[darrenb]

I've had my two pet rats for three weeks now and I'm worried about their health.
We originally took them to the vet because they had both started sneezing when we got them home from the pet shop. The vet said it could be an infection but because there was no eating issues or discharge it probalby wasn't myco. He put them on a three day antibiotic and told us to come back. Their sneezing has become both less frequent now and doesn't have the same harsh sound to it as it did before. We also started noticing blood on the bedding towel in their cages and that their tails had yellowy/green blotch marks on their tails almost like bruises, but didn't feel raised. The vet recommended we separate them for a week. After the week nothing seems to have changed for them and we put them back together in the same cage. However we've noticed that one of them has started to get really bad scabs/cuts on his ear, and the other is developing it too but to a much smaller extent. The vet wasn't sure what was wrong with them but has given us another set of antibiotics that's meant to run for three weeks to see if they get any better. The marks on creo's ear(the worst) have gotten worse but our other rat, gumby, has just got small spots(almost like human Whiteheads). I've attached a photo of creo's to let you see his ear, I read on a rat caresheet that he may have ringworm? Also, our rat gumby has developed a little cut just behind his right forepaw and it seems to have gotten a little infected and now looks like a larger scab. Could this be related to the ears or will it just be a cut/something else?

I feed them on a mixture of rat mix from the shop we bought them and special rat nuggets from Petsmart. Their bedding is (non dusty) kitchen towel and I'm cleaning the cage with a pet-safe disinfectant we got with the cage.

Does anybody have any ideas/advice on what could be wrong?

 

[DonnaK]

Are they squabbling? If they were separated for a week, they might be squabbling a bit and that could be what's causing the scratches?

I don't know about the rest though, I'm sorry. I'm sure there'll be someone else along soon that will have some ideas.

 

[darrenb]

They're fighting fairly often since they got put back together, but they still get on fine. The little cuts on the tails were there previous to them being split up, so I don't think the recent fights are making much difference.

 

[Poppyseed]

aww poor thing! Ear mites perhaps?

 

[tasha]

Poor baby I don't have any info except I was thinking it could be ear mites, like Poppyseed said. Just wanted to say how cute he looks in that photo (even with a bum ear!)

 

[lilspaz68]

Do his ears look like this fellow?

http://ratguide.com/health/figures/ectoparasites_figure_2.php

the blotchy tail could just be dirty tails...
The cut on the inside of the paw might not be a cut at all. When a rat cleans its face it uses the inside of their paws to scrub, and porphryin would be transferred there and then onto the tips of the ears from the same scrubbing motion.

 

[Sara_C]

Aw, poor little guy, that ear doesn't look good :s I'd dab some Ivermectin on both of them just to make sure any mites that might be lurking are gotten rid of. Bephar do a really good anti-mite and flea treatment here in the UK, you get 4 little tubes for £3.99 or someting lke that. A couple of dots of it on the back of their necks will make sure they're mite free.

It's strange that it's only affected one ear. You might want to try putting some antibacterial cream on it just to make sure it doesn't get infected, too, but if he's on antibiotics it might not be necessary, i'm just paranoid about things like that

Good luck with it, i hope he gets better, he's such a gorgeous little guy!

 

[darrenb]

Thanks for the advice everybody.

Small update on his health: his ear is much better! I've been keeping him on the antibiotics the vet gave us and his ear seemed to go from terrible to decent overnight, a lot of the scabs are gone and he has almost got his full ear shape back! Looking much cuter now Going to finish the antibiotics course and then give them each a little dab of that Beaphar Ivermectin to make sure it doesn't come back. I'll post a pic of the happy pair one creo's ear fully recovers

 

[Poppyseed]

YAY! Glad things are getting better!

 

[Night]

That's great that he has bounced back and his ear is doing better!

What brand of foods are you feeding, by the way?

 

[DonnaK]

That's great news!