MY RATS ARE SICK :(

My four boys Gandalf, Bilbo, Glen, and Steve all have Myco which was given to them by their mother Ratigan.  
"Mycoplasma pulmonis, the organism that almost all rats in the general pet population carry is the cause of the majority of respiratory and genital infections in rats. The organism is carried in the upper respiratory system and is transmitted by direct contact between mother and babies, by sexual transfer, through the air over short distances, and can even be passed to the babies while going through the birth canal if the mother is infected."

I hate sitting in the corner of my room in the silence of the night and hear many MANY rattie sneezes.  And this isn't just sometimes--I actually hear it all. the. time.  I started to get concerned when my second largest rat, Bilbo, began gasping for air and choking on his food regularly.  I was on youtube one night and I found this video:

I ordered Booster a few weeks ago and it got here yesterday.  Today, I began prepping for it's administration to the kids.  Booster is a semi-solid so it's has an unpleasant texture when you open the bottle.  It actually looks and smells a lot like ear wax (yuck).  When you let it sit in hot water it becomes a liquid. 
My experience:  I poured a little on a spoon and transferred it to a syringe I bought at Petco for a few dollars.  I tried to feed it to Bilbo from the syringe (FAIL) so I tried to have him lick it off the spoon, which worked, however, he only tried a little and refused to take any more.  Then I gave some to Gandalf on the spoon, he only tried a little too.  For Glen and Steve I just put a little on my hand and let them lick it off (which was WAY more successful).  The rats will only eat a little bit of it for awhile, at least until they get used to it.
WARNING: Booster can be freaking messy if you're not careful.  Be sure to stand the bottle up right in the bowl of water and not lay it down.  The lid becomes loose and booster leaks all over into the water (which is wasteful and it really DOES get everywhere).

We'll see how this goes for the next little while.  I will also keep writing about the progress of my rats as time goes on.
Here are my dosing instructions:
4 adult male rats: approximately 700g each
Booster instructions: 0.02-0.06 mL per 100 g body weight
Dose for each rat: 0.02-0.06 mL x 7 = 0.14-0.42 mL of Booster per rat

Here is the link for booster:
http://www.exoticdvm.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=healx.showIcons& 

Animal Cruelty

Basically, in a nut shell: treating all living things like sh*t is inhumane.

Recently my sister had told me about this video her friends showed her online. Some dumb idiots dug a hole in the ground, put a cat in it, and went over the hole with a lawn mower. Long story short, kitty's head went buh-bye. An innocent life was taken for what? Kicks? Boredom?

What's next for these cruel human beings? Murder? A life of CRIME? Who knows?!

What did the poor defenseless animal do to deserve this? Probably nothing. The sad thing is: most of the animals that are abused in this world don't do anything wrong! They aren't evil, or conniving, or vicious. It's the owners that don't know how to treat living, breathing, organisms. Chances of an animal abuser being a human abuser are almost 100% from MY experience. (actual statistics coming soon...)

I think what drives me more insane than the thought of animals being mistreated is the idea of humans being mistreated. Everyone in this world was born a good, pure person. Not a monster! They have hopes, dreams, goals, wishes for love and relationships. Why not give them a chance? When a person is abused, it shuts so many doors and windows for them, and slows the opportunities which are coming to them.