Please help. Sick rat not drinking or eating much

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gharvey92

Member
Joined
Sep 17, 2020
Messages
9
Location
uk
For the past couple of days my boy hasn't been drinking at all. He won't eat any solids and will only pick at treats. He'll get up to eat some oatmeal every now and again but not much.
Hes very weak in his back legs, can't even get up a little ramp and is staying mostly in the same spot peeing on himself. He's soaked and when I wiped him down with a baby wipe he had a pretty big penis plug which I removed.
He's rubbing his nose a lot but there's no porphyrin. His breathing seems fine and sounds clear. No noises.

I'm scared because this is exactly how my other boy was before he died. He was on sulfatrim and metacam.

I can't get to the vet until Monday. I don't get paid until then, rang the vet and they won't see him if I can't pay. No one to lend the money off.

I have sulfatrim and metacam left over. Is it worth trying him with it until then? Could it do any harm? It seems like a uti but not entirely sure. His pee smells bad, no signs of blood.

I really don't know what to do. He's 2 and a half years old.
 
He'll not take anything solid right now, not even eat it out of my hand. He puts his teeth around it then moves away. When his back legs started getting weaker a few weeks ago he was eating with one hand and then last week started eating off the floor. I thought it was just because he couldn't balance properly :(
He doesn't fall over or circle, just waddles.
I tried him with some dark chocolate pudding earlier and he ate that fine off my finger and continued to lick the pot clean. He seemed alert and his eyes weren't squinted.
 
He's starting to breathe heavy sometimes and there's now porphyrin everywhere. He's still able to walk around and ate some cooked pasta out of my hand. I can't, I don't know what to do. This is the same as how his brother passed.

Edit: He seems to have stopped the heavy breathing. He still looked sick in his eyes and then seemed to perk up a little when offered some chocolate pudding. He then went back to lying under my dressing gown. So far he isn't wet and his pee doesn't smell after removing the plug.

 
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Can you offer him a small light treat to see how he tries to grasp and eat it? See if he looks anything like this?

http://lilspazrathospice.blogspot.com/2016/11/pituitary-tumour-failing-cheerio-test.html
If you aren't sure try to video it and upload the video to youtube and out the link here.

I'm suspecting PT

I think you might be right :/

Sorry about the bad quality.
If he's still here in the morning I'm going to try again and see if I can lend the money off someone or try the vet again and see if they'll let me pay Monday. Hopefully I can get him seen tomorrow.

Edit: He seems a lot more active tonight compared to the last few. Still not drinking or eating anything other than very soft treats, but more alert and moving to pee elsewhere. I wonder if the plug is what has been bothering him.
 
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I think you might be right :/

Sorry about the bad quality.
If he's still here in the morning I'm going to try again and see if I can lend the money off someone or try the vet again and see if they'll let me pay Monday. Hopefully I can get him seen tomorrow.

Edit: He seems a lot more active tonight compared to the last few. Still not drinking or eating anything other than very soft treats, but more alert and moving to pee elsewhere. I wonder if the plug is what has been bothering him.

I find it inhumane that the vet won't take payment plan and refused to see him. I have the same frustration with vets. I am so sorry for your loss. How old was he?
 
I find it inhumane that the vet won't take payment plan and refused to see him. I have the same frustration with vets. I am so sorry for your loss. How old was he?

I agree.
I feel like taking him to the vet wouldn't have helped either way. He died the same way his brother did with meds. I think it was just his time, at least that's what I'm trying to tell myself :/
I'm absolutely heartbroken.
He was in my life a little over 2 years and 4 months, so around 2 and a half.
 
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I agree.
I feel like taking him to the vet wouldn't have helped either way. He died the same way his brother did with meds. I think it was just his time, at least that's what I'm trying to tell myself :/
I'm absolutely heartbroken.
He was in my life a little over 2 years and 4 months, so around 2 and a half.
Well, when I was growing up and had animals and they passed, my Mom taught me that while mourning is natural, we should always remember that we gave our animals good lives. He had a nice long, happy and fulfilled life with you and you are an excellent rat parent, rat lover. These things ARE out of our control. When it's their time, it's their time. I have only faced one loss of a rat and it was an escape situation where I never found her. Not being able to bury her and make a grave site STILL disturbs me to this day. You at least have that last loving thing you can do for him. Take care my friend, and carry on.

Let us know if you plan on getting any more rats, when you're ready.
 
Well, when I was growing up and had animals and they passed, my Mom taught me that while mourning is natural, we should always remember that we gave our animals good lives. He had a nice long, happy and fulfilled life with you and you are an excellent rat parent, rat lover. These things ARE out of our control. When it's their time, it's their time. I have only faced one loss of a rat and it was an escape situation where I never found her. Not being able to bury her and make a grave site STILL disturbs me to this day. You at least have that last loving thing you can do for him. Take care my friend, and carry on.

Let us know if you plan on getting any more rats, when you're ready.

Thank you. I try to tell myself that but all I can think about right now is that I could have done more. I hope he was happy, I really do. I like to believe that he waited for me to hold him before passing. Both him and his brother died in my arms the same way, an hour after I had woke up and held them.

I don't think I'll be ready to own more rats for a while yet. Firstly, I'll be moving to uni next year and secondly, I don't think that I can go through this pain again. Nothing has hurt more than losing my boys.

Also, I'm so sorry that happened to your girl, that must be really hard. Wherever she went she will always be in your heart <3
 
Thank you. I try to tell myself that but all I can think about right now is that I could have done more. I hope he was happy, I really do. I like to believe that he waited for me to hold him before passing. Both him and his brother died in my arms the same way, an hour after I had woke up and held them.

I don't think I'll be ready to own more rats for a while yet. Firstly, I'll be moving to uni next year and secondly, I don't think that I can go through this pain again. Nothing has hurt more than losing my boys.

Also, I'm so sorry that happened to your girl, that must be really hard. Wherever she went she will always be in your heart <3
Yeah, humans have a hard time letting go. It's part of being human and imperfect. You will move forward from this in time. I bet you will have rats again at some point when you're ready. 0----0 <---- my rats just typed that. Consider that a personal message from my rats. I suppose they were talking about rat ears? I dunno.
 
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