Hardened ears/tail

Hello everyone!
I have a rat by the name of Mateo that is irregularly small (we have no records of dwarf running in his parents lines) and has micro-eye. He is doing really well except for his ears and tip of his tail have hardened almost like they have frostbite? That's the only way I know how to explain it. He doesn't like us messing with his ears/tail, we have tried moisturizing them with some baby oil to see if that would help soften them but it hasn't worked. Does anybody know what this is and how we treat it? Thank you!

Poor baby! Can you post some pics ?

There are several things it could be. Some things to consider are:
-a fungal infection
-a bacterial infection
-a parasitic infection (mange)
-a problem with circulation (diabetics have problems with peripheral circulation)
I think you should go to the vet and get a biopsy. Hopefully that will give you a solid base to treat on.

Also could be possible that with all the issues this little guy already has, he might have an immune-mediated peripheral vasculitis (inflammation of the blood vessels leading to cutting off of blood supply to the smallest capillaries - like those in the ears, tip of the tail, toes, nose, etc.).

Are the hardened areas still their normal colour? Or are they darker than the rest of the skin? If they are dark, it's likely a circulation issue - they will probably get darker, stiffen further, and the edges will eventually turn black and fall off. If this is the case, he'll need pain medication, as having bits of one's body necrotizing and falling off is painful, as you might expect!

How long has this been an issue? And how old is he? If it's been like this for a long while, then probably not vasculitis that will result in him losing bits of his ears/tail, as lack of blood supply kills tissues pretty quickly (two weeks max, I think?).

Still and all, a vet is the only one who can actually examine him and have the training and education to tell you what it is or might be and how to take care of it. Good luck with him!

Thank you all for your replies! Today we found the tip of his tail hanging off. It does not seem painful to him at the moment. He is only 8 weeks old, but the size of a 5 week old, he will not grow! The blood circulation issue sounds like the best bet of what's wrong with him. He is such a sweet boy, we hate that he is going through all this. What are y'alls opinions on this? Is his quality of life going to be worth drugging him with pain meds and having to keep him away from the others (they are bullying him quite a bit)? Thanks again for your replies!

Here are pictures of him.
He is very lethargic and sneezy today as well.

Wow, I didn't realize he was so young. I wonder if he has some type of syndrome. I hate to say it, but with the combination of failure to thrive, the necrotizing tissue, and the lethargy, it's questionable if he will live much longer even with treatment.
Sorry your little guy is so bad off.
I'd like to hear what your vet thinks.

First I want to say that your little Mateo is preciously ADORABLE :heart:

He definately needs a trip to a vet that is very knowledgeable about rats, for sure. I would be concerned about his pain. Like mentioned above, he must be in some discomfort. You & the vet need to put your heads together and try to figure out how he can have the best quality life possible.

I wish you & your baby the very best. Please let us know what the doctor says.

Poor little guy... he must have some type of condition. I recommend seeing a vet who might have an idea of what this could be.

Okay so Mateo now has chewed off almost his entire tail and he is getting progressively more "sneezy". We have a vet appointment scheduled and we hope to receive some kind of treatment plan.. We don't want to lose our little man.

Just a week before he got sick:

That tail looks like a bite wound not necessarily anything to do with his ears. Could his tail have hung down into another cage or something like that? See this is Hestia, who climbed on Moths cage and Moth latched on, causing this wound to go in a ring on the tail

ETA: I cannot figure out how to paste links from my phone.

The hardening ears I have seen once before, with on old male rescue. We never figured it out but it didn't bother him

Either Mateo was sick the week before he got sick, or he has micro eye as well. He does not look like a normal, healthy rat.

Poor boy.
Definitely needs to see a good rat vet, likely needs antibiotics
I don't know what country you are in since you have not included that in your profile, but (if you are in North America) since he is not growing normally and has high white markings, I am wondering if he may be experiencing other health issues as well ... (http://www.ratshackforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=126&page=2)

I hope he is soon feeling better.

Joanne said:

Either Mateo was sick the week before he got sick, or he has micro eye as well. He does not look like a normal, healthy rat.

Click to expand...

He really doesn't look like a well boy at all, a lot of issues. I hope your vet really throws the kitchen sink at him. his ears don't look normal at all, and Simcoe's ears were normal originally, then developed this thickening.

Yeah, those ears look like my girls' before the tips dropped off - I can't find any good photos, but attached is one where you can see the blackened tip coming away from the healthy flesh of the ear. (This wasn't a case of peripheral vasculitis, btw, but the vet claimed it must have been - covering their backsides, no doubt. I'm reasonably sure that the vet who performed their spays burned them on the heating pad - two unrelated rats had ear-tips blacken and fall off, and one of those also had a triangular patch of scabbing over her shoulders, which is definitely NOT something you would see with vasculitis!)

In any case, it was definitely painful for them, and required metacam - I'd suggest at a minimum providing pain relief for this guy. As for the long-term... I can't really offer any advice. I know that I've read research on induced vasculitis in which rats' entire feet mummified and dropped off, but I'm not sure if an immune-mediated vasculitis would progress that far and how fast, and whether it could be treated at all. It seems like he has an awful lot of issues, the poor thing. :\

Update:

After our vet visit she decided that it most likely was a case of Vasculitis, she gave us Dex and Baytril (he was sneezy) for 10 days. He did end up losing his entire tail and most of his ears, but it stopped after we used the Dex, and we figured that he was doing okay. He was eating healthy and was bright eyed until last night. We found him curled into a ball unable to move, I thought he was dead when I first saw him but in fact it was just that he physically could not move his body. We assume the hardening of the tail moved into his spine and caused paralysis. He definitely waited for us to find him to start giving up, only about 10 minutes after we found him he passed away in my hands. It was sudden and we still don't know how exactly he passed. We were really rooting for him so it was really sudden to find him like that.

Oh how very sad. I am sorry.

I'm so very sorry.