Itchy Skin?

[BriannaDawn]

I took Mary out today and found a patch of missing hair on her. I examined her and she seems to have tiny sores around her neck and on her back. She's been Itching allot now that I realized it. I'm not sure when it happened but she didn't seem to have a problem yesterday. I checked the cage and my other rats if they had some kind of bug, or maybe Fleas. They both seem to be fine.


I tried getting a picture of it, this is the best picture I could get of it.(she's not very fond of being held for very long.)

It's hard to tell with the lighting and her angle, but it's actually looks allot worse in person. You can pretty much only see it on her white parts but it's actually up into her black hood. So it's a pretty big bare spot.

Is there something I could do for her? Or should I take her to my Vet?

 

[Dazzle87]

She has mites or lice. I would try to get revolution from the vet, it is the safest treatment.

 

[Moon]

As Dazzle said, you are most likely looking at a lice or mite infestation. Lice are visible as tiny white flakes, often with reddish or orangeish dots on them. They can still be hard to see though. Mites are invisible to the naked eye.

Scabs/sores on the neck and back are the #1 sign of mites/lice. If one rat has it it means all your rats do, even if they don't all show signs as they often only bother rats with weaker immune systems. Revolution from a vet is the easiest way to deal with this but ivermectin can be used also though it can be trickier. You need to do a thorough clean of your ratties' area along with the dosing. All wooden toys or bedding need to be frozen for two days.

Don't feel bad for "missing" this, many people get lice or mites at some points in their colonies and the culprit is usually bedding or wooden toys.

 

[jorats]

I agree... Get her treated for buggies.

 

[Zooy]

Don't feel bad for "missing" this, many people get lice or mites at some points in their colonies and the culprit is usually bedding or wooden toys.

Agreed with Moon! It happens, Freeze any wooden things that are in their cage as well and their bedding!

 

[temblabamomo]

Sometimes there will only be one rat affected that buggies sort of choose as a host. We had a major problem with buggies (back before I know you were supposed to freeze bedding). Barnaby would itch constantly and I'd find buggies on him, but his cagemate didn't have any. This happenedc twice and we had to do Revolution treatment, but both times the bugs just preferred Barnaby for some reason.

 

[TechFuzzy]

Just curious about the Revolution dosage for rats. When your vet uses it, what kind do they use? I would guess the kitten?

 

[Dazzle87]

Kitten, cat and puppy are all the same concentration, just different amounts, so if you had a lot of rats to treat you would want cat. Dog can be used as well, but it is double the concentration so the amount to use is half of what you would use of cat, kitten, or puppy.