Dusty or Dustman

Dusty/Dustman - August 2011 to December 3, 2013

Ahh Dusty, you and your sister Sage entered my life on October 16, 2011. Sage (originally Contagion) was lucky enough to have the girlfriend fall in like with her, and you were the throw-in so she had a friend...so neither of you met The Snake. They said you were both boys, and when I met you and noticed things on you that were not on your sister...sadly this is when you lost your first and only real rat friend. Funnily enough, you were the pretty-as-a-girl boy, and Sage was always more masculine (and tougher)...LOL

Growing fast, this was only 12 days after her came home!



Unfortunately poor Dusty developed his fears of other rats when he met up with some other boys who took a chunk out of his poor butt :( These 2 younger boys ended up hormonal and were neutered but the damage was done. Dusty's fragile psyche was changed.



He was neutered so I could try him with female friends, and to see if I could get him back with his sister, but they didn't accept each other. Poor Dustman (he was a big manly rat now so I tried to call him a big manly name, but often lapsed back to Dusty :P)

I tried so hard to get him and my older feisty girl Tess together.



She moved too fast for him, so he would pin her down, just so he could take his time and sniff her all over. Her expression always made me laugh so hard!





She was just too much feisty girl for him, leaping over him while he looked around for her. :giggle:



Sadly they would do okay during Out time but refused to live in the same cage together. Eventually I couldn't make Tess wait for a boyfriend and she moved onto her man Samson, who was perfect for her. Dusty was alone again.

Dusty would now attack or run away screaming from other rats, he didn't like being held by me, and just wanted to be as far from Scary things as he could. He would climb up on top of his cage up onto the shelves, tuck himself into the boxes up there and snooze. Come down for a drink or a snack then back up to his shelves again...he was content like this.

Then I saw something that made my heart go cold...a lump under his right ear. 



Oh no! Of course I was praying for an abscess but having advised enough people on it, I just knew it was my first case of Zymbal's Gland Tumour, an inoperable, nasty malignancy that develops from the zymbal gland under the ear on rats. I was going to have to follow the same advice I had been giving others. Watch for the lump to abscess but don't relax once the abscess bursts...usually the tumour starts to really grow after this. And it did. Next was watch for pain, infection, and any issues with the jaw/teeth. You could only keep a rat comfortable after that and let them go when its time.

I had heard enough cases where a vet decided to try to remove it , or lance the abscess or fiddle with it somehow, and it always made it so much worse. The incisions never healed or even closed over, and it seemed to make it progress faster than it normally would. So I decided I was going to do nothing with the Dustman and just document his progress.

Lump on face was on May 23rd. Here he is looking over His Kingdom from the box on the shelf LOL



a month later, when you are often starting to think you are going to have to start pain management or have them put to sleep, his had changed a little but barely grown



And this is how it went for 7 wonderful months slowly getting bigger and not bothering him much. He and I really bonded over the last few months...he started loving being cuddled in my lap, getting strokes, and pats and massages and scritches. He would brux and boggle for me and melt my heart when he did it. Over the last 3 weeks, he wanted to be with me on the bed, instead of wandering off, he would stay near me, cuddle up to my side, ask for pats, curl up being my head on the pillow, and sometimes just stare at me.

Today I let my big old boy go, but we had a lovely last night together...I fed him puffs one by one (much better when they are handed to you then picking them up yourself), shared my dinner, gave him some lovely cuddles and had him fall asleep beside me for hours.