temblabamomo
Senior Member
I was asked over the weekend to take in a 16 month old rat. His story - dumped with his brother at the SPCA this summer, adopted by some girl, recently became single when his only cagemate died, and then given to me to hopefully have a successful intro with my boys and become part of their happy little family.
He is terribly shy, somewhat terrified of people. We think whoever dumped him at the SPCA probably originally got him from Petsmart/Petco, and maybe had small kids who mishandled him, barking dogs, etc. etc., something to make him so painfully skittish.
This is his fourth day in his new home. Since moving in, he has been having soft, foul-smelling stools. I can't decide if that's stress-related, or if there's an underlying problem. He was also very bony when he first came home. I am told he stopped eating for a day or so after his cagemate died, and when he started eating again it wasn't with the kind of gusto that rats usually eat. His former owner said he seemed depressed (hence her decision to rehome him since she couldn't adopt any more ratties at the moment) since losing his brother (who passed from a tumor, a two or three weeks ago.) In addition to being bony, his fur is also very thin, especially around the face. I haven't seen anything on him, but he's been scritchin and scratchin and I suspect some sort of parasites. I could almost swear I've seen tiny white/silvery things on his fur, but he is so terrified of being held that I haven't looked at him very well. No scabs though.
The girl who gave him to me said aside from being very shy, he was in good health. The fact that his coat was so thin and he was so bony makes me wonder if she really didn't know as much about rats as she seemed to. For all I know he's had mites or lice for months now, and I know they are capable of literally draining the life out of these creatures. I am reluctant to put any Revolution on him yet simply because of his boniness - the packaging says not to distribute it to 'malnourished' creatures, and I'm just not really sure what is going on with him yet.
My current plan is to try to put some weight on him, let him get used to his new surroundings and try to unwind, and take him to the vet on Friday for an examination. My vet has been less than outstanding in the past, but they're the best we have around here for rats, so, meh. I really want to be prepared when I go in, because I am worried about her taking a looksie at him, feeling him, looking at his ears and eyes, and saying he just needs Revolution and then sending us away and our problems with the soft stools and weight persisting. If he hasn't gained weight, and if he's still having the soft stools, what should I ask the vet to do? I'm worried she will not be up to par with testing rats for kidney or heart problems, or anything else for that matter. Should I have her do a skin scraping, or will Revolution cover all possible parasites and therefore make a skin scraping kind of pointless?
Also, what foods can I feed him to help with the mushy poo? He was being fed Oxbow, but after seeing at how half-heartedly he nibbled it, I decided to mix in some Reggie Rat, and what do you know he sits in front of the food bowl now devouring everything in sight (well, except the Oxbow). I feel so bad for this guy and am sort of trying to magically wish away underlying conditions (ha...), and hope that his low weight was just a result of not being wild enough about Oxbow to eat more of it than necessary. I've been giving him meat flavored baby food the past day or so, which disappears within mere minutes of me setting it in the cage. He's been having yogurt off my fingers as he sits in my lap during my efforts to socialize him. And he's certainly drinking enough water, not getting dehydrated on account of the soft stool. He's drinking enough to stay hydrated, but not enough to make me worry about kidney failure yet. Other suggestions for food to help him gain weight but not clog his little arteries? I already feel like he's put on a bit since I took him in, but could be just my own wishful thinking.
I guess I'm just hoping that, best case scenario, his thinness and soft stools are the products of him being so stressed by the move to my house, losing his brother, and probably having mites for some time now. But assuming that his case is a worst case scenario type thing, what should I have the vet do? What sort of things should she absolutely want to do? I'm just so worried about taking him to a stressful appointment, having the vet slap some Revolution on him, and send us away under the instructions to come back if he doesn't bulk up or his poops don't normal up, with absolutely no explanation or suggestions or hypotheses about what could be going on.
He is terribly shy, somewhat terrified of people. We think whoever dumped him at the SPCA probably originally got him from Petsmart/Petco, and maybe had small kids who mishandled him, barking dogs, etc. etc., something to make him so painfully skittish.
This is his fourth day in his new home. Since moving in, he has been having soft, foul-smelling stools. I can't decide if that's stress-related, or if there's an underlying problem. He was also very bony when he first came home. I am told he stopped eating for a day or so after his cagemate died, and when he started eating again it wasn't with the kind of gusto that rats usually eat. His former owner said he seemed depressed (hence her decision to rehome him since she couldn't adopt any more ratties at the moment) since losing his brother (who passed from a tumor, a two or three weeks ago.) In addition to being bony, his fur is also very thin, especially around the face. I haven't seen anything on him, but he's been scritchin and scratchin and I suspect some sort of parasites. I could almost swear I've seen tiny white/silvery things on his fur, but he is so terrified of being held that I haven't looked at him very well. No scabs though.
The girl who gave him to me said aside from being very shy, he was in good health. The fact that his coat was so thin and he was so bony makes me wonder if she really didn't know as much about rats as she seemed to. For all I know he's had mites or lice for months now, and I know they are capable of literally draining the life out of these creatures. I am reluctant to put any Revolution on him yet simply because of his boniness - the packaging says not to distribute it to 'malnourished' creatures, and I'm just not really sure what is going on with him yet.
My current plan is to try to put some weight on him, let him get used to his new surroundings and try to unwind, and take him to the vet on Friday for an examination. My vet has been less than outstanding in the past, but they're the best we have around here for rats, so, meh. I really want to be prepared when I go in, because I am worried about her taking a looksie at him, feeling him, looking at his ears and eyes, and saying he just needs Revolution and then sending us away and our problems with the soft stools and weight persisting. If he hasn't gained weight, and if he's still having the soft stools, what should I ask the vet to do? I'm worried she will not be up to par with testing rats for kidney or heart problems, or anything else for that matter. Should I have her do a skin scraping, or will Revolution cover all possible parasites and therefore make a skin scraping kind of pointless?
Also, what foods can I feed him to help with the mushy poo? He was being fed Oxbow, but after seeing at how half-heartedly he nibbled it, I decided to mix in some Reggie Rat, and what do you know he sits in front of the food bowl now devouring everything in sight (well, except the Oxbow). I feel so bad for this guy and am sort of trying to magically wish away underlying conditions (ha...), and hope that his low weight was just a result of not being wild enough about Oxbow to eat more of it than necessary. I've been giving him meat flavored baby food the past day or so, which disappears within mere minutes of me setting it in the cage. He's been having yogurt off my fingers as he sits in my lap during my efforts to socialize him. And he's certainly drinking enough water, not getting dehydrated on account of the soft stool. He's drinking enough to stay hydrated, but not enough to make me worry about kidney failure yet. Other suggestions for food to help him gain weight but not clog his little arteries? I already feel like he's put on a bit since I took him in, but could be just my own wishful thinking.
I guess I'm just hoping that, best case scenario, his thinness and soft stools are the products of him being so stressed by the move to my house, losing his brother, and probably having mites for some time now. But assuming that his case is a worst case scenario type thing, what should I have the vet do? What sort of things should she absolutely want to do? I'm just so worried about taking him to a stressful appointment, having the vet slap some Revolution on him, and send us away under the instructions to come back if he doesn't bulk up or his poops don't normal up, with absolutely no explanation or suggestions or hypotheses about what could be going on.
