Hello and welcome to the Forum. So you've got yourself a Rat. Thank you for rescuing and saving her, it sounds like she was in a really bad situation. Your right about feeder Rats, they're usually kept in terrible conditions and it's an awful thing that domestic Rats are sold commercially. It's great that she's eating well and already putting on weight, and I'm happy that she's friendly and responds to you so well. Please tell us more about her and her living arrangements, if you have an idea of her age, and if she's been socialized with other Rats. It's really great that you're getting her companions also, and getting her to the vet!😊 As for her sneezing, respiratory illness is very common among feeder Rats. The fact that she's sneezing and not coughing is an indication that her lungs are clear, which is good news. As far as treatment, I'm ready hesitant to advise, since I'm not a vet and you're taking her next week, but I've had good results with baby Benadryl. Be sure it's for babies because regular is much stronger. Your Rat isn't big so I'd give 0.5 mg morning and evening for the next three days and watch for improvement. Baby Benadryl is pleasant tasting, and my Rats have been happy to take it mixed with applesauce, pudding, baby food, etc. Be careful with your dosage, too much can make your Rat groggy. You should see improvement quickly. Please get back to us as soon as you can with more information. I wish both of you the best of luck and thank you again for saving your little one. ♥🐀

 

Thank you so much!!
I'm going out and shopping for her today.

She's not very old, she looks about 5 weeks, maybe 6. But she was so thin I don't know if that affected her growth.

At first she was super shut down and scared, didn't want to be messed with, but she's made lots of progress over the last few days. She actually spent a few hours in my hoodie and on my shoulder while I was working yesterday. She's so curious now, wants to sniff and touch everything and it's the most precious thing 🥹

I'll definitely pick up some baby benadryl, I hope it will help, she's been sneezing a lot. Hopefully it'll help her feel better until her vet visit. What food do you receive for her? I've been looking and researching and I've seen lots of people like Oxbow young rat food. I did some looking as well, and I think I'm going to make her homemade food as well to mix in.

I'm going to try and find the biggest cage I can for her with 1/2 bar spacing while I wait for the big one to come in. It's a critter nation 4 levels. But it's going to a bit before it gets here.

And I honestly didn't know the majority of feeders were treated so badly. It really is heartbreaking. Baby B has already stolen my heart, and to think someone was going to feed her alive to something is really sad.

But thank you so, so much for the help! I'll post and update on her once she has her vet visit and hopefully has a good visit and a good bill of health! Thank you again!

 

Personally I'd hold off on giving any medicine until the vet appointment. It's far too easy to miscalculate a dose if you're not sure how to do the math.

Diphenhydramine HCL – Rat Guide has suggested dosing. Baby Benadryl is 12 mg per 5 ml. You'll need to weigh your rat and calculate the proper dose volume. Example: a 200 gram rat would get 0.08 ml of baby Benadryl twice a day.

 

Hey! Thank you for the info! And I did decide to hold off until her vet visit. I'm scared I'll get the dosage wrong. But thank you fir the rat guide!

 

Hello hello, sorry for not getting back to you sooner! How are you and your little one getting on? I wanted to check in and let you know the Rat foods we use and have used in the past. Currently we give our girls Burgess Excel Rat Pellets, which is excellent nutritionally and our Rats enjoy, but I'm not sure of availability in the U.S. In the States I gave my boys Oxbow, which is very good and very popular, but my boys were finicky yobs and I tried out the best rated foods for a while and they were tails over whiskers for Envigo-formerly Harlan-Teklad blocks. It's the choice of many scientific and medical laboratories and is available in different protein percentages for nursing, young and mature Rats. I was very happy with it, and my boyos were delighted. We give our children a small breakfast and somewhat larger dinner as well, usually an organic spelt cereal and oat milk with a few blueberries in the morning, and a more varied dinner, peas, grains, pasta, vegetables, cheese on occasion, very occasionally a bit of chicken or fish. I always said my Rats had a much better diet than I had when I was single! Please let us know how you and your sweetie are doing. I hope she's breathing easier, and you're happier. Sending you all good energy! ♥🐀🌞✨💖

 

Thank you for checking on us! I'm happy to say Bukka is doing much better, not sneezing or snotting much at all now and she loves her new temp cage. She's been running and playing, really showing her toys who the boss is. She's becoming very demanding as well lol, always wanting to catch a ride on my shoulder or in a backwards hoodie hood. Loves having her nose in everything's business. She's still eating very well, always has her belly full, and it's been nice to see her eating her fill and napping peacfully. I've made her a homemade food mix of pasta, green split peas, plain oats and Cheerios, black solider fly larva, bird seed mix, and chia seeds with the last of her temp food blocks. She's also been getting fresh kale, as well as some fresh fruit in very small amounts as well as a vit C treat to help her calcium and immune system. I've order her Oxbow Garden Selects for young rats and mice, and plan to feed the Oxbow adult food once she is older. I live in a very rural area, so shipping can be a bit of hit or miss as far certain things go. What are your thoughts on the Oxbow GS? Also, do you have any recommendations for other fresh veggies? She LOVES kale, so I really think she'll like more fresh veggies, just not sure what she can have. I've been reading around and it's so much conflicting information.

Also, I think she's much, much younger than I originally thought. I went looking for her some sister over the weekend, ones around the same age I thought she was, and they were MASSIVE compared to her. Is there anything I should keep and I eye out for with her either being super young, or possibly just very small for her age? That's got me a little worried, but other than that, Bukka girl is absolutely thriving and getting better everyday. The little gal has already stolen my heart, and I absolutely can't wait to spoil her even more. I'm starting to think she'll be the one running the house here soon lol

But thank you again for all your help, it's very appreciated and was very, very helpful!

 

Rat safe treats: https://www.ratforum.com/posts/2542666/

 

Thank you!

 

Hello hello, how's it going with your pipsqueak? Sorry for the radio silence on this side but we just had to pts our sweet matriarch Rat, Bhindi, whose tumors caught up with her after a mighty battle. Needless to say the Missus and I, and our three Ladies, are wrecked. 😥 Please give an update when you can. A smile will go a long way right now.🐀🙂💖