Why a blog?

We brought Sushi and Saké home six days before we realized something was drastically wrong with Sushi's teeth. They were eight weeks old. Sushi was climbing down the front of the cage and I could see a tooth coming out of the front of her mouth, turning immediately to the left, and entering back in.

Sushi was easily half the size of her sister, so it wasn't surprising that there was something wrong, but once we realized it, we wanted immediate answers. There aren't a lot of people you can call on rat health at 9 p.m. though, so we started looking online. And while it was easy to find medical information, we didn't find any accounts of people managing this sort of condition in their rat.

The next day Sushi had her first visit with the vet. We learned she has severe malocclusion, which essentially means her top and bottom incisors do not line up. Sometimes trimming the teeth at an angle can help, but Sushi's case is far beyond this. Her bottom teeth grow to the right, her top to the left and never the twain shall meet. As a result, she is going to need dental care every few weeks for the rest of her life. Without it her teeth will grow into her skull and she will die.

We have learned a lot of practical things about caring for Sushi over the past two months and hope that by documenting what is going on with her, what it means practically in terms of care and expenses, as well as what it means for her quality of life, may help someone else who finds themselves in the same position we were in.

Besides, rats are hilarious! The internet needs more pictures of rats.

Ever up and onward!