temblabamomo
Senior Member
One of my little guys (4 months old) seems to have a wee bit of porphyrin about his nose pretty much all the time. I brought him and his brother home about a month ago, at which point both were stressed and excited and sneezy, but that subsided within a week. Both are now very healthy and active. It's just the one little guy seems to always have a bit of the red stuff dried around the outside of his nostrils everytime he wakes up. Once he's been out playing for a while, it goes away, but I assume that's because he's grooming it off. There is no sneezing or snuffling, and his breathing seems perfectly normal. They both had a wellness check by our vet about two weeks ago, and she said his lungs sound fine. He is the first rat I've had that's been white in the face, the rest have all had dark hoods, so I wondered if maybe my others have had the same thing but it's just more noticeable on his white fur. The bottom floor of their cage has a paper pulp bedding that I do a complete change of once a week, and he rarely ever hangs around down there anyway. They both pee on the upper shelves, but I wipe those down twice a day pretty thoroughly to avoid upper resp problems.
Is porphyrin buildup around the nose just something that some healthy rats just kind of have and aren't bothered by, or should I be worried?
Is porphyrin buildup around the nose just something that some healthy rats just kind of have and aren't bothered by, or should I be worried?
