Older rats often lose weight and condition. 30 months is a good age!

I often supplement with baby cereal, a little bit of olive oil, and strawberry Ensure or Boost.

Older rats often sleep a lot more than younger rats. I would watch for signs like head tilt, lack of appetite, difficulty grasping items with their paws, confusion while eating or drinking...

But so far it sounds like she is doing well. Her lungs sound fine?

 

Well there's definately no lack of appetite. Yesterday she tried to take off with an entire bag of yogurt covered raisins. Draged it around the room a couple times before i caught her lol No head tilting or confusion. Her lungs sound fine.....every now and then though she's been making a sound like a squeaky door when inhaling/exhaling. Not wheezing...something else. Every time i start to get worried about it, it stops. Any thoughts?

Thanks for the diet suggestions! How often would you say to give her the ensure? As for the olive oil..how much, how often, and what about the fat?

 

olive oil is the best one out there. If a male rat has excessive buck grease they say to give them a piece of bread soaked in olive oil once a week. I would say 1 day on, 1 day off with the oil.

I would give her the supplement once a day. Diet goes out the window mostly for low-fat, etc when they are that old

They may eat a lot but they aren't getting the nutrients like a younger rat would, so offer her anything at this point. Not too many yogurt raisins tho

 

All right, got it She did just have a tumor removed last month. I heard to much fat/protein can constribute to the tumors growing which is why the fat worries me. But i'll give it a go. Thanks!

 

All right, got it She did just have a tumor removed last month. I heard to much fat/protein can constribute to the tumors growing which is why the fat worries me. But i'll give it a go. Thanks!

Sugar (not so much fat) feeds the tumours, so you do have to watch that if you can. but if she doesn't have one now I wouldn't worry with your sweet old gal.

do you have a pic of her?

 

Funny you should ask. I finaly borrowed a camera last night to take some pics only to find out that my floppy drive doesn't work :roll: So as soon as i throw a new floppy drive in i'll have some pics lol One thing after another. I think i got a couple of cute ones too.