Bad Skin from Bad Diet

[TorachiKatashi]

I think Renee probably mentioned this before, but before she took in Whiskers from his original home, he was being fed seed mix and dog food. As a result (or at least, we assume to be as a result), he has very thin fur on his back end, and red/dry skin. I noticed today that the hair is also thinning on parts of his belly and chest, but I really can't say if that's new or if I just didn't notice before. So my question is, how long do you think it should take before all of that crappy food is out of his system and his skin/fur get better? Will they get better at all, or is that kind of thing permanent? Is there anything I can do for him (other than having him on a proper diet, obviously) to help him get better? I tried taking pictures but my camera is pretty old and you couldn't really see anything.

 

[lilspaz68]

Ferdinand has that, and its slowly clearing up. BUT I treated him for parasites first (he had lice and mites). Have you done that yet?

 

Lilspaz: he was treated with revolution when I got him on the way home in the car

 

he was also kept on pine/cedar mix ..he was on that horrible food and shavings for 1.5 years!

 

[SQ]

I would add a drop of olive oil to mushy lab blocks or baby cereal.

You might want to check the humidity level as well.

 

[Unepuce]

Try feeding him Booster from HealX... this made WONDERS to my old Picolo - his flat, shineless and hard coat just became as soft as in his young days. It boosts the immune system, so that will help him get back on his feet, too!

 

Olive Oil and the Booster both work well! I just give olive oil on a piece of bread once a week! ..the humidty has not affected his skin at Katies house since he has only been there a few days ..he was here for two and my humidity is above 50 percent!

 

[TorachiKatashi]

Thankfully, other than his bad skin, he seems perfectly healthy for a guy who is going into old age. My mother affectionately calls him Grandpa. He's still a little sneezy, but his chest sounds fine when I rat phone him (I'm sure that was a new experience for him!) and he's only ever porphy first thing in the morning (and I wouldn't even know about that if he didn't tend to wipe his nose on his tissue box bed.)

Poor guy, I've found that his rat skills are a bit stunted, if that makes any sense. He spent that 1.5 years with no toys, no hammocks, nothing like that at all, so he's only just now starting to learn how to do things he should have been doing since he was a baby, like climbing the bars or crawling into hammocks. He can't ride shoulders or climb up my shirt unless I'm leaning way back in my chair. I don't mind carrying him around, though. <3

Unepuce - That stuff looks really interesting, actually. Can it only be ordered online, or would a vet carry something like that? I wouldn't mind having something like that to feed the boys, too, especially since Oskar has already had one URI.