Baby rat with injured face, nutrition suggestions?

My son just got 2 baby rats last week, they are now 7 weeks old. One of the babies somehow managed to severely damage his face while in his cage. We took him to our exotic vet who stitched up his cheek/lip and gave us antibiotics and pain medicine for him and told us to separate him from his brother in case so he won't remove, the stitches.

The injured baby does not seem capable or willing to eat his Mazuri rat food, though he will eat softer things like chicken, cheerios, and fruit. We've been giving him as much as he will eat, he drinks from the water bottle and is pooping. His eyes are bright, fur looks good, and he is energetic. But today I noticed his brother is growing much more rapidly than the wounded guy.

I can't ask the vet until Monday, any suggestions on what to feed him to maximize nutrition and healthy growth? And how much he should be eating? Thanks!

you might want to add baby food and organic soy infant formula thickened with baby cereal
and other soft foods such as cooked oatmeal with berries, cooked sweet potato, etc

btw you might want to switch the block you use to Oxbow or Harlan Teklad 2014 as they are the two best ones

blocks can be soaked in cool water to make mush. That might make it easier for him to eat blocks

It is encouraging that he is eating well and drinking

Thanks, we will make some pellet mush and give him some oatmeal. He has eaten a piece of cookie and anything softer than that we've offered, has only turned down pumpkin seeds and food pellets. I can also get him some formula and baby food to try, too.

Hes really a feisty little dude, he tells me off loudly when I administer his liquid oral meds each morning, he's not a fan. He and his brother are allowed playtime together supervised, and they are equally playful and active. Today I noticed he uses the injured side of him mouth a bit to eat and drink, he was drinking and eating lopsided before. The vet said his prognosis is good on Monday evening and I was feeling pretty positive...until I noticed the size discrepancy today in babies that were identical sized 5 days ago

Thank you!!! Churro is sitting in a bowl of mushed rat food devouring it right now. I feel like an idiot for not thinking of this myself. Now I can actually see how much he is eating compared to his brother, too, for an informed conversation with the vet! Where "he ate 2 pieces of a chicken finger and some bites of toast and a glob of applesauce" isn't very meaningful.

He is also a fan of the oatmeal, and my son's other rats agree it is yummy. I am sure my daughter's 2 rats will get a bit of oatmeal, too, when she wakes up, but they never met a food item they didn't like.

Glad he is doing better
Btw, rats are not normally separated as it can cause stress
Rats are usually put back together with their cage mates soon after surgery,
If the boys are doing well together you might consider putting them back together

We put the brothers back together and they obviously both appreciate it.

Our injured guy is drinking plenty of water and he loves soy formula and cheerios, but he's not eating anything else. He's growing and seems healthy and active, but I know that's not a sustainable diet.

He won't touch the mush food after that first time. He won't eat baby food, yogurt treats, peanut butter, yogurt, oatmeal, pumpkin seeds or fresh spinach.

He will eat cheerios, rice krispies and some almond protein O cereal we have. I am going to try formula and rat block mush mixed. But any other ideas are welcome! Would a soy human adult meal replacement be better than formula?

The vet says she had to put a stitch across the cleft in his lip, so that almost certainly is why we are struggling so much with feeding. He gets pain medication and antibiotics every morning, which he has mostly stopped arguing with me about. His stitches will be removed Monday.

Ratfeathers said:

I am going to try formula and rat block mush mixed. Would a soy human adult meal replacement be better than formula?

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Thicken the formula with baby cereal (the type that says add milk) ......... once he gets used to eating that, then try adding a small amount of mush to this.

No idea about the adult meal supplement ........ I would assume that the adult formula would have many additives to make it taste better so probably is not as good as a formula made for growing babies .... you could look at the additives - rats need low protein and no added sugar, salt etc ..... I buy the infant formula as a powder and mix it myself - this is less expensive then buying small cans of formula

It is great that he is eating and doing well.
I imagine that as he heals he will try other foods ...especially if his brother loves them, so continue to give the boys daily vegs at least a couple of times a day and offer treats too

Churro, the injured rat, likes the food mush if we add soy formula!

This is great, because his brother, Snickerdoodle, dislikes both formula and food mush, so we can monitor Churro's intake.

I bought premixed formula just to avoid investing in huge quantities. We are really hoping that once the stitches are removed, he will quickly work his way back up to rat block. He is now drinking from his water bottle with both sides of his mouth and the swelling has gone down. If he can't handle mush with water or just crushed lab block by Monday evening, I will buy a can of powdered formula.

you are likely right as he should soon be healed and able to eat other foods ....... only mentioned it in case it would be less expensive

Wonderful that he is doing so well

Thank you so much, your advice to put the rat babies back together and about how to feed our injured baby probably saved his life.

Churro had a follow up vet visit yesterday, got some more repair work done. The second round of stitches now that some of the damage is healed looks great and vet expects a full recovery.

We are continuing with soy formula food mush for the next week and then hoping we can wean him back to real food.

One question: he weighs 120 grams up from 95 grams when we got him. Is that reasonable growth in 2 weeks? It's not as much as his brother, but we are happy he is at least growing.

For right now, I wouldn't worry about the rate at which he is growing ...... just continue to give him as much nutritious food as he is able to eat .... the fact that he is not only eating but is growing is wonderful!

Babies grow fast and he will likely catch up once he is feeling better.

I am so very glad that he is doing well.
I would suggest that you continue to offer a lot of nutritious food that you know he can eat and as you are likely already doing, also offer healthy foods that he may be able to eat as he heals, but allow him to make the choice ..... once he is able, I am sure he will want to try all the foods that his brother enjoys and will make the switch when he is able to.

Great job.!
I look forward to lots of pics of the boys

Churro is now back to eating anything the other rats can eat, and we are back to introducing the babies to the older rat, Rex, in hopes of giving all 3 full run of the double Critter Nation together. So far, so good. They are all mildly curious of one another, fully willing to climb over each other rather than going around, not bothered by one another at all.

So glad that he is feeling better and doing so well

I am not sure what your experience is, but here is a thread on the established gradual intro stes, and joinrats.com also has good info on intros
god luck and I hope you will post lots of pics