Go to home page
* *
African Pouched RatKali aged 6 weeks
Kali's vital statistics
* *

Species: African Pouched Rat (Cricetomys gambianus)

   

January

 
  Thursday
29 January
2004
 

Kali’s recovery from her zinc poisoning seems to have come to a halt! She isn’t showing any signs of getting better. She still has bouts of discomfort and doesn’t want to do anything except be have her rump scratched and tickled. Typically these bouts of discomfort last about 20 minutes then she becomes more active and will trot about looking for her treats, play with her toys and run up and down the stairs. She is very much better than she was in December last year but not as good as she was right at the beginning of this month.

The replacement stainless steel mesh for her house finally arrived so I’ve remade her house and replaced all the zinc coated mesh which we think caused the problems in the first place. She remembered the house as soon as I put her back in it even though she’s been living in her ‘holiday house’ for a month and a half. She certainly has a good memory and has settled back into it very well.

I’m still struggling to get Kali to take her vitamin supplements. I’m sure she can smell them in whatever I mix them with and she wont eat it until there’s nothing else left to eat. She is still eating them eventually.
 

 
       
  Thursday
8 January
2004
 

Kali didn’t seem very well again last night. She came out as usual but was not a lively as she had been on Monday night. She didn’t run around as much nor did she play as she had done. Her foot shaking/twitching was more pronounced too. She is still much better than she was before Christmas so I’m hoping that this is a blip and that she will continue to improve. She must have been feeling better in the early hours of this morning because she was crashing about in her house and woke me up.
 

 
       
  Tuesday
1 January
2004
 

I don’t want to tempt fate but I can see definite signs of improvement in Kali. Her feet are still shaking and twitching but it is happening less frequently and when it does happen it is less severe. However the biggest change is in Kali herself. She seems so much better. She is more alert, much brighter and when she is out she no longer sits hunched up looking miserable. She was out playing last night and for the first time in about three months she was play-fighting with me and her cloth. She was also playing with the end of her rope and doing little jumps when she was running about. She was out for nearly an hour and she was on the go the entire time. She went up and down stairs a few times too. She was so much like her old self.

She’s also been waking us up at night crashing about in her house and making lots of noise. I used to curse her for disturbing us but I’m so pleased to hear her now.

She is still in her holiday house which I had to rapidly amend to remove the zinc coated mesh. This house is a bit small for her to live in all the time so I have sourced some new wire mesh to replace the mesh in her main house. I have decided to use stainless steel mesh because it should be completely safe, inert and free from any toxins. It is very expensive and, even directly from the manufacturer, it is going to cost me over £200.00 to redo Kali’s main house, holiday house and travel box. I’m expecting delivery of the mesh this Friday.

The vet wasn’t able to supply any alternative form of vitamin B for Kali but she is still taking the strong smelling form that I already have. We don’t have to go back to the vets for a couple of weeks so life is returning to normal.
  

 
       
© ratatak 2009 | disclaimer