Oliver is not well

I was hoping that the rats would remain healthy!

My boy Oliver; silver-fawn with red eyes - isn't well today! He's been sleeping a lot for quite awhile and 27 months is not a young rat, but this is quite sad! I found him stretched out and lethargic downstairs in his cage. Got some antibiotic-and-soy formula down him and put him to bed in his hammock. He doesn't like constant cuddling but I have to hover.

This has come on fairly quickly, in that he was quite happy to drink the soy last night and only a few days ago I almost lost a finger to his gnashers when I unwisely soaked it in the stuff. Like most rats, he's had problems with myco, the respiratory sickness, and I'd had him on antibiotics on and off for a while, but after a while these cease to have effect and then there is very little that can be done. Or, as my vet succinctly put it once, "In the third year, the wheels fall off."

Oliver 19/12/2008 - 31/3/2011

I've just lost my boy Oliver, shown here in his adolescent prime. He'd been slowing down for some time and this morning settled down in his hammock and went to sleep.