Tiny rescue baby, need some advice!

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kbg

Active Member
Joined
Nov 11, 2015
Messages
40
Location
Nova Scotia, Canada.
I found a little guy on deaths door at the local pet shop, and as soon as I picked him up, he crawled into my shirt and started bruxxing. Home he came, one week ago today. I didn't think he would make it the first night. He could barely walk, and he was a walking skeleton with skin stretched over him. I guessed him to be 3-4 weeks old. He was in a glass cage with only his sister (very active and healthy), his mother and siblings having had an unknown fate. He came with a URI and some strange swelling in his scrotum area that looks like fluid built up in there. He wouldn't eat hardly at all, so I syringed water mixed with powder from the bottom of a bag of 18% blocks into his mouth slowly, and he started to take this. After two days he was eating blocks and drinking water on his own. The vet said the biggest issue right now is getting weight on him, so we have done well with this. He went from 33 grams last Saturday, to 50 grams today! He went from total lack of energy, and no baby rat like behavior, to acting just like every baby rat I've ever met. He's been on Zithro since last Monday, and although he is slightly better, I think he needs something added. I have some Baytril here and I am wondering if this is safe to add at such a young age? The swelling in his scrotum has gone down a bit, but it still seems filled with clear fluid. Any ideas on this as well? Also, he has mites. Is it safe to give him revolution at this age and with his health as it is, and the meds he's on? Thanks! (o:
 
Poor wee one was probably the runt of the litter making him smaller and weaker than his siblings, so when he was weaned too early he did worse than his sister. The soft higher protein foods did wonders for him (as you can see by his weight gain).

So lets go through his issues one by one.

Mites and treatment. Does he have scabs on his body (mites are microscopic so you won't see them just their effects on the rat) or does he have visible buggies moving through his fur slowly (lice). Either way you can only use cat/kitten/puppy Revolution on him and the smallest amount. If youpul l up the Revolution to just under the 0.01 (first marking on a 1 ml syringe) that should be fine.

Swelling in scrotum? Can you get a pic of this? Is it different from his testicles? or is it possibly on his umbilical area like this? I would need to see the issue before I would recommend antibiotics for it.

Nov%2020%2015%20baby%20girl%20umbilical%20abscess.jpg~original


Nov%2020%2015%20baby%20girl%20umbilical%20abscess%202.jpg~original


Nov%2020%2015%20baby%20girl%20umbilical%20abscess%203.jpg~original
 
This is definitely in the scrotum area. It looks like his testicles have dropped, except it's clear fluid in there instead of testicles. The vet looked at it, but said with all the fluid it was hard to tell what was going on. She hoped the Zithro may help bring the fluid down enough to tell. She thought possibly a cyst, or a tumour? As for the mites, it must be actually lice, because I can see them. They are tiny and brown. I plan to get some revolution today or tomorrow, so I will treat him. I was worried about overloading his poor weak little body with chemical stuff, but I guess the benefits will outweigh the harm. Thanks for your input so far lilspaz68! (o:
 
I'm still really hoping for some advice about the meds especially. I have some Baytril but I don't want to give it to him if he's too young. Anyone?
 
It seems that takes you to my album in photobucket, so you can peruse pics of the baby, and baby pics of the four boys I got in December who he will be living with once he is healthy enough. (o:
 
I've had sick ones and vet always said no to baytril. I suppose though if it was an emergency it was be alright. I think it discolors their teeth.
 
Two of the other four I took in in December had to be medicated, and after 3 different treatments did not work, we went to Zithro and Baytril, but they were not quite so young, maybe 7-8weeks old. The treatment worked immediately, which is why I thought it may help here. I just didn't want to give him something too strong when he is so little.
 
The last babies I had with the exact same symptoms were put on this first, and it did nothing for them. I worried it may not help here either. I've heard others say they have had not so much luck with it either. I just hate wasting my money on meds that don't work, and then throwing them away to get new ones.
 
The last babies I had with the exact same symptoms were put on this first, and it did nothing for them. I worried it may not help here either. I've heard others say they have had not so much luck with it either. I just hate wasting my money on meds that don't work, and then throwing them away to get new ones.

Aren't you just treating a possible bacterial infection or does he have a URI as well? I am a fan of zithromax for babies, works fast.
 
clavamox or azithromycin (10 mg/Ib - 15 mg/Ib) orally, twice a day
Azithromycin is a human antibiotic for babies so it is safe for young rats. My vet gives me a prescription for the pharmacy
 
He's been on Zithro for a week and a half now. As of today, he is actually quite a bit better with the sneezing, so maybe it was just working a little more slowly than I expected. I will stay on this routine and hopefully it will work. Thanks everyone.
 
Thanks so much for asking! He is doing wonderfully! I never added the Baytril. After a while the Zithro worked. He is finished treatment in a few days! He is growing and playing and is a very happy little guy. After having him for about a week though, I started noticing that his behaviour in certain ways was different than other rats, and I have determined that he is likely deaf and blind, likely the causes of his ill health at the pet store. He also has a slightly curved spine (at the shoulders) that affects his movement a little bit, but not much at all. He does not react to sound at all unless I kiss him loudly right on the ear (loves me to death but no matter how much sound I make outside his cage, I have to make vibrations on it to make him come out to see me, and he comes right away). Also, when I was giving him his meds in a syringe in the first week, he fell away from it, and even though I held it right in front of his face, he flailed around desperately trying to find the yummy stuff! Once his nose caught it, he grabbed it and gobbled it down. That is why I think he is visually impaired too. He bumps into thinks a lot too! He gets around pretty darn well though considering! I was planning to put him in my giant 6 foot high home made cage with my other four boys, but I am afraid he will get injured now that I know he has some special needs. There are too many possibilities of him ending up falling far during rough play with those 4 robust boys. So now I have made a temporary special needs cage where everything is close and soft to fall on, and he has three new friends (one is a naked baby who I'm pretty sure in blind too, that is why I took him), and soon I will be building a bigger special needs cage for these four boys. They are all sweet, but Bubs is truly the sweetest little guy I have EVER known. He loves me and my son so much and is very bonded with us. I guess that's because he lived in our shirts for the first few weeks we had him, helping him get better and not to be alone. I would like to post a pic, but I still can't figure out how, even with photobucket! I have given up in frustration trying to post pics to this group. I would love to be able to though! Anyway, there it is! He's doing great and very well loved and spoiled! If anyone has any advice or tips to share on visually/hearing impaired ratties, I would be very grateful! (o:
 
@kbg AWwwww thank you for the reply! he is soooo lucky to have you and how beautiful it is that you two are bonded. Thank you for sharing your story!
I wish I had advice on visually/hearing imparied ratties....but I do not. :( He is like helen keller in rattie form! I have heard that ratties that are visually impaired can do quite well....but I can't believe the little guy might also be partial/fully deaf. What an incredible rat he is!

Sending you two soooo much love and rattie kisses! And yes please! If you figure out how to post pics, please do! I want to see! ;D

-M.
 
Poor wee one was probably the runt of the litter making him smaller and weaker than his siblings, so when he was weaned too early he did worse than his sister. The soft higher protein foods did wonders for him (as you can see by his weight gain).

So lets go through his issues one by one.

Mites and treatment. Does he have scabs on his body (mites are microscopic so you won't see them just their effects on the rat) or does he have visible buggies moving through his fur slowly (lice). Either way you can only use cat/kitten/puppy Revolution on him and the smallest amount. If youpul l up the Revolution to just under the 0.01 (first marking on a 1 ml syringe) that should be fine.

Swelling in scrotum? Can you get a pic of this? Is it different from his testicles? or is it possibly on his umbilical area like this? I would need to see the issue before I would recommend antibiotics for it.

Nov%2020%2015%20baby%20girl%20umbilical%20abscess.jpg~original


Nov%2020%2015%20baby%20girl%20umbilical%20abscess%202.jpg~original


Nov%2020%2015%20baby%20girl%20umbilical%20abscess%203.jpg~original
Could you tell me what caused this? And treatment? I have a momma I took in a week ago that has baby's this size and one has this same thing. I thought it might be from a spider(my Lanlord is digging up the septic and now there's brown recluses every where.) But the mom has been itching a lot so maybe it's something else. Any help i would be grateful. I put a post a bout the spiders but I think I put it in the wrong spot. I put pic of one of the small ones I killed
d1a97b8336589b0a94f264adaec8a54e.jpg
 
Poor wee one was probably the runt of the litter making him smaller and weaker than his siblings, so when he was weaned too early he did worse than his sister. The soft higher protein foods did wonders for him (as you can see by his weight gain).

So lets go through his issues one by one.

Mites and treatment. Does he have scabs on his body (mites are microscopic so you won't see them just their effects on the rat) or does he have visible buggies moving through his fur slowly (lice). Either way you can only use cat/kitten/puppy Revolution on him and the smallest amount. If youpul l up the Revolution to just under the 0.01 (first marking on a 1 ml syringe) that should be fine.

Swelling in scrotum? Can you get a pic of this? Is it different from his testicles? or is it possibly on his umbilical area like this? I would need to see the issue before I would recommend antibiotics for it.

Nov%2020%2015%20baby%20girl%20umbilical%20abscess.jpg~original


Nov%2020%2015%20baby%20girl%20umbilical%20abscess%202.jpg~original


Nov%2020%2015%20baby%20girl%20umbilical%20abscess%203.jpg~original
Could you tell me what caused this? And treatment? I have a momma I took in a week ago that has baby's this size and one has this same thing. I thought it might be from a spider(my Lanlord is digging up the septic and now there's brown recluses every where.) But the mom has been itching a lot so maybe it's something else. Any help i would be grateful. I put a post a bout the spiders but I think I put it in the wrong spot. I put pic of one of the small ones I killed
 
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