porcelain_cackle
New Member
I have three rats, Cercei, Blu and Magpie (Maggie). Cercei is almost three years old while the other two are around two and a half. Which for store-bought rats are kinda old. They aren't the first rats I've had- I've had two prior to the three I have now.
Cercei has always been the most dominant of the three and have occasionally picked on the other two, while Magpie on the other hand has always been rather small and I've had issues in the past of one or the other picking on her.
Recently I haven't had much time to spend with them because of work and school so my time spent with them has been little and in between, but their cage has always been kept and their food/water always checked on.
In the past six or seven months I've noticed that Magpie had been getting skinnier and I've attributed this to the others keeping food from her. So I've separated them when I give them food and have taken Magpie out and hand fed her to make sure she gets enough.
Not an hour ago I was walking past their cage (which is a good three feet tall, split into two stories to allow all three of them plenty of room) and normally when I walk past their cage all three of them will hang on the sides or come running up to see whats going on. That and they know that there's a chance I'll poke treats through the bars for them. Cercei and Blu were doing their normal begging but I noticed Magpie having issues climbing out of the hammock that the three of them will often bundle up in. When she finally got out I noticed she was having issues standing up. She'd tilt to one side and then very slowly try to regain her balance. When I pulled her out of the cage I noticed she was very skinny. She had put weight back on from her other lapses in weight and would be just fine, running around and hanging off the side to get my attention. But now it seems that all the weight that she had put on is gone!
Over the past hour I've separated their cage, placing Cercei and Blu in the lower section while putting Maggie up on top on her own. I tried hand feeding her a little bit, but she would simply grab the food, nibble on it for a moment and then forget about. When I hold her she's cold and very very lethargic. She hardly moves in my hands when normally she'd go climbing up my arms.
I've even tried to encourage her to drink a little bit, both from their bottle and water droplets from my fingers but she seemed uninterested.
I know the best way to solve this is to take her to the vet, and I have one that handles small animals and even did a surgery on one of my previous rats, but right now I'm a week out from a paycheck and very broke.
I'm extremely worried about her because I've had issues keeping weight on her before and I'm starting to believe its more than just the other two keeping food from her.
Cercei has always been the most dominant of the three and have occasionally picked on the other two, while Magpie on the other hand has always been rather small and I've had issues in the past of one or the other picking on her.
Recently I haven't had much time to spend with them because of work and school so my time spent with them has been little and in between, but their cage has always been kept and their food/water always checked on.
In the past six or seven months I've noticed that Magpie had been getting skinnier and I've attributed this to the others keeping food from her. So I've separated them when I give them food and have taken Magpie out and hand fed her to make sure she gets enough.
Not an hour ago I was walking past their cage (which is a good three feet tall, split into two stories to allow all three of them plenty of room) and normally when I walk past their cage all three of them will hang on the sides or come running up to see whats going on. That and they know that there's a chance I'll poke treats through the bars for them. Cercei and Blu were doing their normal begging but I noticed Magpie having issues climbing out of the hammock that the three of them will often bundle up in. When she finally got out I noticed she was having issues standing up. She'd tilt to one side and then very slowly try to regain her balance. When I pulled her out of the cage I noticed she was very skinny. She had put weight back on from her other lapses in weight and would be just fine, running around and hanging off the side to get my attention. But now it seems that all the weight that she had put on is gone!
Over the past hour I've separated their cage, placing Cercei and Blu in the lower section while putting Maggie up on top on her own. I tried hand feeding her a little bit, but she would simply grab the food, nibble on it for a moment and then forget about. When I hold her she's cold and very very lethargic. She hardly moves in my hands when normally she'd go climbing up my arms.
I've even tried to encourage her to drink a little bit, both from their bottle and water droplets from my fingers but she seemed uninterested.
I know the best way to solve this is to take her to the vet, and I have one that handles small animals and even did a surgery on one of my previous rats, but right now I'm a week out from a paycheck and very broke.
I'm extremely worried about her because I've had issues keeping weight on her before and I'm starting to believe its more than just the other two keeping food from her.
