RAT URINE DISEASE

News about rat urine disease reported in local online news portal

The recent outbreak of rat urine disease or leptospirosis in Kedah and Pahang may have frighten some of the pet rat owners out there. Let's us first learn a little about this disease from the infamous Wiki. Leptospirosis, also known as Weil's disease, Weil's syndrome, Rat Catcher's Yellows and Pretibial fever, is a bacterial zoonotic disease which can affect humans, other mammals, birds, amphibians, and reptiles. Leptopspitosis is caused by spirochaete bacterium call Leptospira spp.. The disease is said to be a relative rare bacterial infection in humans and the infection is commonly transmitted to humans by allowing water that has been contaminated by animal urine to come in contact with unhealed breaks in the skin, eyes or with the mucous membranes. Although rats, mice and moles are important primary hosts, there are plenty of animals such as dogs, deer, rabbits, hedgehogs, cows, sheep, racoons, possums, skunks, and certain marine mammals are able to carry and transmit the disease as secondary hosts. Symptoms of leptospirosis include high fever, severe headache, chills, muscle aches, and vomiting, and may include jaundice, red eyes, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, and rash. The symptoms will appear 4-14 days after contracting the disease. If not treated or wrongly diagnosed, the patient may face meningitis, liver damage, and renal failure and eventually lead to death. One can prevent this disease by staying out from high risk area. So here's the question, will we get leptospirosis from our pet rats? The answer is yes and no. Yes, if your pet rat has already contracted the disease before you have even brought him/her home. If your house is free of wild rodents, there is almost zero chance that your pet rat is carrying the bacteria. Bear in mind that not only rats and rodents can carry the bacteria, other house pets or even human may be carrier for the bacteria. If anyone in the house is found with the disease, everyone should be treated as well. As long as you keep an eye on their whereabouts and keep their food and water clean, you are all safe from this horrible disease.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT YOUR RATS

#3 - BITE ME? BITE ME NOT?

Do rats bite? The answer is 'yes' and 'no'. Among all rodents rats bite the least, however they do bite by mistake or when they become defensive. Unlike wild rats, fancy rats are familiar with human contact therefore they hardly bite. Throughout the years of me keeping rats, I've been bitten by rats several times and each time was for different reason. My first rat bite and also the most violent bite was by Milo's mom. I remembered meeting her when Milo and her siblings were about a week old in a near by pet shop. I went towards her cage and pointed at her for a second and 'ouch!', there she went and chomped off a small piece of meat on my finger. The wound took a month to recover. This kind of bite is unusual and it only happens when the rat feels defensive. Every once in a while, you'll forget that rats are pretty close to blind and you'll stick your finger in the cage to give your ratties a fur rub before washing your hands after touching food. Some rats, without fail, will think you've got more food because your finger smell just right, and they'll try to grab it really fast. Rats have good control on their bites. Before their teeth puncture into your skin, they are able to distinguish whether they are biting food or not, then only decide to bite further or not. This bite usually looks like simple paper cut. Tickle used to do this a lot, probably because of her poor eyesight because she's an albino.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT YOUR RATS

#2 - YELLOW TEETH

Do your rats have yellow teeth? Don't you worry because it's not a sign of rotting teeth. Rats teeth are naturally coloured with a yellowish pigment which is the natural colour of a rat's enamel. The enamel is the hardest layer on a tooth as the protection shield to a tooth. Rat's incisors started out white when they are infants, but by the age of 21 days the upper incisors will start to have a slight yellow tinge. By 25 days, the uppers are distinctly yellow and the lower incisors have acquired a little yellow. By 38 days these colors are more intense, with the uppers having more color than the lowers. The relationship between more pigmented upper incisors and less pigmented lower incisors remains true throughout the rat's life. In adult rats, the uppers are dark yellow-orange and the lowers are yellow (Addison and Appleton 1915). In short, it is best to have your rats having yellowish teeth because that indicates that their calcium level is good.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT YOUR RATS

#1 - PORPHYRIN

Ever realise the red discharge that looks like blood around your rats' eyes or nose or both? Relax.. It is not blood, but instead it is an organic compound known as porphyrin (pronounced por-fur-in). Porphyrin is produced by the harderian gland located behind the rats' eyes. Porphyrin is like the mucus in our nose but red in colour. Small amount of porphyrin is normally found around the nose of the rat when he first wakes up, or when he sleeps for long period. However, owner must monitor the rat's condition and behaviour to tell what amount of porphyrin is consider as normal discharge. If there is a sudden increase of phophyrin discharge, it means that the rat is having some problem. Stress is one of the reasons a rat will produce excessive amount of porphyrin. Another reason for a rat to produce excessive phophyrin is a rise in body temperature or he is suffering some sort of illness. Although porphyrin does not always mean something is wrong, in many cases it does, and it should never be overlooked.

(OUT OF STOCK!!) LAB BLOCK'S AVAILABLE!!

Good news to all rat and mice keeper. Lab block is now available at School of Rats. It's suitable for rats and mice that were previously under a nuts and seeds diet (ex: hamster mix). Rats that were under Suebee's diet or other human grade food diet may not like the taste of lab blocks. However, as mentioned in a previous post, lab block is the specially formulated food fed to rats and mice kept in laboratory and zoos. It is considered as the perfect diet for rats and mice as providing all necessary nutrients in appropriate quantity in order for the animals to remain healthy. It is good to start your rats' and mice diet with lab block, especially baby rats and mice.

We are now carrying Lab Blocks. Below is our price list.

500 g pack (for 1 month use**) RM 15

1 kg pack (for 2 months use**) RM 30

1.5 kg pack (for 3 months use**) RM 45

2 kg pack (for 4 months use**) RM 60

** estimated period of use is for one rat only

* Bulk price available for more than 5 kg orders

Email to us at school.of.rats@gmail.com or call 012-9252886 to place an order.

WE'RE IN HAVEN

School of Rats has been featured in the pets@home section of the October and November issue of Haven. Haven is a sister magazine of the EDGE, a Malaysian financial and investment paper. The interview was done before Tickle and Blacky pass away. Too bad they couldn't live to see their article being published in a magazine. They should know that they were the few famous rats in this world. Hopefully the article help in promoting keeping rats as pets.

Due to copyright reason, I cannot show the readable format of the article. However, the magazine is complimentary with The EDGE, or you can get it in any magazine stands for RM 4.90 per copy, or you can call up the EDGE Retail and Subscription Department at (03) 7721 8142/8151 for subscription enquiries. You can also visit www.theadgemalaysia.com for more details.

MICE AND RATS ARE NOT THE SAME

Finally, I went back and picked up the newly adopted pets from my sister. But turn out to be, those 'rats' that she was taking about are MICE!!!

It's a common misconception of the people here and this is not the first time that someone mistaken a mouse as a rat or vice versa. I even had an experience once that when I called up a local veterinarian for enquiries about the treatment for my rats, and this was what happened:

Me: Hello. I need some medication for my rat.

Vet: Rat? What kind of rat? The white ones?

Me: Yes. I have 2 white rats and 1 with brown hood.

Vet: Oh I see.. You mean MICE. -_-''

Me: No. They are rats, not mice.

Vet: They are the same..

Me: .... (this is where I went speechless)

In the Chinese language, both rat and mouse share a common name which is lao shu (老鼠), but one but know that they are very much different. The scientific name of fancy rat is Rattus Norvegicus whereas the scientific name for fancy mouse is Mus Musculus. They both fall under the Rodentia order, Myomorpha suborder, Muroidea superfamily, Muridae family and Murinae subfamily, but their genus and species are different. To make things easier, they are just very far related. One must understand, mice are rats' food in a way. They cannot be kept together. Click this link for more information about how mice are consider food for rats.

It might be difficult to describe their differences with words, with the pictures below, it should the clearer.

The size is the most obvious difference between a rat and a mouse. A full grown rat should be 9-11 inches long without the tail. Whereas an adult mouse is only 3-4 inches long excluding the tail.

A rat

A mouse

Rats have shorter head and robust body compared to mice. Their ears are smaller relative to the head and their tails are shorter than their body. Hence the illustrations of a rat and a mouse are usually easily distinguish.

So can you tell the difference between Remy and Despereauex?

Despereaux

Remy