BlueApples
New Member
Recently my near 2-year old rat, Poppy, has been refusing to use her front paws to grab and hold onto food. She grooms and walks just fine though. I've noticed these scabs/red areas on the inner side of her front paws and wanted some information on what they could be?
Here are pictures, the first isn't great, but Poppy was well behaved for the second, bless her.
Left front paw and Right front paw
Her hind paws are completely fine, other than being dirty from stepping in the soft food diet I've been giving her in place of her regular food, Oxbow adult rat food.
As said, she is nearly 2 years old and has visited the vet twice this past week. The scabs have been present since then, but honestly I didn't pay them much attention. Poppy is currently in her own cage, separated from her 8 other cagemates, neutered males that aren't aggressive towards her at all. The substrate is towels for softer bedding, they do have aspen bedding on the bottom of their cage. Alongside the Oxbow, she gets some Critical Care Diet in a mushy state to avoid her having to grab it with her paws, she eats it well but has been losing a lot of weight each day. Today I weighed her at 401 grams, at the last vet appt she was 430 grams. She is also on Meloxicam for pain management, arthritis in the lower back/hind legs and Enrofloxacin for a possible infection to rule that out as a cause for her ailment.
Poppy is unspayed and the vet and I are aware there is a possibility that she could have a brain tumor; she has a habit of pushing against my hand when it's close to her head, which I saw was a symptom for a pituitary tumor, however Poppy's always done this behavior since I brought her home so I'm not sure what to make of it. The vet also stated she was likely losing sight in one eye, though I can't remember which she said. It does take a little longer for Poppy to notice food in front of her unless I draw her attention to it.
Once Monday rolls around I do plan on contacting the vets about these scabs, but until then I'd like to know if any other rat owners have experienced these before? She doesn't react painfully when I gently grab her paws, though since she's currently on pain medication, they might normally be painful.
Here are pictures, the first isn't great, but Poppy was well behaved for the second, bless her.
Left front paw and Right front paw
Her hind paws are completely fine, other than being dirty from stepping in the soft food diet I've been giving her in place of her regular food, Oxbow adult rat food.
As said, she is nearly 2 years old and has visited the vet twice this past week. The scabs have been present since then, but honestly I didn't pay them much attention. Poppy is currently in her own cage, separated from her 8 other cagemates, neutered males that aren't aggressive towards her at all. The substrate is towels for softer bedding, they do have aspen bedding on the bottom of their cage. Alongside the Oxbow, she gets some Critical Care Diet in a mushy state to avoid her having to grab it with her paws, she eats it well but has been losing a lot of weight each day. Today I weighed her at 401 grams, at the last vet appt she was 430 grams. She is also on Meloxicam for pain management, arthritis in the lower back/hind legs and Enrofloxacin for a possible infection to rule that out as a cause for her ailment.
Poppy is unspayed and the vet and I are aware there is a possibility that she could have a brain tumor; she has a habit of pushing against my hand when it's close to her head, which I saw was a symptom for a pituitary tumor, however Poppy's always done this behavior since I brought her home so I'm not sure what to make of it. The vet also stated she was likely losing sight in one eye, though I can't remember which she said. It does take a little longer for Poppy to notice food in front of her unless I draw her attention to it.
Once Monday rolls around I do plan on contacting the vets about these scabs, but until then I'd like to know if any other rat owners have experienced these before? She doesn't react painfully when I gently grab her paws, though since she's currently on pain medication, they might normally be painful.
