[tasha]

Okay. Back to this. I'll try to make it short.

Previously my rats both had a musky smell, and one had an orange spot on her, in two places. The spots have left but both my rats still have the musk smell. Like a deep, stinky, perfumey smell.

Yesterday I bathed my rats. I use Johnson's baby head-to-toe on them, which is very lightly scented (and doesn't stink). When I brought them out I dried them off with a white towel. They still smell. But worse, on the towel were tiny red spots all over. Like bloodstains. I immediately picked up both rats and looked them completely over for a cut, or any spot of blood, ANYTHING suspicious. There was nothing on either rat. I picked them up one more time and pressed gently in places on the back and tummy and squeezed gently on their little legs and pulled the legs out to make sure nothing was injured. There was no struggling or squeaking like they'd do if they were hurt.

WHAT IS GOING ON! Do you think this was just mucus from their eyes and nose? Their heads did not get wet, I only clean them neck to tail. But the white one keeps getting these weird 'orange' spots on her (that wash off) and now there are suspicious marks on my towel.

Also why do they stink! I change their bedding once and sometimes twice a week. It never gets to the point where their cage stinks. They never used to smell weird when I first brought them home. This has happened within the last 2-3 months. Should I change bedding? I use corncob and have used it since about November.

AHHHH!!! Any suggestions are welcome!

 

[lilspaz68]

What changes happened at the time they started to smell?
Are they light coloured? Porphyrin staining is much more obvious on pale rats. Did you change food, bedding, new cage, etc. Where were these yellow/orange stains?

 

[tasha]

One is white and that's the only one that gets a spot on her. She has a spot between her shoulderblades and did have one on her right leg, which rubbed off in the bath. The one on her back is much lighter now after the bath.

There were no changes when the smell started happening. Have not changed cages, bedding, I changed the food only this week and as I said the smell has been going on at least a couple of months.

I just went out today and bought a big bag of Carefresh and I'm going to change out their bedding to see if their weird smell goes away but I'm still concerned about them leaving red spots on my towel.

 

[tasha]

Took out the white one again just now and it distinctly looks like blood or poryphrin (sp) splotches all over her back and a bold spot on her left side, also with the coloring still on her shoulderblades. In the light it looks almost pinkish but I can't tell if that's the light bulb cause during the day it looks more orange. Could it be that she's just getting sneezed on?
I ruffled the fur under the spot on her left side and it looks normal, cant see any cuts or anything weird. I wonder if Shebaz is just sneezing on her? She doesn't sneeze a lot, just at dust or sometimes when she's digging in their food bowls.

 

[lilspaz68]

I know that pale rats often get porph staining on their neck and shoulders 1) from grooming, and 2) from their cagemates licking them (there's porph in saliva as well).
Can you take a pic?

 

[cupids_cuties]

rats always smell worse when they are wet, its almost overwhelming...this is normal and when they dry the smell gets more mild...the stains arnt blood...its just saliva, when rats clean themselves( mine anyways) they tend to clean their backs alot and the sides of their legs directly w/ their mouths, their bellies too...the rest is done w/ their paws so im assuming that between the two of them your lighter rat is getting stained in those areas because of this...
what i do when my girls are getting a bit stinky is i keep cleaning their cages once every 1-2 weeks but i throw away and give them new bedding every 3 days or so bcuz usually rats pee where hey sleep and they stay in that one spot alot. also if they have an igloo type nest, i would recomend plastic bcuz it doesnt get stinky and if you ave them one made of material then wash it once a week atleast

hope this helps