Elderly Rat Teeth

[littles]

Hey guys havent posted here in forever hope everyone and their furballs are doing well.

My eldest living rattie named Little Girl is almost 3 and I have noticed her bottom teeth going white. Ive read this means she lacks calcium. Or that shes old and her teeth are going. Can anyone shed some light into what I can do to help her.

Lately she doesnt really love chewing stuff. I have been giving her baby cereal mixed with some of my Vega One mix she likes it and I give her eggs and sometimes fish and pasta. She will still eat her kibble but preffers cookies and tastier things now a days. She loves papaya and shell eat super steamed broccoli. She was never a fan of raw broccoli or carrots. She has a bit of arthritis but i have been giving her some CBD oil and we do rat physio each day. she tries to eat paint chips and wall plaster? is she trying to tell me my cooking sucks!

Thanks for the help guys!

 

[SQ]

Sorry I can't shed light on her teeth, Jorats or lilspaz68 would likely know.

You might want to try offering organic soy infant formula thickened with baby cereal (kind that says add milk) as it has a lot of nutrition and the protein level isn't too high (the formula I am supplementing my older ill rats with is 12.7% protein), and her blocks soaked in cool water to make mush ....... she might also like baby food and soft vegs like cooked & mashed sweet potato, baked squash, peas, and things like a piece of ripe banana, a piece of melon, cooked oatmeal, etc

Great that she likes steamed broccoli .... she might like baby kale (mine love it but hate regular kale) or occasional mixed greens.
That is very interesting about the CBD oil ...... I don't know anything about using it with rats. Is there a good site with info about it?

Thanks for the info about papaya. I'll have to try it with my rats.

 

[Luna&Ralph]

I have read that the yellow-orangish colour on a rodent’s teeth is the enamel, so it’s possible that the enamel is worn down and it hurts to chew on hard things. In theory, the enamel should come back when her teeth continue to grow.
The trying to chew on strange things sounds like pica, which I’m not sure is something that rats typically get. In humans, pica suggests a nutritional deficiency, usually iron. I think that your girl might have some sort of nutritional deficiency, which could be possible if she’s not getting her usual food. I would offer her soaked kibble with the usual supplements to her diet that you give her and see if that helps the possible pica.

 

[littles]

so the problem isn't mainly the chewing the kibble she actually just doesn't want to eat it anymore she is being a princess hahaha

I definitely feed her sweet potato also one of her favs she also gets some of my morning smoothie which has spinach or baby kale in it vega one, hemp hearts, sesame seeds, l glutamine, maca powder, banana, frozen fruits almond milk ect.
The baby cereal i get her is the organic soy (im pretty sure) i dont feel like I've seen any other ones that are organic but if you could send me a pic that would be great, she loves it and I usually add almond milk and coconut water.
she use to love baby kale it was the only kale she would eat but now I think shes spoiled and knows there are better things like papaya

I also think she may have a slight memory problem as sometimes she seems to not know where she is.

with the CBD oil ive only just started using it on her about a year ago when she started limping and dragging her tail. We started with just 1-2 drops a day at 444ml per 30ml bottle and did a bunch of physio and she stopped dragging her tail and her limp lessened. I have also seen it help her with respiratory problems as she gets super sick on antibiotics. She completely loses her appetite so we took her off of them and just used the CBD. There is studies showing CBD oil being able to cure phenomena in patients that were fatally ill.

She seems to be holding up pretty good. She also has some inflamed glands by her vagina which my vet has said hes seen in many elderly rats and unless they grow in size they shouldn't be a problem, but he can remove them if he feels its necessary. ( I still drive to Dr. Munn) He just doesn't want to put any unnecessary stress on her body.

Ill see if there is a way to check her iron through other means then a blood test lol gross ha!

Thanks so much for the input guys I really appreciate it. Most of my poor little ones get PT's or cancer and Ive never had one live this long. Shes a true senior citizen at the moment lol

 

[Luna&Ralph]

Aww what a little diva! At her age I would probably just give her whatever she likes then as long as it’s healthy. I know some signs for low iron in humans without a blood test, but not in rats unfortunately. As long as you’re feeding something like the formula that SQ suggested that fills her nutritional needs, the symptoms should go away if they’re nutrition related.

 

[SQ]

so the problem isn't mainly the chewing the kibble she actually just doesn't want to eat it anymore she is being a princess hahaha ...................................................
The baby cereal i get her is the organic soy (im pretty sure) i dont feel like I've seen any other ones that are organic but if you could send me a pic that would be great ................................
I also think she may have a slight memory problem as sometimes she seems to not know where she is.

with the CBD oil ive only just started using it on her about a year ago when she started limping and dragging her tail. We started with just 1-2 drops a day at 444ml per 30ml bottle and did a bunch of physio and she stopped dragging her tail and her limp lessened. I have also seen it help her with respiratory problems as she gets super sick on antibiotics. She completely loses her appetite so we took her off of them and just used the CBD. There is studies showing CBD oil being able to cure phenomena in patients that were fatally ill.

A former member used to make the block mush (adding cool water to blocks) and then mix baby cereal in with the mush. She said her ratties would eat that when they wouldn't eat their blocks or the mush. Maybe it might help your girl.

I have seen various types of organic baby cereal at the grocery stores here, but what I was suggesting was the organic soy infant formula as a supplement if she is not eating her blocks as it is low protein and contains nutrition.

If she is having a memory problem I hope that she is not developing pt.

Thank you for sharing about the CBD oil, that is very interesting. Do you know where I can find that study so I can show my vet?