maybe, he knows what Rella has been through and he seems to have become her ‘protector’ and ‘snuggle buddy’.

Merlin is full of energy and loves to play games with you. At times, he has been caught wagging his tail while playing with Rella and having cuddle time with his ‘mum’.

He voluntarily rolls on his back when you play with him and he has brought so much joy to me and, definitely to Miss Rella Rat.

When he gets so excited at playtime, he starts to wiggle his little ears back and forth and I must say, he loves to watch TV!!

He has done so well in settling in and he is a very happy and healthy little boy and I cannot imagine being without him, nor having him there for Rella.

He certainly is a special little package.

AMY


I thought I would be alright just settling in with Merlin and Rella (see Merlin and Rella success stories), until I saw little Amy.

Amy had only recently been surrendered to PRRR at the time I went to collect Merlin and Rella.

I had never seen a rat with her colour (in the flesh) and she was such a pretty little girl!

Such big beautiful brown eyes, brown mottled fur with a white stripe patch on her belly.
Just perfect for kissing.

At that particular time, she was still very cautious of humans and from what I had heard, a little bit on the nippy side.

Something that I completely saw through when I first met her! I think that sometimes you need to try and see past what reactions they are initially giving you and weigh that up with their history and how confused they must be at the time of being surrendered or rescued.

Most of the time, I believe that a lot of patience and understanding can conquer their initial lack of trust and fear. I most certainly believe that they at least, deserve the chance.

I followed Amy’s progress through the forum about what a wonderful job PRRR were doing with her and by the time she was ready for adoption, PRRR had notified me with the option to adopt her.

There was no doubt that I wanted to take her home too!

Merlin and Rella had spent a week in their cage together and were getting along just fine.

It was my husband that I had to get to agree to another. But as he was quite fond of them, getting him to agree was a lot easier than I thought!

So, I organized with PRRR to pick up Amy.

When the day came, Rella and Merlin came along too. It was nice that PRRR could see just how well these two were getting along and how well they were doing, considering all the hard work they put in to getting them to where they are today.

We decided to try socialization with all 3 the very next day.

It went better than expected, although there were some scuffles while they were trying to sort out who was going to be the boss.

I must admit that Amy has taken that position. She is a very independent little girl, but with so much affection!

For a rat that was very wary of humans and being touched, she absolutely loves having a cuddle and a face rub to the point where she is quite content to fall asleep in your arms.

She has become a very trusting little girl that demands attention and that’s what makes her special.

You just know with Amy that if she could talk, she would be right by your side saying ‘Where are you going? Can I come with you?’

The socialization continued for a week and although she was a little feisty with establishing her position with other two, when she went back to her own cage, she appeared to be very lonely and missed their company. It was obvious she wanted to be with the other two, she was just unsure of how to ‘have her cake and eat it too’.

But I am glad to say that she didn’t have to wait long, as a few days later, we bit the bullet as supervised social time was going well, and put her in with the Merlin and Rella.

We have had major success with all three! Amy has fit in exceptionally well with Merlin and Rella and they have accepted her in the same fashion.

It is wonderful to see that with such heart wrenching stories that these three have brought with them, that they have been able to overcome their fears and apprehensions to become such affectionate and personality filled little babies who eat together, sleep together, play together and ratpile!

The first time I saw all three asleep and cuddled up with each other, I could do nothing but cry out of happiness for them.

All they ever needed was a chance to be happy!