Diarrhea on Oxbow?

[froxen]

Hey everyone -- I have a patchwork hairless rat (almost 6 months old), and he's been on Oxbow only for about two months now with no problems. I've noticed in the past few days that his stool has been very wet, and today it was almost pure liquid. Other than this, there have been no other changes. He still drinks, plays, and is otherwise alert and healthy. Any suggestions? He does have a naval hernia that hasn't been corrected yet, but this has been present since he was a baby, and he is also quite prone to sneezing, even on Baytril/Doxycline. I'm getting a bit worried..

 

[jorats]

Is he currently on Baytril and Doxy? Give him some soda crackers for now, that usually gets their poops firm again. Does he get many fruits and veggies? if so, don't give so much until his poops are back to normal. A change in diet can definitely give them gastric problems but it shouldn't last.

 

[PiedPiper]

Could you have given him pumpkin or squash in the last little while? I think that family of vegetables has the effect of really loosening the stool of a rattie ... especially if they've eaten quite a bit of it!

 

[froxen]

I took Rocky to the vet since the diarrhea persisted for more than a week -- turns out he had a parasite, Trichomonas -- he's on metronidazole and getting better now

 

[jorats]

Oh that's good news! I'm also glad it wasn't the Oxbow. :thumbup:

 

[Moon]

Sounds like Rocky is on the road to recovery. Yay!

 

[PiedPiper]

turns out he had a parasite, Trichomonas -- he's on metronidazole and getting better now

Are intestinal parasites common in rats?

 

[lj]

Yippee Rocky. Hope you feel better soon.

 

[jorats]

turns out he had a parasite, Trichomonas -- he's on metronidazole and getting better now

Are intestinal parasites common in rats?

I'll say no, with the hundreds of rats we've had here, we never had one with it.

 

[PiedPiper]

Okay - good. Because my next question would've been -- how do they contract them?

 

[ryelle]

Patrick had intestinal parasites when i got him. I have no idea how a rat would contract them though. The person i got him from was quite offended when i told her to get his litter-mates checked over. Lilspaz told me some are normal though??

 

[froxen]

So Rocky has diarrhea -- AGAIN. I don't understand it. He poops one hour, and its completely fine. Then he poops an hour later, and it comes out as a huge wet mess. I'm thinking its something other than parasites now -- otherwise it would be constant diarrhea, like it was before. Both of my rats were treated with meds for a week, I thoroughly scrubbed down their cage and toys, and I also gave them all new bedding. I bought a bag of Harlan Teklad rodent diet today, so I might try that out instead of Oxbow and see if it makes things better. If that doesn't work, its back to the vet!

 

[jorats]

Get him tested for Coccidia.

 

[froxen]

Would that have shown up on the first fecal flotation he had done, or is the test for it something completely different?

 

[jorats]

Good question. We just had a discussion about Coccidia but my guess is that the vet must have tested for that in the first place.

 

[Lynngenny]

What color was the diarrhea because I noticed one of my rats has the liquid diarrhea and its almost red... but no one is acting sick.

 

[froxen]

There was no red in it -- mostly dark brown, sometimes grey-ish (I think because he would eat his Carefresh bedding sometimes).

I started feeding the boys Harlan, mixed in with some Oxbow, and his diarrhea is a lot better than before. His poop is no longer pure liquid, but varies between normal and soft. Not to mention they like it a lot better too!