Not eating :(

[rat.charmer]

The momma that Paul adopted from the Hamilton SPCA that had the litter...
Well she's not eating and is getting so thin. Her eyes are bright, no porphyrin, she's drinking water, very hyper and active and alert and she hoards the food like crazy! It seems like she's constantly in GO GO GO GO mode.
But we never actually SEE her eating and she is now smaller than her babies.
We've been feeding her HT blocks and now we've started giving her pasta to see if can coax her into gaining weight. It's not working.
Her teeth are fine. I'm placing her at about 6 months, max, but she looks like she's 3 months.
We're going to try her on Ensure but I was wondering if people had any other ideas?
We're also going to try feeding her separately from her babies.

 

I have no idea, but I would start ensure ASAP and maybe feed some eggs.

:heart:

 

[victoria]

Is she losing weight or is she just not growing? Can you start keeping track of her weight? Is she dehydrated?

At this point I would try to get anything into her - my rats never turn down boiled eggs, banana, almonds, avocado, oatmeal - and see if she puts on some weight. If she is indeed losing weight I would get her to the vet ASAP, there may be an underlying condition that you can't see. As far as her being smaller than her babies (how old are they?), that's not unusual with you mothers - the pregnancy can stunt growth.

 

Try mixing Olive oil with food, whenever mine get sick, they never turn down olive oil.

 

[jorats]

I've had a couple of tiny girls. They remained alarmingly thin but they were in top health. But if you are seeing a decline in weight, then that's a concern.

 

[Godmother]

that is a big worry if she is not eating. If she can't be tempted by eggs or Cheerios, she may have some medical problem. Fingers crossed that you can figure it out before she gets too much thinner.

 

[rat.charmer]

Well, it doesn't seem so much a weight decline as her babies are totally outgrowing her... as she was always skinny. She had a litter of 7 when she was about 2.5 months old.
I'm just worried cause she hasn't put on any weight since!
Like I said, she hoards EVERYTHING...maybe she's not a public eater. We'll try her on eggs, oatmeal, olive oil and ensure!

 

[jorats]

I'm betting she eats when you aren't around. If you see her active then she's got to be eating.

 

[Pixie]

My guys love the baby cereal that you mix with water. Their favorite is the raspberry/yogurt flavour. I have heard that you can also mix it with the ensure to get even more nutritional value. My guys go crazy for it and it is also good for hiding medicine.

 

[lilspaz68]

All her normal growing energy is going into feeding her babies, she will likely remain small for most of her life. Tempt her with everything at this point, but she sounds great. Lilith's babies were chubs compared to her, stocky and fat, so don't worry about that. Lilith has never even had a URI...just eye issues

 

[rat.charmer]

Yeah - I've never had a young mom before...I guess I'm just shocked by the size difference.
Her babies still respect her authority though hahaha
Will continue to monitor her and try to fatten her up!