My rat Baby is loosing hair & Lil is stil sick... need advice!

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Replies are at the bottom

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||||||||||| 2 more to go, this is dumb, sigh*

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done, I can now upload images..

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Quote: Originally Posted by bokuza First you need to separate Lil from all of the rats and you need to find out if her upper respiratory infection is back. If Lil has a reoccurring respiratory infection, she can spread it Baby or the male. In other words put her back in quarantine. This might help Baby too, its possible that Lil is barbering her hair. What antibiotics did they have her on? How long was she on them? It may just be she cant do anymore of those antibiotics. There are other meds that may help. Also, there are ways to soothe her if she cannot be helped. Its possible that her body is just unable to fight it off. :C This happens sometimes. Right now im at the edge of my seat with a 6 week old double rex boy, were treating him with a full arsenal of meds but we have no idea if it'll work because of his immunity disorder. Weve have two vets visits totaling about to $312.60. Were not done yet either. Now, has Babe been tested for parasites? how is her stool? Is it normal? Could you take a photo? OF ANY KIND! A crappy one even!

have had her separated from the other 2 since the first day she came home as I know even when she may seem healthy, she may still be sick.

Lil has not been barbering Baby as her hair loss and messy coat happened at least a week before Lil came home.

Am not sure what type of Antibiotics she was on when I first took her but the the second treatment was a mixture of 2 types: Baytril + Vibramycin. As the vets said, if she does not recover then there is nothing they can do as she has been on 3 types of antibiotics over the past month or so.

I think she is recovering though, as I spent the whole day with her yesterday, placed her cage next to my bed and she was not sneezing as much and seems to be getting more energy back.. she seems like she may be pulling through. I also noticed that she has not had "red nose" for nearly 2 days now... could it be that the move made her a little unstable? I sure hope she is going to be fine...

I am attaching a picture of Baby and her fur. I also hope the other pictures turn out, will show their living environment and pictures of the other 2 babies...

I am not sure about her stool, they seem dark and normal to me but I could be wrong. I am not sure how to test for parasites, could you advise me how to do this or must I bring her to a vet? I have added a picture of a fresh stool, am hoping that would help...

I am so sorry to hear about you baby rex (though am still not sure what type of rat a rex is), Do let me know how he does, I feel for you, ratties have such a huge impact on us, and I would have never known if it were not for Baby... she has shown me how incredible they can be I truly wish you all the best with your lil one... Ill send you some good thoughts...

Thank you so very much for all your help

Regards
VT*





"Baby"- she seems to have lost a lot of weight, and her coat is turning a dull shade. Could her weight loss be caused by her running around in her big cage?





"Baby" A close up of her fur, she now has less fur then she did last week. Also, her face/head is looking very messy and I saw her scratching her face a lot today which I have not seen her do before. I ran my hand over her balding patch on her back and her skin shrugged and she was very uncomfortable about me doing that when normally she has no problem with me stroking her...



"Baby's" stool, I dont have a cam on me so its a mobile phone image, I wish it was a lot more clearer.. sorry



"Lil One" she seems to better today and her nose has cleared up... I hope its a good sign that she is recovering...



"Oliver" He is very healty and I have not had any problems with him, he is an American Blue .. he is my little fatty... love him



"The Mansion" Baby has this huge home to run round in, she gets to run round on the couch all day too but prefers her cage. Lil will be moving in with her when/if she fully recovers. Oliver will be getting a Mansion next month, he currently lives is a smaller cage...



A close up of the Mansion, its clear how clean I keep them, I clean the cage everyday and they are all potty trained so no mess apart from thier litter boxes...

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Quote: Originally Posted by lilspaz68 Lil is the sneezer right? NO point removing her since any pathogens are airborne and are already affecting the other rats. Once they have been in the same airspace QT is effectively over. Do you have any idea what they were treating her with? Most Petsmarts treat with mild or useless antibiotics, that may hold a URI at bay but not cure it. Rats will sneeze when they come into a new home, rapidfire sneezes but no other symptoms of illness and this passes within a week. If there's other signs of illness you do have a sick rat. There are many combo's that work effectively on URI...baytril/doxy is the most common, I have used baytril/amoxicillin, baytril/zithromax, etc. Don't worry about endoparasites at this point, the majority of rats have pin worms that don't affect them (or you) in the least. You said Lil is going downhill? What are her symptoms? Back to baby's fur. Diet can really affect coat and skin...what do you feed your rats? Is she a poor rex maybe? Btw lice you will see but mites you will not (microscopic)...give all your rats a good feelover for ANY tiny scabs on their body. Lice prefer to start populating on the rumb, tailhead and back (you will see them crawling through the fur) and mites love the shoulders, neck, head, cheeks and chin. Dig your fingers into the fur deep, a stroke over the fur won't find those scabs. Ectoparasites (parasites that live outside/on the body) usually will present on a compromised rat more than the others, so checking other rats for issues wont work. I took in 4 foster boys...1 had terrible mites scabs, 1 had classic mite scabs, 1 had just a few and the youngest boy had none...they ALL got treated with Revolution and were fine

Yes, Lil is the sneezer, so this means my other ones are infected? will they too get ill? I know it takes more then 10 days for them to show any illness if their immune system is low. I treated them with immune boost and I am sure they will be fine...

Lil seems much better today, I am starting to think that it is really just a change of home. She was going downhiil when I brought her back, she was sneezing bad and had red nose and was not up to doing anything but sleep, but now after a couple of days she seems to be much better, I will know in a few days if it was just the move or if she is really ill ...

I checked baby as advised and she doesn't have any scabs or fleas. She is looking worse today and now I am starting to notice that she is looking scruffy on her head, this was not the case a few days ago. I also notice a change in the color of her coat... I have a bad feeling its not over grooming but rather mites and there are no signs of lice. Her skin also tens to impulsively shrug when I touch her as if she is uncomfortable or in pain... could this be mites? (pictures above)

Their diet consists of grains (oats, wheat, barley) with a mixture of sunflower seeds. They get fresh carrots and apple every night.

What is a poor Rex? Ive herd the work Rex before but am am not sure what it means...

What is the "Revolution" you mentioned? Is it an oral treatment? Could you advise on where I may be able to buy something that would help her fur if it is parasites?

I truly appreciate all the help you have given me, I now know more then I did and you have given mre info then the vets did on 2 visits... this is the reason why I chose to seek advice here.. thank you again!

[lilspaz68]

It sounds like they are both feeling better if the sneezing is stopping and the porphryin (red discharge) is not excessive (some can be normal especially first thing in the morning before they have a good grooming and get rid of it).

Usually rats exposed to other sick rats will only get ill if they have a weak immune system or something has stressed them, hence their immune system. I have had colonies of 12 rats iun a cage and only 1 would be sick and need treatment.

If you are stroking over the back and they do this little muscle movement when you stroke the same spot, that is normal (like an involuntary impulse), but if they also shrink a bit then its uncomfortable.

Revolution is a topical treatment used for cats and dogs for fleas, ticks, etc. Its very effective for our rats. One teeny drop and the buggies are gone, safely and fast. DO NOT use petstore products as these are not tested, are usually ineffective and/or could make your rats sick or even kill them

Unfortunately your diet is actually very unbalanced and may be causing her coat/skin issues.

Are you able to get a decent lab block like Mazuri from Petsmart, or Livingworld Extrusion for Hamsters from many places? Sunseed, Reggie Rat and Kaytee are all junk, so don't buy those.

If you are able to order online, you could get Harlan Teklad (best lab block out there) mailed to you.

A good proper healthy diet, can really help your rats immune system, general health/coat/skin, and longevity.

A lot of people (like myself) feed quality lab blocks free fed (in a bowl all the time), supplementing with veggies, a little fruit and a little protein occasionally. A good rat diet is low protein, low fat, low sugar.

Nuts and seeds are very high in fats and protein so could be causing issues. Her poop looks normal, so I wouldn't worry about that.

Your kiddos are very cute!

and about the 20 posts, you could've linked to a photobucket album/other pic hosting website or used image tags around the link to show the pic in the post

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Quote: Originally Posted by lilspaz68 It sounds like they are both feeling better if the sneezing is stopping and the porphryin (red discharge) is not excessive (some can be normal especially first thing in the morning before they have a good grooming and get rid of it). Usually rats exposed to other sick rats will only get ill if they have a weak immune system or something has stressed them, hence their immune system. I have had colonies of 12 rats iun a cage and only 1 would be sick and need treatment. If you are stroking over the back and they do this little muscle movement when you stroke the same spot, that is normal (like an involuntary impulse), but if they also shrink a bit then its uncomfortable. Revolution is a topical treatment used for cats and dogs for fleas, ticks, etc. Its very effective for our rats. One teeny drop and the buggies are gone, safely and fast. DO NOT use petstore products as these are not tested, are usually ineffective and/or could make your rats sick or even kill them Unfortunately your diet is actually very unbalanced and may be causing her coat/skin issues. Are you able to get a decent lab block like Mazuri from Petsmart, or Livingworld Extrusion for Hamsters from many places? Sunseed, Reggie Rat and Kaytee are all junk, so don't buy those. If you are able to order online, you could get Harlan Teklad (best lab block out there) mailed to you. A good proper healthy diet, can really help your rats immune system, general health/coat/skin, and longevity. A lot of people (like myself) feed quality lab blocks free fed (in a bowl all the time), supplementing with veggies, a little fruit and a little protein occasionally. A good rat diet is low protein, low fat, low sugar. Nuts and seeds are very high in fats and protein so could be causing issues. Her poop looks normal, so I wouldn't worry about that. Your kiddos are very cute! and about the 20 posts, you could've linked to a photobucket album/other pic hosting website or used image tags around the link to show the pic in the post

Oh my, I feel terrible! I did tons of research and thought that the diet I made for them was complete. Now that I know I have made a mistake with their food I will change it immediately and buy the best for them online as recomended. One reason why I chose not to feed them lab blocks is that they contain bits of dried corn which I have read cause health problems and tumors as it contains fungus... does this apply to the lab blocks you use?

Lil seems much better, her nose has cleared up and she is running round like the crazy lil one I fell in love with. Im very confident she will be fully recovered by next week...

I will buy Revolution for my babies, is there an exact amount that I am to give them? Will they eat it without any problems? How many times per day and for how long am I to give this to my babies?

I had another look at my ratties fur today, and the bad news is that my male rat Oliver is also starting to bald on his back, is this because their cages are next to each other that the parasites have been caught by Oliver?

Oh, and we had an accident happen yesterday evening! I found Oliver in Baby's cage!!!!! He must have squeezed himself through the gaps around the cage when I let him out to play, he is much smaller then Baby... Im now concenred that she may have babies!!!... I dont want anymore rats but if I have to I will take care of all of them...

So the other question I had was, I have just started feeding my babies Bene-Bac Probiotics and am wondering if it could harm her babies.. I did some reasearch and nothing stated that its unsuaitable for prenatel mums but am just concerned as I dont want to harm her babies IF she is pregnant...

Thank youd dear, I do love them so very much, I never knew how much I loved rats untill Baby came along.. my life has been changed forever and all I can do is talk about rats to people, I feel like its my duty to tell the world how incredible these lil ones are..

Lol, your right, I guess I could have sent a link to all of my pictures, have no idea why I didnt think of that...I am a silly one...lol...

My apologies for all the questions, you are very knowladegable and I trust your advice... thanks again dear

Vanessa Tarachin*

[lilspaz68]

You have to watch out for dried corn for fungus, but ground corn is fine. Corn is a fibre and a bit of a filler in a lab block, but even the best lab blocks have them, but they also have so many other good things that rats need. Vitamin K for blood clotting, etc

Pro-biotics will not hurt a pregnant rat, its just plain good for them. It helps the rat regulate its gut flora.

Revolution is a topical treatment. You have 3 rats? You would need 1 tube of kitten/puppy (mauve) Revolution (vet or order from online site that doesn't need a prescription) You puncture the tube with the cap by pushing it down, then put a small drop on the back of their neck or by their ear...I part the fur down to the skin. Revolution is absorbed into the body/blood stream very fast, but try to not let them groom it off for a minute or so. Its a strong alcohol smell and it bugs them a a bit.

How old is your boy again? Is he over 7-8 weeks of age? You might want to mesh his cage or keep the cage in another room, so these accidents don't happen.

If you think there's a possibility of pregnancy then do not treat Baby. The Revolution treatment is effective for a month so you can wait the 2.5-3 weeks to see if she's pregnant and then dose her if she's not. Everyone will still be "covered".