Elijah - any ideas? - weight loss

[SQ]

Eli will be two in December. He has been missing fur near one of his eyes on the side of his face. I thought it was from someone being too enthusiastic re cleaning off meds left on his face. Eli has chf with a huge heart.… Today I found that he is now missing hair on both sides of his face, large patches around both eyes ... no it isn't from porpherin. He has scratches in one of the bald patches on his face. He has also been in two altercations with other rats in his cage recently ... Both he and Esther (chf too) got into it today and before I got the cage door opened, they had rolled off the CN balcony and onto the level below.

The cagemates he was closest to have recently died. Eli has always been more of a timid boy and it took him awhile to adjust after his small group of 3 was introed in with the girls this summer. The others tended to pick on him a bit at first ... nothing serious but he was very cautious toward them.

I know that Eli isn't feeling well; he has lost a lot of weight and is often off by himself. I had hoped the change in his meds in the last few weeks after an x-ray confirmed his heart problem, would help him.

The only thing I can think of is that he is in pain or that I need to treat for buggies.
I plan on picking up revolution and treating everyone on Monday ... just in case.
And I am going to increase his heart meds and decrease the pred he is on to see if it helps.

Anyone have any ideas?
I would try to post pics but Eli is a black hooded boy and the missing hair doesn't show up well in pictures.

 

[jorats]

I would do a buggie treatment but if there's been a cagemate death recently, the whole cage will be out of whack and it stays that way for a while, some grieve while others vie for alpha.

 

[lilspaz68]

Funny you should mention the fur...I noticed recently that Bianca has a bare patch around her left eye...looks like barbering to me...I'll try to get a pic since agouti's are lighter under and it should show

Well she wasn't very cooperative but you can see it here

and whomever is starting on the right side now

Poor Bianca, a URI and balding. :roll:

 

[SQ]

Thank you both for the feedback.

Jorats, this group has experienced a number of deaths since Debbie died in February (chf); five deaths since June (Gracie - pt, Jacob - strokes, Faith - brain tomour, Leona Francis - chf, & Elizabeth - chf) and three cagemates in this group are presently struggling with chf and may not be around much longer.
Is there any way to make this easier for the surivors because given their ages (22 to 26 months), deaths are likely to continue until the remaining eight ratties are all gone. :sad3:

Shelagh, that looks a bit like Eli, except his go almost all the way around both eyes and one has a couple of scratches in it. Perhaps Esther May has been barbering him :doh:
Any suggestions besides separating them ... which I did last night after they were involved in another squable. (Pulled up the ladder to divide the CN in half.)

 

[fenshae]

I'd be curious to see what comes of this also....about a year ago, a friend of mine's two girls (who were babies from my Velvet's litter) started mysteriously losing hair around their neck and face; one died awhile later of an abcessed tooth that was misdiagnosed and the other (apparently) died in a fall. Then, awhile later, another girl from that litter belonging to another friend of mine had a rat with the same balding pattern who died (apparently) of tumors.

I kept saying it looked like barbering but nobody listened because nobody ever saw the girls grooming each other at all, but that's sure how it looked to me.

*will keep an eye on this and hope for the best for the big guy*

 

[SQ]

At first I thought it was barbaring to remove any tastely meds left on his face ... this has happened to other rats ...
but this looks so strange encircling the eyes ... Eli looks a bit like a raccoon

 

[jorats]

I really don't think there's much you can do to help with the losses.

My sister's beau had circles around the eyes with no fur but it was all do to excess porphyrin.

My mom's rat had that happen as well but it was right down to the skin and the skin was infected, it was a staph infection.
But if Eli looks like Shelagh's Bianca, then that looks like typical barbering.

 

[Tarah]

Marley has bald spots behind both his ears. The woman I got him from said he hasn't always had him, but he got them when he was around 4 months old (he's now 13 months). It looks like the photo of Bianca Shelagh posted. And Marbles (10 months) had the same thing on her back, but it's after growing back in.

 

[SQ]

Eli is on heart meds (chf & huge heart) and does eat but he is continuing to loose weight (from 558g in August to 443g today).
He feels light as air and is skin and bones.
Eli isn't very active. His breathing isn't great but not horrible either.
He is on atenolol, benazepril, digoxin, lasix, pred. and baytril.

Eli and his cagemates get harlan blocks and a dish of mushy lab blocks daily as well as vegs and healthy treats.
Any suggestions?

 

[Godmother]

You can always try some Ensure (I have some if you'd like to try it) or other rich food. Ensure is a hard call, because it has 250mg per cup. Maybe not a lot, but it could be a problem for a rat with CHF.

Extra olive oil on some bread? A bit of peanut butter or a whole nut?

 

[jorats]

Have you tried adding olive oil to his mushy blocks?

 

[SQ]

Yes, I have added olive oil, will add more.
Also added a dish of baby cereal mixed up with soy infant formula to his cage today.
Eli and cage mates ate some but left a lot.
Guess they aren't very hungry.

 

[jorats]

My older guys don't eat as much when they reach a certain age or when they are sick.
If they have a low level of energy, they won't need so much to refuel.