[tungstenrat]

Bad pun for the subject there. Apologies. Old farts like me seem to lose their sophistication in humor along with our hair. Now, where'd I put my teeth?

... moving on.

With regard to keeping our fuzzlets' fur in good condition a good diet and clean habitat is blindingly obvious. It's sometimes necessary to give them a bath from time to time to remove stubborn stains etc. Baby shampoos and things like Aveeno (the really mild one) are used and with good results. My eldest, Pickles, has a really stubborn mane that is not part of her usual coloration. Short of using Tide (or Persil for you folks in the UK) I'm considering using a mild solution of Hydrogen Peroxide and brushing it through the fur with a soft toothbrush. Has anyone else tried this? Is it a good idea? Will peroxide do weird things to their skin? Will it strip the oils out of the fur to a point where the fur itself is hopelessly damaged? Will Wile E. Coyote ever catch the Road Runner?

Anyone out there able to throw me a bone? Or a yogi drop?

 

[Stephanie]

considering that peroxide dries out my skin every time i use it not to mention it leaves a weird white rresidue on me no matter how careful i am and it can bleach hair i would not advise using it on your ratties. Have you tried kitten shampoo? When i give my boys a bath i use the kitten shampoo and a soft brush to get all the um Man juices off of them LOL

 

[ladylady]

we never washed our dogs with shampoo uless they had skin problems or had been rolling in dead rabit ect, when we did it made there fur all fluffy and took away the water proof of it. I used to wash my hair with just water and it was in fantastic contition, i think waters the way to go if you can help it.

 

[tungstenrat]

Okay, peroxide seems to be a bad idea. Dry, flaky skin and a chemical residue is not the way I want to go. Using just water to bathe them is an interesting idea. If if worked for you, why wouldn't it work for my ratties? If bathtime can be seen as playtime for them I'm sure they'd want to take baths every so often.

Thank you both for the advice!

 

[ladylady]

i put Lola in the sink cus she was cleaning herself alot-she ran up my arm and down my top-not impressed! Good luck

 

[stockhart]

I also just wash my rats with water when they roll in mess; it makes them soft and shiny, and afterwards they alway seem to smell like perfume! It also gets all the mess off. But you should use extra-sensitive baby shampoo if you really want to shampoo them. But I don't recommend shampoo - I believe it takes away the natural oils in their fur?
I suggest just water

 

[Poppyseed]

And if you do wash them, please dab then with a natural oil, like flax oil (which has yummy and good for rats Omega 3 fatty acids!) or olive oil.

 

[Wench]

And if you do wash them, please dab then with a natural oil, like flax oil (which has yummy and good for rats Omega 3 fatty acids!) or olive oil.

Dabbing them may not be effective for some ratties. Millicent has a dandruff problem along with her respiratory troubles, and I dabbed her with olive oil to help and ended up having her lick it all off herself anyways.

Feeding it to them saves you a greasy rat (that your other rats may decide to de-grease with their tongues) and makes sure she's really getting the oils instead of just rubbing them off. Millicent will lick olive oil right off my fingers, I've heard of other owners dabbing a piece of bread in it and letting them eat that. It does the same thing for them, makes sure they're getting oils.