Please Help Me!!!

[MadamBelladonna]

Hey everyone, I'm new here.
I just noticed that one of my rats, Templeton, is looking really bad. He refuses to eat even his favorite treats (usually he snatches Cheerios away from me like crack but he's just been staring at me every time I offer one), not sure if he's drinking or not (haven't seen him do it, but he may have when I was in another room), he's very lethargic, and he's been bruxing CONSTANTLY, ALL DAY LONG (which I know is a good thing, but he very rarely does it except for today). His coat also seems much duller than usual and he has quite a bit of porphyrin around his eyes and nose (more than usual), and a little on his front paws (I assume from trying to clean himself). This all happened overnight: he was absolutely fine last night when I went to bed and then when I took him out of the cage this afternoon I noticed. He is being more sociable with ME than usual, but he isn't playing with his cagemate, Algernon, at all and they are usually just about inseparable. He licked a little bit of yogurt off my fingers earlier, but he even lost interest in that, which another one of his favorite treats.

I don't know if there are any vets around me that would know what to do with him...I was planning to try to take him to the Petsmart vet thingy tomorrow, anyone know if they're any good with rats?

Please let me know if you know what could be wrong with him and what I could do to help him get better. Also, please let me know if I'm just being overly paranoid that he's having an off day lol.

 

[SQ]

How is his breathing?
Is he in pain? Bruxing can be good but can also mean he is in pain (viewtopic.php?f=26&t=18981)

Keep him warm, & well hydrated - you can use a needless syringe to put tiny amounts of fluid into the side of his mouth ex: pedalite from the drug store or see:
viewtopic.php?f=26&t=11058

Try to see if he will eat soft foods like lab blocks turned into mush (by adding water) and a few drops of olive oil, or baby cereal mixed up with soy infant formula or ensure.

He sounds ill. Porphrin may mean that he is not feeling well.
He may be weak due to many things, such as dehydration.

 

[Joanne]

Hi, I'm sorry your rattie is sick. How old is he? Bruxing can indicate happiness, but rats will also brux when they are in pain. The most worrisome thing is that he is not eating. Any time an animal is not eating or drinking, it is serious. I would definitely get him to a vet tomorrow. It could be several things, including a respiratory infection that has suddenly become acute (eg pneumonia), or trauma (eg he fell off a shelf, hammock), or a stroke - does he have any one-sided issues/circling? It doesn't sound like a pituitary tumour as they tend to be a slow onset, and have more neurological signs. Good luck!

 

[handmeafish]

It doesn't sound good The bruxing and the puffiness together usually mean pain of some kind. Some of these things can come on incredibly fast.
The best thing would be a vet ASAP. It could be any number of things.
The petsmart people are hit and miss. If you can locate an Emergency vet in your phone book, they will be able to tell you if they have someone who can help.
If not, look for someone who specializes in exotics in the morning, and try to get an early appointment.
If you can't get him seen tonight, then do your best to keep him hydrated. If you can get pedialite, that will help, or there is simple syrup stuff... but I don't remember the recipe.
Can you describe any other symptoms.

 

[MadamBelladonna]

That's what I'm thinking...I'm just surprised it happened so fast, he had NONE of these symptoms yesterday. I'll definitely try soaking the lab blocks, Thank you so much!

Do you happen to know if the vets at Petsmart are any good with rats?

Thanks again,
Worried Rat Momma

 

[MadamBelladonna]

I believe he is around 6 months, possibly a little older. Got him from a pet store...he's not an old rat but he's not a baby either.

 

[MadamBelladonna]

I haven't noticed any of the circling or "one-sided" symptoms, but he hasn't really been moving around much so it's hard to tell.

 

[handmeafish]

The vets at petsmart can be hit or miss. I believe they are supposed to be able to treat the in store animals, but they don't all offer that service.

 

[MadamBelladonna]

I am in shock right now. I just pulled him out of the cage to reexamine him: he had a small seizure and then died in my hands. I do not know what to do right now...I gutted the cage. Algernon seems fine, but I don't know if he will get sick next. Please help. Thank you.

 

[handmeafish]

I am so sorry about the loss of your baby.
There are many possibilities of what could have happened to him, a similar thing happened to my rattum back in March. He was about 9 months old, and very suddenly came over with similar symptoms. My vet believed he had a deep ear infection and that the swelling from that caused some mental symptoms. This was not contagious and the rest of my boys were just fine. With out a necropsy there is no real way to what happened. One thing with rats is that they don't show symptoms of illness until they are really sick.
The first thing I would do is call around and find a good rat knowledgable vet, just incase something does happen.
Keep an eye on Algernon, excess porphyrin discharge, that he isn't cleaning off, lethargy and puffiness are usually the first signs.

 

[MadamBelladonna]

Thank you, Algernon seems fine so far. A little lonely , but healthy-eating, drinking, ect. My mom thinks Temp probably died of heart failure or a respiratory emergency (he was doing the weird gasping right before his seizure, opening his mouth wide then closing it, like slow motion biting and a little while after he died there was foam coming out of his mouth which she said was probably fluid in his little lungs). I'm sincerely hoping that whatever it was that killed Templeton was just a freak incident and not something that could affect Algernon.

I'm going to search around and get Algernon checked out though, just to be sure. Anyone know how much a check-up would be?

Thanks!

 

[handmeafish]

Depends on the vet, usually from 30 to 45 dollars in my experience

 

[Maple]

Sorry to hear of your loss. Sadly there are several things that may have been going on in your little guy. I wouldn't jump the gun with Algernon just yet. Keep an eye on him for the next week or so and at the first sign of something unusual or different, then take him to a vet.
Chin up, I'm sure you didn't do anything wrong, sometimes things happen for reasons we can't explain. :hugs:

 

[MadamBelladonna]

Thanks again everyone!

Algernon is doing very well so far, eating and drinking lots. A little apathetic, but I'm pretty sure that's just because Templeton's not there. I feel bad leaving him alone, but I really don't want to bring another rat into the house until I'm 100% sure that Algernon's not sick...I think I'll wait at least 3-4 weeks to see if any symptoms show up.

Thank you all so much, you've been very helpful!!!
Lotsa Love,
Christina

 

[Rachael]

I'm so sorry for your loss.

It might have been a brain tumour, I believe there's a few different brain tumours they can get.... I lost my Pumpkin in January to a brain tumour, but she didn't have any symptoms either. She suddenly became lethargic, confused, unable to grip, and I lost her soon after.

I hope your other boy is okay.

 

[Bundyrats]

I'm so sorry to hear about your loss.

 

[lilspaz68]

At that age it sounds like he had internal defects like his heart or something else you couldn't see. I am sorry, but I wouldn't worry too much about Algernon, beyond him being lonely.

 

[Joanne]

I'm so sorry you lost your boy so suddenly like that. I too feel fairly confident that your other rat will be OK. Just keep an eye on him. He will miss his brother too, so give him as much time and snuggles as you can. These lovely ratties can hurt our heart sometimes when they leave so young.....

 

[MadamBelladonna]

Hey guys, just an update-Algernon is doing very well so far. I'm pretty sure that he's gonna be just fine :thumbup: ! Still waiting to hear back from the rescue shelter (idk if I've posted about this or not, but I'm trying to adopt 2 babies that are soon to be euthanized), will let you know how it goes

 

[M0onkist]

Definitely let us know how it goes.

In the meantime, just make sure to spend a lot of time with Algernon - rats are as always very social creatures, and spending a lot of time together will help you both grieve and heal.