Poor Pino...

Alright so I have been volunteering at my animal shelter for a while now and a couple days ago a albino rat came in. Later on we named him Pino. Poor pino was bought at a pet shop to be shake food... But the shake would not eat him so a friend of the guy who bought pino for his snake tried to take care of him. Clearly that did not work so now he is at the animal shelter. So far he has nipped 3 people and only comes out of his hut for food or water.
I took him into a quite room and started to hand feed him treats. He was really nice but I also noiced some other things.
He was constantly grooming and making a grunting noise...
I think he has a URI but that does not explain the grooming.
I really feel bad for this little guy and I want him to not be scared to come out of his hut and say hello to the people but considering his past I don't blame him.

So how can I help him get back to normal?
And why is he grooming so much?

Could he have mites? I would definitely do a Revolution treatment firs and foremost.
Keep doing the socializing with treats in the quiet room. Poor little guy has been through too much in his short life.

Over grooming is also typical of stress, anxiety, OCD.... OCD is caused by boredom... Is he by himself?
And is the room the he's in really loud? Cuz that might be causing stress...

a shelter environment is very stressful for most animals, is there any way he can be fostered?

Petunia said:

a shelter environment is very stressful for most animals, is there any way he can be fostered?

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I am looking to see if I can foster him but if he is sick I cant bring him in because I have 3 guinea pigs and I don't want them to get sick.

And he is alone right now but the shelter does not get rats in that often so for the moment he will have to be alone.

I don't think most things are transmittable between guinea pigs and rats...
Also as long as they were kept in separate rooms you should be okay. And are there any rat rescues near you that could take him in?

oh poor fella, I understand
I hope they can get him out of there soon

where are you located? maybe we can help get the word out at least?

Sadly I don't live by any rat rescue's.

I am going to see how Pino is doing this week and if he is healthy there is a chance that I will be able to foster him till he is better.
I also would like to see how it is to own rats.

I will post more updates soon.

Good news guys! Pino was adopted this week to a home with older teens.
Thanks for the help.

BlueSky said:

Good news guys! Pino was adopted this week to a home with older teens.
Thanks for the help.

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Yay! He found a home