Common rat illnesses

Please note that yearly examinations or shots from the vet are not required for rats. please visit the vet if symptoms of any of the following illnesses appear.

If you are worried that your rat may be ill, perform the following checks:
1. Feel all over their body, neck and head for any lumps or bumps
2. Press lightly on their tummy all over to see if there are any areas causing them irritation (they will likely squeak if one area is making them uncomfortable)
3. Rat phone! Hold their belly up to your ear and give a listen. Make sure there isn't any rattling, gurgling, raspiness, squeaking, any sound at all.
4. Check behind the ears, around the neck and under their chin for any scrapes or cuts or other signs of mites or lice
5. Check that their eyes, ears and nose are clear, and that there isn't any urine stain under them. Make sure she isn't overly dirty from urine or feces, that she is still cleaning herself. If your rat is elderly, they may need assistance with cleaning.
6. Make sure they are still using the washroom and drinking water and eating food. To make sure they are still drinking water, put an elastic band around your water bottle at the level it is currently sitting at, then make sure the water goes down.

The most common rat illnessses and their symptoms are as follows:
(Symptoms and treatment from experience, the rat guide and the rat fan club)

Lower/Upper respiratory illness

(http://ratguide.com/health/bacteria/mycoplasma_mycoplasmosis.php)
How to prevent Respiratory illnesses

Unfortunately it is impossible at this time to completely free rats from mycoplasma pulmonis which is what leads to respiratory illness. However a few ways to prevent a respiratory flareup are as follows:
- Keep surroundings clean.
- Keep surroundings dust and scent free.
- Keep temperature and humidity steady.

Symptoms:

- Porphyrin (rust colored) stains about nose and/or eyes.
- Wheezing
- Small coughs
- Congestion
- Excessive sneezing
- Increase in rapid breathing
- Labored breathing (use of abdominal muscles to breathe)
- Gasping.
- Hunched posturing
- Ruffled or bristled fur, fur loss
- Lethargy
- Poor or loss of appetite.
- Panic type movement related to inability to get enough oxygen into lungs.
- Changes in behavior due to illness (e.g. nipping, biting, avoidance)
- Feet and tail tip cyanosis (as oxygen in blood decreases) may be a late sign.
- Rattling sounds in the chest
- Presence of head tilt if otitis media/interna (ear infection) is present.
- Open mouth breathing

checking your rat for an ri

1. Check your rat's ears, eyes and nose to make sure that they are clean - no porphyrin, leaking or puffiness present.
2. Rat phone! Hold your rat's stomach up to your ear. Check that you don't hear any clicking, squeaking, wheezing, any sound at all.

Treatment for a light respiratory infection

For light respiratory, make sure that nothing in the environment is causing the irritation:
- Remove any sources of dust. (dusty bedding, dusty shelves, fans blowing dust around, etc.)
- If you are using carefresh bedding, this is often a cause. Switch to aspen or fabric.
- Remove any source of scent. (smoking, insense, febreeze, air fresheners, heavy perfumes, perfumed soaps used in cleaning, etc.)
- Check that temperature and humidity in the room are proper. (temperature between 18 and 23 degrees, humidity at 40%-60%)
- Temp and humidity gauges can be found for under $2.
- Run a hot shower in your bathroom to make the room humid. Bring your affected rat/rats into the bathroom with raised humidity for 30 minutes twice a day for 3-7 days. Feed your rats a piece of dark chocolate the size of their front paw every other day for 1 week.

your rat is likely to need a vet trip if:

1. They have three or more of the symptoms listed above.
2. There is clicking, squeaking, wheezing, any sound in their chest when you listen to them.
3. If your rat is open mouth breathing
4. If your rat is displaying one or more of the symptoms listed above and is unusually lethargic and antisocial.

Medical treatment:

- Tetracycline Can be used for light sneezing or light poryphorin. Light antibiotic, found at pet stores. Can be put in water or mixed in baby food. 1 package in 1/2 jar of baby food fed in 1/4 tsp per day or full package in large water bottle.
- Enrofloxacin (Baytril) Can be used for all symptoms. Will be prescribed by the vet. 15 mg/kg BID, PO (oral) for 10-30 days
- Doxycycline Can be used for all symptoms. Will be prescribed by the vet. 5 mg/kg BID PO (oral) for 10-30 days

These are the most common treatments used for respiratory illnesses. If needed your vet may prescribe two of the medications to be used at the same time. If your rat is demonstrating two or more of the symptoms listed above, please visit the vet as soon as possible.

- Medicate for pain relief. Also use an antibiotic to prevent infection.

- In the case of a small wound: keep the wound clean and the surroundings clean.

- In the case of tail degloving: the rat will trim the tail on their own and it will heal up. Keep separate from cagemates until healing process is finished and clean the cage daily.

Absesses and cysts

(http://www.ratfanclub.org/abscess.html)

Symptoms:

- Small puss filled bumps or lumps found on your rat's skin.
- Please refer to the above link to see more on absesses and cysts.

Tumours

(http://www.ratfanclub.org/tumors.html)

Symptoms:

- A firm, swiftly growing lump found under your rat’s skin. - Can be moved separately from your rats skin.

Treatment

- There are no home remedies for tumours. Your rat will have to have surgery performed by a vet.

How to prevent tumours:

- Feed your rats a healthy, low fat diet to prevent tumours. Feed them regular fruits and vegetables and not too many high fat treats.

- It is commonly said that spaying and neutering is beneficial to your rats to prevent tumours, however I would not recommend spaying or neutering your rats for this reason. A spay and neuter will not protect your rats from any kind of tumour and is an invasive surgery that can be very dangerous to your rat's health especially if your rat is young or very small. You will be much better off preventing tumours by adopting from a tumour free line and feeding your rats vegetables than if you spay or neuter your rats, and you are at much less risk of complications by avoiding surgery.

Things to have on hand as your first aid kit

- Antiseptic (for cleaning wounds) Found at most drug stores
- Cat revolution (for mites and lice) Found online - if you are using this for the first time, please visit a vet for instructions and to purchase this to know how to properly apply.
- Clotrimazole (antifungal cream for ringworm or other fungus) Found at most drug stores
- Dark chocolate (for respiratory illness) - this is to be used ONLY in the case of respiratory illness and ONLY in very very small amounts. Give them a small piece (half the size of your pinky nail at most) every other day if they are having respiratory difficulties, but otherwise this should not be given regularly.
- A temperature and humidity gauge.

Hopefully you will not need to use any of these supplies but having them on hand for emergencies is a good idea.

A list of other illnesses that you could encounter can be found at the Rat Guide, linked above.

If you feel your rat needs a vet trip, please feel free to describe the issue to me beforehand. Unfortunately some of our Toronto vets have not been well educated in rat care and coming into the appointment prepared is a good idea unless you have seen the vet previously. This is not to say that I have more knowledge than a vet and the vet is still the place to go to find treatment for your rat, but I will likely be able to give a few recommendations towards treatment and to bring in to your appointment.

Summary:

A healthy rat has clean ears and eyes, a full coat of fur (unless double rex or hairless obviously) and is free of scabs, cuts and bumps, aka. skin is clear.. All rats are born with a certain level of mycoplasma and are very prone to respiratory diseases. This means occasional sneezing is to be expected but if you notice it frequently, you may need to consult a vet for antibiotics. Other signs of sickness include hair loss (especially on the face), lack of activity, loss of appetite, any oozing from eyes or ears and any signs of unusual aggression.

In the event of a mild or serious case of an RI (respiratory infection) which will become obvious through frequent sneezing, wheezing, porphyrin around the eyes or blood around the nose, clicking in the chest, loss of appetite and thirst and acting lethargic you can help your rat recover with fresh air, proper room temperature, and if they are existent in the room remove any irritants (air fresheners/candles/perfume/etc), and make sure to give them lots of love. The respiratory infections can only spread to other rats and some mice, not humans nor other house pets. Other signs of respiratory illness include a wet nose, a runny nose, or other eye discharge. A “home remedy” that can be safely used to help control respiratory infections until you can bring the rattie to the vet is Tetracycline powder; two packets in a jar of baby food mixed in fed to your baby once a day for 5 days. I am not prescribing this as a solution for a rats respiratory health issues, it has been a recommendation for help with minor respiratory illness. If your rat is very sick please contact a vet. If a male rat is very territorial or you would like to home a male and female rat together without having a litter, rats can be spade or neutered professionally by your veterinarian.

If you find any lumps or bumps on your rattie please contact a vetrinarian. There are no "home remedies" to help reduce any lumps or bumps on your rattie and they must be seen by a vet as soon as possible. The same goes for finding anything resembling a flea or a tick which could have been transferred to them by their surroundings.

If your rattie is losing fur with no other signs of illness they are likely to be overgrooming. Overgrooming can be caused by illness, stress or depression. The most common cause for stress and depression in rats is not having a rattie friend, not having room to run around in their home, being overcrowded or frequently not having food and water in the cage. Ratties also could be sensitive to other pets you own and feel threatened in which case one should keep the cage out of a room where other pets are located. If overgrooming becomes a habit with your rattie please go over the conditions they are living in and make sure that they are appropriate and suited to keep your rat as happy as possible.

Spaying and Neutering Rats

The decision to spay or neuter your rats is an important one. Please note that rats are not required to be spayed or neutered, this is an option that you can decide to follow through with after adoption.

Reasons you may want to spay or neuter your rat:

- To house males and females together - If you have decided to adopt both males and females, in order to prevent unexpected litters you must spay or neuter your rat so they do not have the ability to reproduce.
- To reduce the risk of tumours - spaying your female rat reduces the risk of mammary tumours. "One study (Hotchkis, 1995) found that in unspayed rats used in the study, 49% developed benign mammary tumors, 8.2% developed mammary carcinomas and 66% developed pituitary tumors. In the spayed rats used in this study, 4% developed mammary tumors, none developed mammary carcinomas and 4% developed pituitary tumors." [Source]. Neutering your male rat does the same.
- To decrease aggression in male rats - It has been observed that neutered male rats, if hormonally aggressive, improve drastically after being neutered.
- To reduce marking - neutering also is shown to decrease marking in male rats.

Reasons you may want to avoid the procedure:

- It is an invasive surgery - in general, invasive surgeries that are elective should be avoided in all species. Due to the nature of the surgery it is best done in females between 3-6 months, and males at around 6 months of age. Spaying or neutering when the rat is older or younger could pose a risk to their health.
- Anesthetic - An experienced vet should know what dose your rat should be given, however there is a risk of complications with anesthetic in rats. Discuss this with your vet before agreeing to have your rat put under.
- Cost - A neuter or spay in Toronto (currently in 2017) costs around $350.

My personal opinion on the procedures:

In my own opinion, I would not recommend that every adopter have this surgery performed on their rats. If one can instead keep males and females separate, adopt from tumour free lines and adopt from lines that are free of aggression, this invasive surgery should not be performed.
If your rats are of an unknown background it is possible that this surgery could be beneficial to your rats, but please put a lot of thought into it before having it performed! As always, make sure you are going to a vet that has experience providing rats with this surgery, and ask them about their success rate to make sure that your rats will come out safe and happy.

Common rat illnesses

Please note that yearly examinations or shots from the vet are not required for rats. please visit the vet if symptoms of any of the following illnesses appear.

The most common rat illnessses and their symptoms are as follows:(Symptoms and treatment from experience, the rat guide and the rat fan club)

Lower/Upper respiratory illness

(http://ratguide.com/health/bacteria/mycoplasma_mycoplasmosis.php)How to prevent Respiratory illnesses

Symptoms:

checking your rat for an ri

Treatment for a light respiratory infection

your rat is likely to need a vet trip if:

Medical treatment:

Porphyrin

(http://ratguide.com/health/eyes/porphyrin_secretions_red_tears.php)

A pink substance excreted from your rats nose or eyes - not to be mistaken for blood.

How to prevent porphyrin

Can be caused by the following:

Treatment:

Mites, lice and other skin issues

(http://www.ratfanclub.org/skin.html)

How to prevent skin issues

Symptoms

Treatment

Inner Ear Infection

(http://ratguide.com/health/auricle_ear/otitis_media_otitis_interna_labyrinthitis.php)

How to prevent ear infections

Symptoms

Treatment

Bumblefoot

(http://ratguide.com/health/integumentary_skin/ulcerative_pododermatitis.php)

How to prevent bumblefoot

Symptoms

Treatment

External injury

Any injury that your rat may have on their skin or tail.

How to prevent injury

Symptoms

Treatment

Absesses and cysts

(http://www.ratfanclub.org/abscess.html)

Symptoms:

Tumours

(http://www.ratfanclub.org/tumors.html)

Symptoms:

Treatment

How to prevent tumours:

Things to have on hand as your first aid kit

A list of other illnesses that you could encounter can be found at the Rat Guide, linked above.

Summary:

Spaying and Neutering Rats

Reasons you may want to spay or neuter your rat:

Reasons you may want to avoid the procedure:

My personal opinion on the procedures:

The most common rat illnessses and their symptoms are as follows:
(Symptoms and treatment from experience, the rat guide and the rat fan club)

(http://ratguide.com/health/bacteria/mycoplasma_mycoplasmosis.php)
How to prevent Respiratory illnesses