Rat Crew - Where your heart grows four legs and then warms itself with its own piss

daggerdragon · # ? Mar 5, 2012 19:29

Superconsndar posted:

There's not even a size difference. The difference between a "feeder" rat and a "fancy" rat is the label on the tank they're in. The PEW or black hooded in the feeder tank could easily be a littermate of the ~blue rex dumbo~ in the "fancy" rat tank.

There's only a size difference insofar as the labelling on the tank goes (and therefore price). "Small" "fancy" rats are usually either female or very young, and probably $5 or less. "Large" "fancy" rats are usually the older males WITH GIGANTIC BALLS :3:

and $8 or so. "Feeder" rats are what, $1 each, I don't know, but they're usually pink-eyed whites that nobody wants because PEWs are "creepy".

THEY'RE ALL THE SAME drat RAT.

Just pick the ones that seem healthiest and, if you're looking for females, make sure the morons in the pet shop don't have a young small-balled male rat in the same tank, like mine did. :rolleyes:

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Hardwood Floor · # ? Mar 5, 2012 20:13

Haha, that's pretty much what I did, but I figured I'd ask.
e: Not reading, so just older males tend to be bigger?

On another note, my older rat (Otacon) has gotten better about socialization. She still doesn't like being around any other rats for some weird reason, but she sits on my shoulder for about a half-hour a day without any issues.

daggerdragon · # ? Mar 5, 2012 21:14

Bear Rape posted:

Haha, that's pretty much what I did, but I figured I'd ask.
e: Not reading, so just older males tend to be bigger?

Yeah, the bigger rats are likely older rats (or fat/sick, doubtful). The really big rats are almost guaranteed to be male.

edit: Don't do a GIS for "rat size". You get (admittedly, highly useful) :nms:

charts of dead feeder mice/rats compared by size instead of the cute little baby ratlings vs. their older brothers that you intended to search for

edit2: And some really weird pictures. O.o

edit3: Found some appropriate pictures, finally. Of course, size is relative, but here's how the pet stores would price them:

Small Rat (aka female or 8ish weeks old):

Medium Rat (aka a couple months old, or fully grown female):

Large Rat (aka adult, fully grown male):

Extra Large Sewer Rat (probably not sold in your pet store. If they are, run the gently caress away):

daggerdragon fucked around with this message at 21:24 on Mar 5, 2012

Beluga Smoothie · # ? Mar 5, 2012 21:42

Not going to lie, I'd love to snuggle a giant rat like those sewer ones if they were tame & clean. So much rat. :3 Most of my girls have been somewhere between the medium and large photos you showed. Leah was probably my biggest. Not fat by any means, just a big girl. I miss her, nervous greedy goofy-looking girl that she was.

I have a question about handling tumors. Emily's is growing, as expected, and I've noticed a section of it darkening. Is it safe to assume that this is tissue death? I've read that it can/will occur in the later stages of some tumors. Has anyone dealt with a rat who's had tumors reach this stage? About how long was it until you had to let them go? My primary concerns right now are her continuing to successfully move around & eliminate waste (which both seem to be fine) and keeping an eye out for any abscessing or skin opening (which hasn't happened yet).

Big Bug Hug · # ? Mar 5, 2012 22:24

Sorry about the tumor diagnosis, Invalid

daggerdragon posted:

Wobbly Rat Syndrome Although it does make me cringe when they full-on ram their nose into things.

I know, I feel bad for laughing, but its kinda hilarious :3:

daggerdragon · # ? Mar 5, 2012 22:28

Beluga Smoothie posted:

Not going to lie, I'd love to snuggle a giant rat like those sewer ones if they were tame & clean. So much rat. :3

Gambian Pouch Rat - lookit dat rat :3:

Big Bug Hug · # ? Mar 5, 2012 22:32

Beluga Smoothie posted:

Not going to lie, I'd love to snuggle a giant rat like those sewer ones if they were tame & clean. So much rat. :3 Most of my girls have been somewhere between the medium and large photos you showed. Leah was probably my biggest. Not fat by any means, just a big girl. I miss her, nervous greedy goofy-looking girl that she was.

I have a question about handling tumors. Emily's is growing, as expected, and I've noticed a section of it darkening. Is it safe to assume that this is tissue death? I've read that it can/will occur in the later stages of some tumors. Has anyone dealt with a rat who's had tumors reach this stage? About how long was it until you had to let them go? My primary concerns right now are her continuing to successfully move around & eliminate waste (which both seem to be fine) and keeping an eye out for any abscessing or skin opening (which hasn't happened yet).

Well I had Basil, who had a tumor that abscessed early on and stayed open for the next six months. It never bothered him right up till the end. I had him on Baytril that whole time to prevent infection. There vet said to look out for self mutilation, and the vet told me to make sure he was still urinating and defecating.

Of course some tumors grow slower than others(I think mammary tumors grow faster?), but yeah he lived quite happily for another six months with it, until 2.5 years old, and was acting pretty much like a very old rat at the end. Hopefully you get a good amount of time with your girl as well.

Big Bug Hug fucked around with this message at 22:35 on Mar 5, 2012

Beluga Smoothie · # ? Mar 5, 2012 23:23

daggerdragon OMG I CANNOT EVEN DEAL. :3:

Big Bug Hug, thanks! I knew I remembered someone had a rat with an opened tumor but my memory is spotty sometimes. I'm glad to hear he got on well with it. I'm still undecided as to what to do if/when it does open up, but I'm leaning towards that being the point at which I put her down. The tumor is already pretty large & seems to be picking up speed so I don't know how quality of life would be after something like that happening.

Enzer · Enzer Oct 17, 2008

So I think I may have an allergy to rat urine. Usually after I play with my girls or just chill holding them I normally notice a light itching, but it would quickly go away and I just considered it to be from their nails.

Today I was handling them and I noticed I was getting some severe irritation, after putting them away I found myself covered in a rather nasty rash which has only started to go down after a few hours once I intensely cleaned any skin that was exposed.

Now I will note that tomorrow is there scheduled weekly cage cleaning (scrubbing everything down with hot water and Nature's Miracle) so I expect that to be a bit of the cause for this rather bad outbreak, but also their favorite hammock (one of those pocketed ones) I have noted has become their favorite place to pee as well (it was also scheduled to be replaced tomorrow as it was a bit old and was used as a safe place for them while they adjusted being moved into one of those huge double layered critter nation cages). So basically they have been sleeping in their toilet.

Is there anyway I can train them to not pee in their hammock or am I pretty much stuck with thoroughly washing their new hammock every other day or so and wearing long sleeved shirts when I handle them?

Kind of upset because I will have owned my two girls for a year as of next month and this is the first major issue (outside of the stupid heat we had last summer) and I'm planning on being a long term rat owner.

I think I'll also give them a gentle washing with a wash cloth tomorrow as well, I've never attempted to bathe them before as I've been told that it really isn't recommended, any suggestions?

Beluga Smoothie · # ? Mar 6, 2012 08:25

Enzer posted:

So I think I may have an allergy to rat urine. Usually after I play with my girls or just chill holding them I normally notice a light itching, but it would quickly go away and I just considered it to be from their nails.

Today I was handling them and I noticed I was getting some severe irritation, after putting them away I found myself covered in a rather nasty rash which has only started to go down after a few hours once I intensely cleaned any skin that was exposed.

Now I will note that tomorrow is there scheduled weekly cage cleaning (scrubbing everything down with hot water and Nature's Miracle) so I expect that to be a bit of the cause for this rather bad outbreak, but also their favorite hammock (one of those pocketed ones) I have noted has become their favorite place to pee as well (it was also scheduled to be replaced tomorrow as it was a bit old and was used as a safe place for them while they adjusted being moved into one of those huge double layered critter nation cages). So basically they have been sleeping in their toilet.

Is there anyway I can train them to not pee in their hammock or am I pretty much stuck with thoroughly washing their new hammock every other day or so and wearing long sleeved shirts when I handle them?

Kind of upset because I will have owned my two girls for a year as of next month and this is the first major issue (outside of the stupid heat we had last summer) and I'm planning on being a long term rat owner.

I think I'll also give them a gentle washing with a wash cloth tomorrow as well, I've never attempted to bathe them before as I've been told that it really isn't recommended, any suggestions?

I don't really know what to tell you about the hammock or allergy stuff, but that sucks.

I can say though that yes, a gentle wipe-down with a warm, damp cloth will do just fine for cleaning them.

Big Bug Hug · # ? Mar 6, 2012 15:11

I've also heard of people who are allergic giving their little feet a wipe with some gentle antibacterial wipes, the kind meant for use on your hands or face. It might be worth a try doing that before handling them.

Enzer · Enzer Oct 17, 2008

I might look into that. I think what I am going to do about the hammock situation is get a bunch of cheap white t-shirts and cut them up. Will be easy to tell how dirty they are getting and will probably replace them every three days I guess and hand wash the hell out of the used ones. Really think if I can keep them from rolling around in stale urine the rash and hives shouldn't be a problem, or at least I hope.

Olive Bar · # ? Mar 7, 2012 03:46

I don't know if this makes me horrible, but I've come to the conclusion my boys pee everywhere, all the time. They especially love to pee where they sleep, so I just stick with my weekly cleaning and leave them be. But I also don't have the allergy issues, my hives are reserved for my roaches.

RazorBunny · # ? Mar 7, 2012 04:14

I think I'm allergic to rat urine as well. I'm allergic to a lot of things, though...

On top of keeping them clean, you might also consider picking up some antihistamine ointment. I usually mix it 50/50 with hand lotion to thin it out and just rub it into my skin, it stops the itching right away.

Big Bug Hug · # ? Mar 7, 2012 04:42

Olive Bar posted:

I don't know if this makes me horrible, but I've come to the conclusion my boys pee everywhere, all the time. They especially love to pee where they sleep, so I just stick with my weekly cleaning and leave them be. But I also don't have the allergy issues, my hives are reserved for my roaches.

Yeah, I believe boy rats enjoy the smell of their own pee. That's what I tell people when they're despairing over getting them to pee in a litter box(mine poop in there but pee everywhere else). and why I tell people not to bother too much about bathing them... they're just gonna pee all over eachother again anyway. To be honest though mine groom themselves enough that I don't normally smell it on them, or maybe I just don't notice it anymore.

I was about to say "ewww, you have roaches?!" When I realised a lot of people would say that about rats, so...

LegioPraetoria · # ? Mar 7, 2012 05:02

A bit of a question about rat diets:
One our girls (actually I'm InvalidOctopus's SO)is having a lot of trouble eating lab blocks due to losing co-ordination in one of her hands. While we're giving her stuff for her pituitary tumor, is there any kind of diet we could construct around, say, babyfood that would be well-balanced but also something she could lick up?

Supercondescending · # ? Mar 7, 2012 05:11

WolfhoundFC posted:

A bit of a question about rat diets:
One our girls (actually I'm InvalidOctopus's SO)is having a lot of trouble eating lab blocks due to losing co-ordination in one of her hands. While we're giving her stuff for her pituitary tumor, is there any kind of diet we could construct around, say, babyfood that would be well-balanced but also something she could lick up?

Blocks are lovely anyway. Try a "base" of baby cereal mixed with various cooked grains, and offer soft (cooked or pureed, if necessary) fruits and veg daily, and throw in some kind of animal protein a few times a week. (Scrambled egg is soft and works great, but whatever she'll eat.) You can add in all kinds of stuff to the baby cereal/grain base- soy based infant formula, KMR, yogurt, baby food, whatever she'll eat. Rat diets are pretty hard to screw up and you can't really go too wrong following "grains as a base, daily fruit and vegetables, animal protein 2-3 times weekly" as a model.

redmercer · # ? Mar 7, 2012 06:17

daggerdragon posted:

Gambian Pouch Rat - lookit dat rat

Bigger + cuter + longer living = a rat I'd risk a God drat felony for

Slidje · # ? Mar 7, 2012 11:12

redmercer posted:

longer living

I've been researching them for a long time. They seem to have a common health problem, where they enter a hibernation state (torpor) and die soon after. No one seems to know the root cause so I've been collecting my own data and trying to figure it out before getting one.
They can suffer from the same respiratory problems and cancer as normal rats.

Main problem is the torpor. They don't seem to last long in Western captivity. Might be something lacking in their diet or the different weather patterns.

It's far more difficult to socialise them. They're not at sufficient generations yet to be tamed easily but the bigger risk is from their size. A normal rat can bite, maybe punch through to the bone and hurt you a lot.
These guys can bite enough to cause you serious injury and permanent damage. You don't want one around your children or strangers until they are tame, and some never accept captivity.

You know how normal rats can bite through wires and chew on furniture? These guys can gnaw through table legs in a few minutes, and they love doing it.
They are super agile, and can jump enormous distances while exploring. You can't just rat proof a room, you need to cat proof it as well.

Your cage needs to be sturdier than normal cos they can chew through the wires and plastic cage bottoms. In the wild they build underground burrows. It needs to be massive too.

I'm still serious about getting one but I've been researching it for about 4 years now. Read this forum and this before you commit to anything.
I would recommend waiting a few more years for people to research them better.
Wait for more healthy/tame strains to emerge. Be warned, that video Ratatouille posts is a baby GPR having a seizure. They had to put him down at 6 weeks old. loving heartbreaking

Slidje fucked around with this message at 11:20 on Mar 7, 2012

Invalid Octopus · # ? Mar 8, 2012 05:09

Patti got worse, very quickly. She's been on the medication since Monday, but she's having trouble moving and feeding herself. I know a lot of rat owners advocate keeping the rat alive basically as long as it will accept food, even when it can't care for itself. But neither of us think this kind of struggle is worth it, so I'm pretty sure it's time for the final vet visit tomorrow morning. Thanks guys.

Invalid Octopus fucked around with this message at 05:54 on Mar 8, 2012

Big Bug Hug · # ? Mar 8, 2012 09:13

Invalid Octopus posted:

Patti got worse, very quickly. She's been on the medication since Monday, but she's having trouble moving and feeding herself. I know a lot of rat owners advocate keeping the rat alive basically as long as it will accept food, even when it can't care for itself. But neither of us think this kind of struggle is worth it, so I'm pretty sure it's time for the final vet visit tomorrow morning. Thanks guys.

I think its a personal decision, and I can see how some people might be happy to hand feed their rats as long as possible. That said, I put my last boy down when his quality of life had declined to the point where I hated seeing him looking miserable and he couldn't do the things he loved to do

I'm sorry. I hope it goes as well as possible.

VVV yeah, and when there's no hope of recovery, of course.

Big Bug Hug fucked around with this message at 09:38 on Mar 8, 2012

Slidje · # ? Mar 8, 2012 09:21

Invalid Octopus posted:

You know your rats better than anyone so you are always the best person to decide what happens.

I personally wont put a rat down unless I think they are miserable and wont get better or they don't want to be alive any more.

Invalid Octopus · # ? Mar 8, 2012 17:33

Thanks. She was clearly not going to get any better, and the vet agreed that it was probably time. I can't imagine how frustrating it must have been for her to try and eat and have her tongue not work right.

But hey. Happy news now:

A tiny thing who already has a case of the blurs. She's unnamed for now, but we've been calling her Zippy in the meantime.

Big Bug Hug · # ? Mar 9, 2012 11:28

Hard taking pictures of baby rats! Wow she looks like a cutie though.

felgs · # ? Mar 10, 2012 03:13

Oh wow, I'm so happy that there's a group for rats. All my coworkers think I'm weird for having him, but I love my little guy. His name is Neville, and he's very movey and rarely sits still, so I don't have any high quality pictures, but I got him rubbing his face by his favourite place (my shoes).

I usually try to let him out (where I can monitor him/play with him) whenever I come home until I go to bed, unless there's something where I know I can't keep an eye on him. He's very clever, and at this point I've trained him to stay in the kitchen with me when I make dinner, and make him little forts he can crawl through out of a spare couch blanket.

He was very very shy when I got him, and wouldn't come out at all, but now he's the friendliest thing. :3:

He had a respitory infection after I got him, but I took him straight to the vet and now he's doing just great.

I'm planning on getting him a buddy of some sort towards the end of this month (my job keeps me out most the day now, so I don't want him being alone). Any advice that I need to know? Should I take him with me so he can help screen possible buddies?

Supercondescending · # ? Mar 10, 2012 05:46

He'll be a dick to new rats and then chill out once he gets to know them. Introduce them on neutral ground (bathtubs are great) and then let them sort out their poo poo as long as no blood is drawn. That's about it.

Scribbleboy · # ? Mar 10, 2012 06:49

I got new rats a couple of weeks ago, and decided it is finally time to stop lurking and post some photos because they are the cutest things ever.

This is Frodo:

and his brother Sam, whose fur seems to be getting even messier as the days go by :3:

Is this possible, or am I imagining it?

I had originally planned to introduce them to my older boys slowly, but the second I got them out together on neutral ground, the older ones started grooming the younger ones and then they all fell asleep. There has been zero aggression (aside from playfighting) which is awesome. I guess the younger ones were just seen as babies.
This is Wilson, the oldest (I think he's about a year), and the alpha:

He is huge and super friendly.

And this is Fred (about 8 months), who is still incredibly hyper and therefore almost impossible to take photos of, but I feel mean making a big post and not posting at least one photo of him. He has this really annoying habit of trying to push the food bowl off its ledge at 5am every day. I don't know how to make him stop (he usually wakes me up with this so I just move the bowl for a few hours). I've tried getting bigger and heavier bowls but nope.

Gooses and Geeses · # ? Mar 10, 2012 08:00

Sam looks like he has a Rex coat so yes it will look like that

Big Bug Hug · # ? Mar 10, 2012 11:46

OMG Sam is so handsome. Is that silverfawn? :swoon:

(I love your photography too!)

Slidje · # ? Mar 10, 2012 12:42

Scribbleboy posted:

YESSS

Invalid Octopus · # ? Mar 10, 2012 17:40

The new rat, which we're calling Folly is by far the friendliest rat kit I've met. When you open the cage door she runs and jumps up to say hi, and is just ridiculously sweet.

Big Bug Hug · # ? Mar 11, 2012 02:32

Folly is a great name! And she's so cute. Even has a little black nose

Friendly baby rats are great. I am enjoying my two 15 week old boys too. The breeder did a wonderful job socialising them. Even my other rats, who are sweet, are nothing like these two. They beg to come out and are so confident outside the cage. They initiate games with me.

Minty plays chase... he will run up, bounce on me or nibble something I'm holding to get attention, then run when I try to grab him. Then he will bounce back for more. He also plays a game at the cage - runs up my arm, I smother him with kisses and toss him back in... he does a loop around the cage then comes back and runs back up my arm :3:

Oh, blurry baby rats!

Scribbleboy posted:

And this is Fred (about 8 months), who is still incredibly hyper and therefore almost impossible to take photos of, but I feel mean making a big post and not posting at least one photo of him. He has this really annoying habit of trying to push the food bowl off its ledge at 5am every day. I don't know how to make him stop (he usually wakes me up with this so I just move the bowl for a few hours). I've tried getting bigger and heavier bowls but nope.

You could try a hopper-type feeding system, if you can find a suitable container that can screw/hang on the side of the cage. Or put the dish on the lowest level

Sounds like he's training you... lol

Big Bug Hug fucked around with this message at 02:42 on Mar 11, 2012

Supercondescending · # ? Mar 11, 2012 03:48

This rat is so hosed up. His pneumonia is so bad he gasps constantly, and it doesn't look like he's absorbing nutrients- he eats constantly, but just gets a huge belly and then shits it all out while remaining skeletal. All the first vet would give me is baytril, and not enough, so he's going to a new one Monday who will hopefully give a poo poo. I've got him on antihistamines and an expectorant which keeps him hacking out enough mucous to allow him to get enough oxygen to stay alive, and I'm giving him subq fluids, but he isn't improving.

I'm scared I'm going to have to euth him if the appointment Monday doesn't reveal anything new, which normally wouldn't really bother me if he weren't the most affectionate rat ever. He just wants to sit in my hand all day, and he leans into it and bruxes and gives kisses and will hobble over to me to crawl into my hand when he sees me despite being weak as hell and hnnnnnnnnngh this sucks you guys

felgs · # ? Mar 11, 2012 04:22

That sounds horrible, and I really hope the other vet will find something else and be able to help more.

Beluga Smoothie · # ? Mar 11, 2012 05:17

I'm so glad you're doing all that for the little fella, Super. I hope he improves.

We had Emily put down today. I was trying to coax her out of her house so I could check her tumor & she wouldn't come out, so I reached in for her & she bit me twice, drawing blood. She was never well socialized, but she NEVER bit me before. I noticed her breathing was labored as well & she was shifting a lot to try and get comfortable. I decided these were the signs for me to let her go. It feels so empty not having little fuzzy faces to smooch now. I'm going to be cleaning all of the cages (current one & other smaller, older ones) and giving them & all of my remaining rat supplies to local rat folks. I'm sad but I'm relieved. No more worrying about illnesses & aging & problems.

Rodent Mortician · # ? Mar 11, 2012 06:10

Superconsndar posted:

This rat is so hosed up. His pneumonia is so bad he gasps constantly, and it doesn't look like he's absorbing nutrients- he eats constantly, but just gets a huge belly and then shits it all out while remaining skeletal. All the first vet would give me is baytril, and not enough, so he's going to a new one Monday who will hopefully give a poo poo. I've got him on antihistamines and an expectorant which keeps him hacking out enough mucous to allow him to get enough oxygen to stay alive, and I'm giving him subq fluids, but he isn't improving.

I'm scared I'm going to have to euth him if the appointment Monday doesn't reveal anything new, which normally wouldn't really bother me if he weren't the most affectionate rat ever. He just wants to sit in my hand all day, and he leans into it and bruxes and gives kisses and will hobble over to me to crawl into my hand when he sees me despite being weak as hell and hnnnnnnnnngh this sucks you guys

FWIW, my very first rat was a feeder that some jackass had bought for their snake and ignored pneumonia in for several weeks. She literally never got better. We kept her on a bronchiodialator and antibiotics her whole life. She basically slept a huge amount of the time and got winded walking around. She was a shy thing and mostly seemed to enjoy lounging in the hammock and eating rat junk food so that's what I let her do. Nebulizer treatments weekly did help somewhat.

Big Bug Hug · # ? Mar 11, 2012 08:45

I'm sorry Beluga, it definitely sounds like you did the right thing though.

Superconsndar posted:

This rat is so hosed up. His pneumonia is so bad he gasps constantly, and it doesn't look like he's absorbing nutrients- he eats constantly, but just gets a huge belly and then shits it all out while remaining skeletal. All the first vet would give me is baytril, and not enough, so he's going to a new one Monday who will hopefully give a poo poo. I've got him on antihistamines and an expectorant which keeps him hacking out enough mucous to allow him to get enough oxygen to stay alive, and I'm giving him subq fluids, but he isn't improving.

I'm scared I'm going to have to euth him if the appointment Monday doesn't reveal anything new, which normally wouldn't really bother me if he weren't the most affectionate rat ever. He just wants to sit in my hand all day, and he leans into it and bruxes and gives kisses and will hobble over to me to crawl into my hand when he sees me despite being weak as hell and hnnnnnnnnngh this sucks you guys

Thats so sad. I hope something can be done. A mix of antibiotics and maybe nebulisation or something like what RM said? It depends how willing you are to undertake drastic time consuming treatments. I would probably do it so long as it looked like he had some quality of life, but then I have a lot of time on my hands.

At least you are giving him some affection and he's not stuck back in crappy conditions.

Supercondescending · # ? Mar 11, 2012 15:26

Big Bug Hug posted:

I'm sorry Beluga, it definitely sounds like you did the right thing though.

Thats so sad. I hope something can be done. A mix of antibiotics and maybe nebulisation or something like what RM said? It depends how willing you are to undertake drastic time consuming treatments. I would probably do it so long as it looked like he had some quality of life, but then I have a lot of time on my hands.

At least you are giving him some affection and he's not stuck back in crappy conditions.

Already doin' the nebulizer.

He's so weak I'm afraid the stress from being forcefed meds orally would kill him. I work from 8-5 (and don't actually get home until around 6) so I do have to work around that as far as treating him. I've been cleaning and dosing him in the morning, coming home on my lunch hour and cleaning him up and dosing him with everything then, and again when I get home and one more time before bed.

Rodent Mortician posted:

FWIW, my very first rat was a feeder that some jackass had bought for their snake and ignored pneumonia in for several weeks. She literally never got better. We kept her on a bronchiodialator and antibiotics her whole life. She basically slept a huge amount of the time and got winded walking around. She was a shy thing and mostly seemed to enjoy lounging in the hammock and eating rat junk food so that's what I let her do. Nebulizer treatments weekly did help somewhat.

Yup, I've been there too. Honestly, if this is going to be his life, I'm euthing- yeah he eats and enjoys affection, but he's clearly stressed from not being able to breathe and has regular panic attacks from it. The main thing is nutrient absorption- If I can get him to gain and maintain weight and get the diarrhea under control, I MIGHT be able to deal with a lifetime of medicating for his severe respiratory problems depending on the severity and how well I'm able to control them. In the past it's always been case by case for me and dependent on the individual rat's quality of life. I just can't figure out why he isn't absorbing anything- it doesn't matter how calorie dense what I'm giving him is, his body does nothing with it and just shoots it out of the other end. I've got him on enough fiber that his poop isn't liquid anymore, but it's still pretty much constant and if he's going to be in a state of perpetual starvation, that's no life for him. It's almost like cases of mild megacolon I've seen, but he's def not a MC rat, just screwed up. If I do euth, I'm definitely opening him up to see if I can see what's going on internally because I'm almost convinced there has to be something fundamentally wrong with his digestive system.

We'll see what the vet says tomorrow, this one isn't a rat vet but he's seen rats for me before and is pretty good about at least trying. I may ask for an xray or ultrasound to see if anything obvious shows up. I have a feeling there's something structurally wrong with him internally.

Rodent Mortician · # ? Mar 11, 2012 20:02

Maybe get a fecal done? He may have giardia/coccidia/other gross intestinal things which might explain the diarrhea/failure to thrive.

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Big Bug Hug · # ? Mar 11, 2012 22:32

I understand - if you don't have the time and you feel his quality of life isn't worth it there's nothing much else to do. I've seen rats panic from not being able to breathe and its heartbreaking

I hope you can find out if he's got anything fixable with his digestion though, in case it helps his overall health.