[Concerned]

I have a very sick rat, she normaly carries a fine weight and good energetic, happy, friendly temperment.


Formerly we kept her and our male, whom she had a happy relationship with, in a large aquarium. Recently, we purchaced a beauitful wire rat cage, and moved her and the male into that.

We have another female seems to have some serious mental issues, she is anti-social and mean with other rats. She has hyper active tendencys and is not very fun to hold because she freaks out so much. She is also seems to be blind in one eye (I don't know how it was caused)
We placed her with the female and the male in the new cage to see if the male could straighten her out so she would'nt have to be alone anymore (we kept her seperated because of former conflicts with the sick female).

I fear she may have now deeply shocked or sickened my other rat. The first day in the cage she was aggressive, and took over the lowest level of the cage and the house that sits there. The other two rats kept to the higher levels.

We gave her another day, to give her just a little bit of a chance, then removed her again.


The male is doing fine still, he has a shiney coat with bright eyes. He sleeps normally and often trys to play with the girl, he's eating and drinking like he should as well.

Our female however, is not doing so well.
She has had increasing weightloss, with prominate hip, and rib bones. The base of her tail is also looking rather poor.
Her coat is dingy, and unkept, and her eyes appear to be stressed and sunken.
She sleeps all day in a tightly curled up position (she used to sleep relaxed and layed out before). She seems to either be breating heavly, or hyper-ventilating.

Today I gave her a brief soak in a shallow bowl of warm water and tryed to get her to eat. She nibbled on a little bit of cold fruit then refused it, not eating or drinking. I have been regularly offering her bits bread, sunflower seed, carrot, and a mized nut rat treat. As well as water
I noticed today that she also had blood around her nostrils, and her coat has started to fall out.
She also carries a bad smell, I'm guessing from her lack of grooming.


PLEASE tell me if theres even the slightest chance of saving her. Any ideas are welcome, my little brothers are also very attached to her and I would hate to see her die.

 

[ladylady]

A vet will give you a proper diagnosis and then treat or manage appropriately. the symptoms seem a bit non specific. The blood round her nose may actually be a discharge rats have that can signify illness or stress. The rapid breathing and other symptoms may be stress or a respiratory infection that can be treated with a course of antibiotics, fluids and good diet ect. I think you need to seperate them untill you know what you are dealing with incase it is infectious.

Check out the link
http://ratguide.com/health/basics/quarantine.php

 

[twitch]

it really sounds like she should be seen by a rat vet. it sounds like she has a myco flare up (its kinda like asthma--all rats have it but stress or a common bug can make it flare and without medications it will not go away). but it could also be any number of other things. you didn't say how she was, so it could be old age though the suddeness doesn't quite fit. it could also be a pituatary tumor. which is a tumor in the brain but she would have other sudden symptoms then not wanting to eat and labored breathing. really your best bet would be to take her to a vet to be looked at. they will probably give you some antibiotics like baytril or doxy or a combination.

how long has this been gone on btw? to give us an idea on how fast this is taking her.

also the blood is actually the rat's snot. it has a proper name but i can't remember how to spell it. but essentially its a runny nose. this can appear if she's too warm, sick or stressed. giving the other symptoms i'd say this is sickness related. you may also see this around her eyes and its the same thing but her eye crusties. this is often seen in older rats (like in older people) or in rats that have just woken up, but again it can also be a sign of stress or illness.

to help her along until she can get to a vet i would try feeding her baby food. fruits go over pretty well but the meat and veggies mixes are more nutrious. the pureed fruits will also help keep her hydrated. if you can, try to get her to drink gatorade to help rehydrate her as well. this has salts and sugars in that is needed but is easily depleted in sick animals or people that water alone doesn't have. try feeding her every 2 hours. room temperature or slightly warmed foods tends to go over better then cold. if you have to, smear some food around her mouth. if she's cleaning herself at all she should get this food when she washes up.

edited for spelling

 

[2manyrats]

Yep, take her to your local exotics vet asap.

Based on your description, it could be several things, and you need to get her proper medical treatment as quickly as possible. Rats can go downhill very quickly, so call the vet and stress that it is an emergency.

If it's an infection, the cost will probably be ~$30-50 for the office visit, and $20-30 for medication. It's worth it - especially if it's something like pneumonia that is treatable!

 

[DonnaK]

also the blood is actually the rat's snot. it has a proper name but i can't remember how to spell it.

Rat's snot! Too funny! :lol: (Porphyrin)

Concerned: You really do need to take her to the vet. How old is she, btw?

Bad smell can mean an infection, most of which (if not all) can be cleared up with antibiotics. You mention that she has recently been moved from an aquarium to a cage... did this start after the move? Could she also be getting a draft from somewhere?

The best advice I can give is to get her to a vet. Some illnesses in rats can take them very quickly, so the sooner you do this the better.