[cupids_cuties]

i have 2 female rats, pomplemousse (6 months) and splash(2 months). They are bth healthy rats and i love them dearly. Recently my brother decided he would like to have a rat(his hamster died a few months ago) and got a little dumbo from the pet shop this sunday(18th). i know about quarantine and splash was quarantined b4 coming to live with me and pomplemousse. Bernard( the dumbo) was here at my moms house until my brother could set everything up at my dads.
i was washing and or showering after contact w/ bernard and evn changing my clothes i also wasnt playing w/ him in the area i do w/ my other rats. however...i had my two girls on the couch and my sister had bernard( which i wasnt aware of) and seeing as she doesnt take care of rats she didnt understand they had to be separated. i heard scuttling and saw both my girls sniffing out bernard. so...all my qurantine efforts were dashed...bernard had been chattering alot and making lots of strange noises and now my girls are sneezing alot. so he has something and now my girls im assuming have it too...

now...the lining around his eyes is dark red...and earlier this evening looked almost bloody although there was no actual blood or fluid...w/ the sendai virus i heard about eye lesions...is this what they meant? iv been reading alot and im worried sick because i dont know what id do if anything happened to my girls...

what im asking is if anyone can give me input/hypotheses as to what it could be...and from what ive read...sendai goes away after 2 weeks if the rats are quarantined?? so if i seperate them and clean everything they should be fine...?

im confused...coud someone help please?

 

[Sara_C]

The red staining is most probably porphyrin, a red fluid that is secreted from a rats eyes and usually nose when he is stressed, or if something's irritated his eyes, like dust or bits of bedding. This website here has a good section on porphyrin staining:

http://www.ratballs.com/RatTails/Tails081.html

The sneezing could also be stress related, but this is usually seen in new rats that have just moved house, so iuf your rats have been living with you for a while i'd look somewhere else for a cause. Try not to worry too much - so long as they are still eating and cleaning and going about their business as usual i wouldn't get too worried yet. But at the first sign of them not eating, or lethargy, i'd go straight to a vet just to be sure.

Also, is bernard going to be put in with your two girls after the quarantine period?

Other people will probably be able to help more, just try not to worry too much hun, you seem to be doing the best you can

 

[cupids_cuties]

he has no poryphin stainiing his fur is clean...what i meant is the linning around his eye in the corner is a dark blood red color and it looked inflamed( if im not mistaken it is usually white and thin)...and whatever he is sneezing about must be contagious as my other girls have started sneezing as well...im just wondering if the darkness of the tissue around his eye is an idicator of something more serious than a mild outburst of myco or other mild infection or if it just is that way and is usually not noticable...

and he wont be w/ the girls after quarantine...only to play outside the cage with me watching them like a hawk, three rats are enough for me, i dont know what id do w/ another dozen or 2 :s