Hello there!
First time poster. My male rat, Albie, is getting on a bit and I noticed some new problems today. Just to give some background! He was one of two boys I adopted from a psychology lab just over 2 years ago. I don't know exactly how old he is but we believe its somewhere between 2 years and 4 months - 2 years and 8 months. His sweet cage mate who had been with him since they were in the lab sadly passed away 3 months ago just as our lockdown began.
Surprisingly, Albie has been a real trooper during this time and was still my active boy until about a month ago. He has quite bad hind leg degeneration now and often gets himself stuck. He hasn't climbed bars in a number of weeks. I've adapted his cage so that he has lots of room and that his food and water is easy to get to. He doesn't like to move around much now and has become very picky with food. I often mush his food because food can get stuck sometimes. He behaves quite differently now - which of course I expect as he's an old boy and his pal is no longer here. He's very frightened of leaving the cage, although will potter around occasionally.
Tonight I noticed his fur looked strange. I thought it was faeces initially (he can get in a mess these days) which I wiped down with a wet cloth like usual. But his skin seems to be yellow and scabby in places. He doesn't seem in pain or distress but I've never seen this before. Unfortunately, my area is still in lockdown so we are meant to avoid the vets unless an emergency. Has anyone seen this sort of scabbing before? It almost reminds me of eczema! I've attached some photos below. Would love some advice before contacting my vet.
Thanks!
First time poster. My male rat, Albie, is getting on a bit and I noticed some new problems today. Just to give some background! He was one of two boys I adopted from a psychology lab just over 2 years ago. I don't know exactly how old he is but we believe its somewhere between 2 years and 4 months - 2 years and 8 months. His sweet cage mate who had been with him since they were in the lab sadly passed away 3 months ago just as our lockdown began.
Surprisingly, Albie has been a real trooper during this time and was still my active boy until about a month ago. He has quite bad hind leg degeneration now and often gets himself stuck. He hasn't climbed bars in a number of weeks. I've adapted his cage so that he has lots of room and that his food and water is easy to get to. He doesn't like to move around much now and has become very picky with food. I often mush his food because food can get stuck sometimes. He behaves quite differently now - which of course I expect as he's an old boy and his pal is no longer here. He's very frightened of leaving the cage, although will potter around occasionally.
Tonight I noticed his fur looked strange. I thought it was faeces initially (he can get in a mess these days) which I wiped down with a wet cloth like usual. But his skin seems to be yellow and scabby in places. He doesn't seem in pain or distress but I've never seen this before. Unfortunately, my area is still in lockdown so we are meant to avoid the vets unless an emergency. Has anyone seen this sort of scabbing before? It almost reminds me of eczema! I've attached some photos below. Would love some advice before contacting my vet.
Thanks!
