Bad eye

I have another thread up about Sterling, but I thought id post here in case anyone has some more input. We took in a male rat almost 2 weeks ago now. He's about 8 months old and looks in great health, though one of his eyes seems to produce a lot of porprhyin around the eye.. I have been cleaning and wiping it down a couple times a day and sometimes it goes away for a bit, but is constantly coming back. I have checked all over his fur for possible mite scabs and have given him a bath, but I couldn't find anything.

He's very shy so its hard to get pictures, but I will try to take a few when I get home tonight so you can see it.

LittleSparrow said:

I have another thread up about Sterling, but I thought id post here in case anyone has some more input. We took in a male rat almost 2 weeks ago now. He's about 8 months old and looks in great health, though one of his eyes seems to produce a lot of porprhyin around the eye.. I have been cleaning and wiping it down a couple times a day and sometimes it goes away for a bit, but is constantly coming back. I have checked all over his fur for possible mite scabs and have given him a bath, but I couldn't find anything.

He's very shy so its hard to get pictures, but I will try to take a few when I get home tonight so you can see it.

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Without pictures its had to say, but we have 3 like that now and one for sure we know has a scratch on the eye probably from fighting with his brother. If it is an eye injury those are painful and he'll need pain meds. Our boy is on metacam and prescription eye ointment. Vet visit is probably needed. Since its only one eye something is going on.

I would do polysporin eye drops for now, one drop, twice a day for two weeks. If he gets worse, I'd see a vet asap. Like dsph911 says, it's hard to say much without a picture but I'll assume it's just porphyrin. Some rats get a leaky eye and stress can bring it on even more. The polysporin won't hurt and if in fact it's an infection or scratch, it might even help. That's what my vet recommended to me once.

I'm not sure if he had cage mates before, I picked him up at a pet store. He was dropped off at the store by his previous owner, claiming he was their "retired breeding rat", so I don't know anything about his history other than he looks to be about 6-8 months old.

Here is the only clear picture I have of his eye. It doesn't seem to be bothering him, nor is it swollen at all so I'm not so sure it's an injury. Just looking for some advice to ease it and possibly clear it up before his vet visit.

That kind of looks like scabs to me so I would be thinking mites. When we had mites not all our boys had scabs and some were so thick it looked like he was wearing a scab necklace. Look really close under the chin and around the neck.

He looks so skinny - fatten that poor boy up. He is adorable though. Could just be an irritation.

Jorats: I didn't even think about stress - I wonder if that is why Grumpy and Peanut have it (Popper's cage mates)

I'd give the polysporin eye drops a try.

I checked all his fur for scabs and couldn't find anything. I also gave him a bath to try and get a better look, but I can't see any scabs or scratches.
That first picture was taken when he first came home. I definitely think stress had a lot to do with it as well. He is a very skittish boy, though I have to say he is slowly getting better. He has not fear pooped when I pick him up for 3 days now!! Before it was every single time. I didn't realize how skinny and unhealthy he actually looked! Poor baby. Here are a couple pictures of him today, just took them about 10 minutes ago. Looking at the pictures side by side makes it look like it's been getting better. I have been putting a warm compress on it and washing it with saline. I will try the eyedrops instead of the compress now since it doesn't look like it's puffy. But it looks like it is getting better, yes?

Yeah I know.. my poor boy has to share the girls' girly hammock sets because I still haven't gotten around to making him his own. :giggle:


He doesn't hold his eye like this, he just did not like the camera flash lol.


He looks like he has gained a little bit of weight, but I think I am going to start weighing him starting tonight for a week. He has been getting many yummy snacks and treats!

One last piece of information.. he came home on April 14th, so we have now had him for 8 days in our care.

Lol I'm sure he loves those girly hammocks too. He does look like he's doing better. With time, TLC, good food, clean cage, he should be just fine. I would still do the drops though.

He does look better - its amazing what a loving home will do in such a short time. A couple of my boys have that too, I wonder if its allergy related since we have been opening the windows. Does it wash off? He's looking good and filling out soon he"ll be a squishy sexy rat man...