Gloom's Strange Body-UPDATE

[RattusNorvegicus]

Gloom is quite chubby. She is one of my largest rat's, even though being my largest she isn't very large. She has a very fat belly, and has had a gut ever since she was fully grown I believe. None of my other rats feel like Gloom though. When I pick gloom up I usually hold her under her arm pits or tuck my whole hand under her and pick up her entire body at once because I can feel her ribs. My fingers kind of go under her ribs? She feels weird. Boney but fat.

I know that rat's have different body shapes, sizes etc, and I was wondering if any of you have a rat like this? Could it just be her, her fatness? Or could there be something wrong?

I do hope to take her to my vet soon, but I have a few rats in line ahead of her unless of course you guys think this is urgent. I don't have a job so getting my rat's into the vet isn't easy, but I have managed to do quite well when it comes to getting them in.

Anyway, I have a picture. She isn't, and doesn't suck in her sides, but in this picture I'm showing you how I guess I would describe as empty it is around her bones. What I mean is all of my other rats are more solid. She feels like she is a deflating balloon.

Her sides go in so easily, and I can feel her spine. But she isn't skinny. ???

Am I just being worrisome? Her coat seems rougher maybe, and her hair has always seemed thinner. I thought it could be from mites, but I treated them for that. Gloom is 15 months. Also, Gloom has never really had any respiratory problems, just rare sneezes. Recently I have heard her breathing a bit louder though. Sorry this is so rambly.


Any ideas would be helpful.

 

[crumbilina]

How is she acting?

Is she eating/drinking?

 

[jorats]

How old is she? Some rats when they age they lose muscle mass and will become "skinnier" around the spine and hips. Sometimes an infection can cause the rat to lose a lot of weight around the spine.
So the questions, how is she acting and eating/drinking is important here.

 

[Dahlas]

LOL..Jo we where righting the same thing at the same time....

So.. :yeah:

 

[TheRatQueen]

Paulie's body was like that when he had his liver cancer and he just kept ballooning out. If it's not too exaggerated I would just think she's getting older like Jo's asking

 

[RattusNorvegicus]

I mentioned she was 15 months.

She is eating and drinking really well. Lately she has been acting a little different, but she had sprung her leg which could be why, but she also seems to be slowing down already. When she wakes up, she has a habit of chewing on the cage bars until I let her out, which she is doing right now. She isn't extremely active, but she never really was. Apart from being a little strange maybe from her leg? She acts normal.

 

[jorats]

15 months is young to be starting that.
What is she fed? I'd start to give her extra "good" fats in her diet like olive oil on whole grain whole wheat bread. Make her some quinoa with added olive oil.

 

[RattusNorvegicus]

She's fed Harlan along with a lot of things I eat throughout the day, veggies and sometimes fruit. I will do that. Thank you.

 

[hopefloats]

I seen this in heart problems granted they were a bit older but not by much. I think when they start to lose weight it shows there in rats first. they go with infection I will say heart, LOL have it checked. Mine were sleepy and just not quite themselves and then the weight loss started.

 

[RattusNorvegicus]

Okay, thank you!

 

[Bundyrats]

I've just noticed a similar thing with Rosie, she is fat around the belly but her hips seem to bony and protrude sometimes.

 

[RattusNorvegicus]

I never ended up getting her into the vet...I don't remember why.

But now I am very concerned that it's her heart. Her body is still the same possibly fatter, but I didn't have her weight when I made this thread. Right now she weighs 500g. I want to make an edit above that she hasn't been this way since she was fully grown as I have some pictures and she was skinny and normal.

Gloom drinks more than any of my rats. Eagerly drinks all of the time.

She has costal breathing. I hear a wheeze sometimes that sounds like when pulm abscess rats try to take a deep breath if that makes sense. No abnormal amounts of sneezing, no rattling and her chest doesn't feel really hard.

She is 23 months now.

I put her on Zithro awhile ago to see if it'd help her breathing but no success so I put her on Baytril+Doxy no help either but I've kept her on it. She's been looking more tired as well, but always wants out of the cage. She's awake when all the others are asleep.

Here are some pictures of her. I have them linked from my FB as I need to get to bed.

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-s ... 3905_n.jpg

She also has hair loss as you can see here. She does barber.
http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-a ... 7939_n.jpg

http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-s ... 7061_n.jpg

http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-a ... 5334_n.jpg
on the right

I can find more if needed.
I'm going to ask my parents to lend me some money so I can take her in. I had to "re-stock" their meds so don't have any at the moment.