[geegeorge]

My newest girl has a runny nose and ocassionally sneezes. The thing is it's clear liquid in her nose and she has no breathing problems and seems otherwise healthy. Should I be concerned?

 

[mtmaughan]

How long have you had her and what were her living conditions before you got her versus now?

 

[lilspaz68]

If you got her within the last week she may just have New Home Sneezies where a rat adjusts to all the new smells in their new environment. There are no weird sounds to her breathing are there? Or she's not as active, not eating/drinking normally etc?

 

[geegeorge]

We've had her for just over 2 weeks. Got her from a pet store, so we have been keeping an eye and ear out for signs of illness. She eats and drinks properly, and although she does enjoy just lounging around, has her active exploring times too. No breathing sounds, and no red stuff, just the occasional sneeze and sometimes a bit of clear liquid on the tip of her nose. I'm just curious about her runny nose, cause everywhere I've looked only mentions the red leakage.

 

[indigocrow]

One of my rats I had to the vet due to health issues ( blue rats have lots of health issues on a side note due to their immune system being not as healthy due to a mutated gene for their color) and after he finished the medicine he was still having a runny nose so I brought him back. The vet used ablack light and some other stuff, to make sure it wasn't a cold or congestion and he told me this rat, and 2 of my others have it but not as bad, got this fluid from his nose due to the tear ducts draining.

If the rats aren't congested, weezing and have fluid from the nose it may be due to that. Sometimes it would look like blood which concerned me but once I looked closer I got to recognize between blood and the tear duct fluid.

It could be that on your rat also, or maybe since its winter and depending on where you are the heat is affecting her nose.

 

[lilspaz68]

you are talking about porphyrin, the red stained fluid from their eyes/ears. Some is okay, especially if they clean it up after their first good grooming of the day and then its gone. But a lot is a sign of either illness, stress, inability to clean face (injury, debility of old rats, etc), or an eye injury. Excessive porphyin is always bad.

I would keep an eye on your girl, but it sounds pretty normal to me, especially with the clear fluid.

 

[geegeorge]

She's all cleared up, haven't seen anymore runny nose, just the occasional bit of red crust, but she cleans that off and I know it's not a problem. And she's settling in nicely with the rest of the girls, lots of sleeping together and grooming each other. It took her awhile to get used to climbing though, having lived in a tank at the petstore. And one more thing, I don;t know if anyone else gets this, but my girls seem to hang out in colod groups, the 3 light girls are always together and the 3 darker girls seem to do the same. They do intermingle, but mostly stay in their color groups. Thanks for the advice and helping set my mind at ease