Three weeks ago, I checked my voicemail and I had two messages from a woman who had found a hairless white rat outside and had caught it; neighbors across the street had been evicted and had dumped him. She didn't know what to do with the rat and so had contacted a vet - the same vet we go to - and one of the receptionists gave her our number, knowing that if we couldn't provide the rat with a home, we would know of somewhere she could take it. I called the woman back and said we would take him - we arranged to get him, and it turned out she lives just a few blocks away from us. She found out, though, that another neighbor had already found the rat a home.
Fast forward a week: my mom and I were sitting in the emergency vet, waiting for the vet to come in (Akiya's idea of welcoming one of the new boys involved nearly biting his nose off, prompting a trip to the e-vet). My phone rang just as the vet came in, so I silenced it, figuring if it was important the person would leave a message and I could call back later. When I checked my voicemail on the way home, I discovered that it was from the same woman who had called about the hairless rat. She had seen another rat, and knew it wasn't wild. She wasn't able to catch it. We went over to try to help.
We got there and a couple minutes later, the rattie came out from underneath the mobile home/behind the central air unit. He was small, he was blue capped, and he was a dumbo - all of that registered in a split second. I carefully approached him, squatted beside him, and he held still. If I had been just a bit faster when I reached for him, he would've been home with us that night.
After that, we couldn't get him to come out long enough to catch him. I called Huron Valley Rat Rescue, because I knew Kaia, the founder, would know the best way to catch him, having caught stray rats before. I left a message for her, explaining the situation. We left, since there wasn't anything more we could do right then. Later that evening, Kaia called back and after talking, she offered to bring out the live traps she has (she also brought out another cage and three rats we already planned to adopt from her). We set the traps that night and the woman who called us originally said she would keep an eye on them for us and let us know if we caught anything.
The next morning, she called me - we caught him. She had to leave, so put him on her porch; I made the long walk up there to get him and bring him home. He was half-starved, dehydrated, mite-infested, and scared. I gave him water and some baby food, and called the vet to get him in for a check-up. That was the beginning of his road to recovery.
It's been almost two weeks since we rescued him. He's still scared, but slowly beginning to realize that he can trust us. Gaining his trust hasn't been easy, but it's rewarding. We started trust training immediately: letting him lick baby food off our fingers. I sat by his cage, talking quietly to him, and I would let him sniff my hands but I wouldn't try to grab him. Little by little, he ventured closer and eventually I was able to coax him into coming out onto my hands and letting me hold him.
Sai still doesn't trust us entirely, but I think these pictures speak for how much he wants to trust us and be loved:
It's taking a lot of time and patience, but after what he went through, it's no surprise. Sai will probably never be able to live in the big, multi-level cages with the other rats - it looks as though he has the start of hind-end degeneration and the ramps would be too hard for him to maneuver. In the long run, it was probably good that he was dumped; we saw the type of bedding they used, sitting on the curb with other garbage. It was cedar, which isn't good for rats. I doubt he received the kind of care he needed in the first place, so certainly wouldn't have if they had kept him and he developed hind end degeneration in their care.
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