How much Red Leakage is too much? (Got a new girl)

[Rattus]

I just adopted roughly an 8-9 month old female rat, beautiful girl. She's very playful, loves to eat and seems to be healthy in everyway. The first 2 days we got her in she was sneezing every couple minutes... I think its slowing down, havent noticed anymore yet but Im going to watch. Since the day we got her she has had just a tiny bit of the red leakage around her nose, barely any. today she has a lot more, not enough where its splattered on her but you can see quite a bit of red, but I havent noticed sneezing. Does this mean she is sick or maybe could the gland just be leaking?

 

[xxchelle]

What's her story? What kind of bedding was she on? What's she on now?

She could have "new home sneezes". It takes ratties about a week to adjust to new smells, to a new environment, and as their respiratory tracts are so sensitive, she could just be reacting to your home.

Do you hear any lung sounds? Put each side of her chest up to your ear and have a good listen. If you hear any crackling, gurgling, etc. then it's time for a vet visit

Is she eating/drinking normally? Normal level of energy (not lethargic)?

Also, when you saw the porphyrin, had she just woken up? Sometimes my ratties noses/eyes will be covered in porph when they first wake up, but then they groom it off of themselves (kind of like eye crusties in people :giggle.

 

The sneezes are probably new home sneezes.
As for the porph, some of mine always have a good bit of porph on their noses first thing in the moining.

 

[Rattus]

Sometimes when I see the red she is sleeping her her little hut. It hasn't even been a week since we got her, only about 3 days. She acts perfectly fine, eats good, but she likes to store a lot so I've been checking around the cage lol :roll: She sleeps most of the day but is pretty active in the evening and through out the night. Im not sure what her bedding was. My boyfriend met a guy at work and mentioned we had rats. He asked us if we wanted this little girl cuz they felt bad for her. She had 2 other cage mates(siblings) he said they were a lot older and dyed of old age and shas been a lone for a couple weeks. We said we would take her as I want to get her fixed and put her in with my boys. She had shredded news paper in her cage, but she kinda smelt like pine or some sort of wood (didnt smell like cedar). I did listen to her chest the other day, I did not here any strange noise. But I will keep checking to be sure, shes so sweet :heart:

 

[xxchelle]

I would get her spayed ASAP so she can have some buddies! Also, the vet will likely want a checkup before the surgery, so he'll listen to her lungs and let you know if there's anything more going on

I wouldn't worry about a bit of porph when she's sleeping/just woken up. As long as she grooms when she gets up, and there's not TONS of it, then I'm sure she's just fine.