Urgent!!! Help!!!! Sick rat!

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SookieObiRonny&Bear

Active Member
Joined
Apr 2, 2021
Messages
30
Location
USA
So my year old female, Bear, is known for being a chunky fat rat. She loves eating and is a very tough thick rat. But after a few days of no out of cage time (dont worry I was making sure they had food, treats, and water) I picked her up to take her out of the cage to play and she is very thin! this was a few minutes ago and I am very worried. Not thinner than my other rats, but its clear shes lost a lot of weight. She's lethargic, slow and when shes on her hind legs to groom she falls over. She can't jump onto higher things. She wont take food from me when she usually grabs it aggressively. I am very worried. What should I do? Any advice? What could this be? I am going to try now to feed her applesauce, bread and yogurt. And give her water. Please help.
 
UPDATE: Im currently sitting on the floor with her feeding her a mush of applesauce, yogurt, water, peas and bread bits. She's eaten it a bit and keeps wandering off to explore the room. She'll try to eat a dry food (nuts, bread, whole peas) and spit it out or not be able to eat it? I'll be feeding her for the next little while. I dont know whats wrong with her. Shes moving around quite a bit, walking, exploring etc.
 
UPDATE 2: she also doesnt seem to want or possibly be able to hold food in her hands? which is why I think shes struggling to eat solid foods. Shes trying to eat them off the ground.
 
Ok is she over a year old. Like 14-15 months instead of 12 months? If so it could be PT or pituitary tumour. If she's a year old than it could be teeth issues preventing her from eating (check her front incisors to make sure they are straight across the tops) or it could be inner ear infection which causes dizziness, nauseau, pain while eating. What you need to do ASAP is give her soft liquidy foods she can lick up then try to figure out what's wrong with her.
 
Ok is she over a year old. Like 14-15 months instead of 12 months? If so it could be PT or pituitary tumour. If she's a year old than it could be teeth issues preventing her from eating (check her front incisors to make sure they are straight across the tops) or it could be inner ear infection which causes dizziness, nauseau, pain while eating. What you need to do ASAP is give her soft liquidy foods she can lick up then try to figure out what's wrong with her.
yes she is probably around 15-16 months old right now. Thank you so much I will check for all the things you listed.
 
Yes. She doesnt eat solid foods and she falls over quite a bit. She doesnt seem very coordinated and her eyes are always half open. She will lick wet food (yogurt, tomato sauce, applesauce, mashed banana, baby food) and I have been mixing in some water-soaked bread or tiny rice grains in with different combinations of the wet food. We're taking her to the vet on Monday to be checked out and from the research ive done on pituitary tumors, she'll either be given steroids and medicine of some sort or we may have to have her put down. It's very sad especially because this is an awful shock and I love her very much, but if it is a pituitary tumor and the meds wont keep her happy for a few more months than I dont want her to progress to the point of violent seizures or other things. The video on pituitary tumors by isamu rats helped. Bear is also possibly being isolated from the other rats, mostly I think because it is hard or impossible for her to climb up the bars of the cage to the top where the other rats spend most of their time in the their sputnik.
 
UPDATE: I took Bear to the vet on Monday and they said it was not just a PT, but also heart disease, because her gums are slightly purple. Both of these things are incurable, so I had to make a decision. Should I put her down right then or put her on anti-inflammatory, melatonin and some other medication to possible ease her symptoms and possibly increase her quality life span by a few weeks? I chose the second, not knowing if she would respond to the medications. I still have to get the melatonin, and figure out where to get it, but she has had 2 doses of the medications so far and doesn't seem to be getting worse. When she does show signs of getting worse over the next few weeks, we'll make an appointment and say goodbye, but for now my goal is to keep giving her good mixes of wet foods, medications, and let her run around my room as much as she wants. I know she'll only be able to have an enjoyable life for a month at the most, so I'll be ready to say goodbye so that she doesn't suffer.
 
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