i know there has been this topic before but i thought i would do my own. I got a rat yesterday from a lady and the rat has balding fur. Her whiskers are curly so i am assuming she is a rex. she also has a little bit wavy hair and the fur on the bridge of her nose is coarse. She is about a little over 1 year old. She has been grooming herself alot too. Just curious if this is normal?
1 year old with thin balding fur
- Thread starter krobinson
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lilspaz68
Well-Known Member
If she has any scabs at all she's got parasites...feel along her shoulders and neck and even around her ears for little scabs. Thos would be mites. Lice are visible in the fur more on the rump and back end. She might be a rex that is becoming patchy early though, it does happen. Can you post a pic of her?
lets try this link for pictures
http://s1322.beta.photobucket.com/user/ ... 3.jpg.html
http://s1322.beta.photobucket.com/user/ ... 3.jpg.html
lilspaz68
Well-Known Member
Your pics are teeny weeny but it does look like typical poor rex hair loss. You are sure she's 1 year old or could she be older?
no im not positive on her age, i just know that she is no younger than one year old. she sure is itchy tho and there is more than one spot of hairloss but i cant find anything wrong with her other than she is itchy and has hairloss. She is a rex and i read alot about them but nothing said about itchiness. she has a teeny tiny scab on her left shoulder but THATS IT. the hairloss doesnt suit the typical ringworm either and there are absolutely no lice. she is eating great now that i have her on mazuri but the old owner told me she was fed a diet of dog food. and when i got her last night, who the heck knows what was in her bowl. There was a piece of spinach, 3 pistacios, and bread. weird. ill try to make my pictures bigger.
http://s1322.beta.photobucket.com/user/ ... n/library/
here are the 2 pictures but bigger. ones showing her face, which isnt affected and the other is just her back. she has 2 bald spots on her side tho just like her back but she wouldnt sit still for me to take the picture.
here are the 2 pictures but bigger. ones showing her face, which isnt affected and the other is just her back. she has 2 bald spots on her side tho just like her back but she wouldnt sit still for me to take the picture.
jorats
Loving rats since 2002.
Such a pretty girl. Does she have a cage buddy? Maybe she's getting groomed too much? Although, I have seen rexes lose patches like that.
jorats
Loving rats since 2002.
I'd probably bring her to a vet for a full check up, I wouldn't be worried, if anything, it's probably just mites/lice which is easily treated.
victoria
Well-Known Member
It could very well be dietary. Dog food is way too high in protein and can cause issues like that. Hopefully improving her diet will help her look and feel better.
She doesn't look like a rex to me but it may be the pictures.
She doesn't look like a rex to me but it may be the pictures.
so i took "sunday" to the vet today. I finally found a good vet in the area. He did a full checkup. He even let me listen to her heartbeat. She is in good health he says. She ways like 360g or something like that. He said she has mites and prescribed Revolution. He did the first dose and i have to repeat Feb 18th. I came home with her and took her cage out of the bathtub where it was soaking and cleaned it all up and put her back in it. She did rub the revolution around on her head while cleaning but the vet said it should be fine. And my husband was complaining last night he didnt wanna spend the money on a rat....lol....it did only cost me 85$. I was expecting more.
jorats
Loving rats since 2002.
That's great, she'll start feeling better real soon.
mamarat
Well-Known Member
That's good news for Sunday.
ok sooo..its been 10 days since dr. Gerald applied revolution to sunday. but there are more scabs than before and they look like scratches more than spots. her fur hasn't gotten any better, her back where the fur is going bald the fur around it is coarse. her fur has very few guard hairs and her whiskers are wavy, thus telling me she is likely a rex. I did some reading on rex's fur and its saying that after 18 months they get bald patches and thinning fur. her whole body is THINNING but she has 2 bald patches. Scabs (stratch marks) on her right shoulder, her neck and looks like she has exzema under her chin. It doesn't look like the medication is working for mites, without a skin scrape is there any other way to tell if she really has mites and its not aging? I can get a skin scrape but dr. Gerald isn't in for a few days and I kinda fell short of money, due to other medical and food bills. doesn't skin scraping usually give a false negative anyways if it is mites? arg, I don't know what to do!!!
