excessive thirst, urination and possibly appetite

[Petunia]

what can cause a rat to drink a lot and pee a lot? and maybe, be ravenously hungry?

I have two rats who have become unusually aggressive at meal time, and one who is obese

someone, or maybe more than one rat, is peeing a LOT, the cage liner is soaked in one day

I am not sure who is drinking a lot but the water bottles are also being drained quickly

this has been happening since before Cookie went to the vet, so it's not her, and in fact I am SURE it's not her because she is not able to get to the top of the cage and will be going into the one level g pig cage today, as soon as I finish this post

I am going to separate the remaining girls so that it will be easier to figure out who is peeing so much, but in the meantime I need to find out what this might mean

I am praying it does not mean the same as with cats= most often, diabetes is the reason, or kidney failure
but because I have one obese rat, and obesity is related to diabetes AND she has been really aggressive about food lately, I am worried about her (Paige)

Smidgen is also being aggressive about food but she's not overweight like Paige is

I read that diabetes is rare in rats...... but possible

I tried to find some info on it but didn't get too much, does anyone have any good links to share?

I'll get some ketodiastix and start testing urine and get weights on everyone too

what's the differential I guess I need to know, as they say in doctor speak
kidneys
diabetes
?

 

[jorats]

Unfortunately yes... kidney issues or diabetes.
But I have found that some of my old ones just soak up the liners. But there are no other issues. Do you see her drinking a whole lot?

 

[Petunia]

Unfortunately yes... kidney issues or diabetes.
But I have found that some of my old ones just soak up the liners. But there are no other issues. Do you see her drinking a whole lot?

well everyone was drinking more since the heat went on, and it didnt' appear to be any one rat in particular so I stopped paying close attention to it for a few days, and in fact haven't seen anyone at the water bottle yet today,
but they had a lot of fresh veggies and some baby food too, so I am guessing they got enough liquid from the food and wont' be thirsty right away

I thought about it, and I guess it could be Cookie, just because I haven't seen her go to the top level doesnt' mean she wasn't up there when I was sleeping :emb:
I just always see her at the bottom of the cage inside a hut most of the time, only coming out to eat.

I just took everyone out and her vulva and that whole area is still swollen and stained yellow from pee so I'm warming things up to give her a sponge bath in the kitchen and get her set up in the one level cage with her buddy Hope

Paige has become really nuts about food though, I did what you said about the treats- yesterday I gave them a big hunk of carrot on a skewer type toy and I held Paige outside the cage and I ended up having to burrito her, she was fighting me so much to get to the cage and the carrot

she finally settled down a little and fluffed up the sheet I had her wrapped in and made a nest out of it, then looked up at me with these sad eyes

she's something else, that girl :roll: :lol:

I gotta get back to setting things up but um, if a rat has diabetes, I can't even fathom how small a dose of insulin they must get
diabetic cats usually are regulated on a single unit twice a day, so it's gotta be a teeny tiny amount for a rat, eh?
just saying, it's gotta be so small a dose it'd be hard to draw up :shock:

Hopefully we won't need to find that out

oh, wait so you're saying that the older girls are probably not even trying to pee in the litter box? it's true that the pee rock they have hasn't been used as much lately but probably because it's cold
I usually take it out of the cage for the winter, although I guess I could run hot water over it and warm it up for them :giggle:

it just wouldn't stay warm for long

 

[Petunia]

:shock:

the rat drinking the most is my thinnest rat, Evie! she never fights for food, or anything else for that matter, she's a pretty agreeable girl.


???


well, I'll be keeping an eye on them all, and will update when I have more info

 

[jorats]

If she's pee stained underneath, then it's a safe bet that she's peeing and marinating in it. So it might just be her. I've never related it to an illness and no changes to diet or anything was made for my kiddos like that.

I don't even know if they treat diabetic rats... maybe just a change in diet? To what, I have no idea.

 

[Petunia]

thanks Jorats!