I am worried about my rat

[Oxyvince]

so i got a new rat, about 2-4 months old..

she is extremely skittish and nervous, all she does is hide in the far corner of the cage and she does not even explore her huge cage!!!

and she ocasionally sneezes..

what should i do

 

[jorats]

Are you talking about the same rats as in this thread? viewtopic.php?f=22&t=17054

 

[Oxyvince]

yes but one of them is sneezing very frequently

she is about every 20 seconds, or she doesnt sneeze for 2 mins but starts again

i dont know if its from stress or what but im scared to find a dead rat when i wake up in the morning


can someone tell me what the problem is and what i should do?!


she is relatively young, about 2-4 months old, and i just got her yesterday

 

[xxchelle]

A lot of rats do the "new home sneezes" as they're getting used to new smells. Do you know what bedding the store kept her on? If it was pine or cedar, her sinuses could be irritated from that as well.

If you suspect there's something more going on, such as a URI, then make an appointment with your vet

 

[Moon]

Right now their noses are dealing with an onslaught of new smells, different air quality, etc. We call this the "new home sneezes" and most rats go through them when they come to a new home. If you are really concerned about it, for now I'd change the bedding to something less dusty and make sure there's no strong smells in their area... air fresheners and perfumes and whatnot can really bother rattie noses.

If in a few days there's still lots of sneezing, then a vet visit might be necessary. But don't freak out yet

 

[Oxyvince]

ohh "new home sneezes"? that makes sense!

im using carefresh and i think the petstore was using pine or cedar before...

thanks for the replys guys!

 

[Moon]

ohh "new home sneezes"? that makes sense!

im using carefresh and i think the petstore was using pine or cedar before...

thanks for the replys guys!

Carefresh is a very safe litter but some rats (and people) find it very dusty. I loved the stuff until I started using Yesterday's News!

 

[MomRat]

I always like to tell people that are worried about sneezes what our vet told us. If your rat is sneezing pfft, pfft, its probably fine and just dust/new home/a piece of hammock or crumb of food stuck in its nose sneezes. If your rat is sneezing ksht, ksht, then you start worrying about URIs. =)

 

[Oxyvince]

ah i cant really tell the difference between pfft pfft and ksht ksht lol

 

[jorats]

The ksht ksht I believe would sound a bit congested, like a wet sneeze or like a cough.

 

[lilspaz68]

I always like to tell people that are worried about sneezes what our vet told us. If your rat is sneezing pfft, pfft, its probably fine and just dust/new home/a piece of hammock or crumb of food stuck in its nose sneezes. If your rat is sneezing ksht, ksht, then you start worrying about URIs. =)

That's awesome MomRat, because that's exactly how it sounds :thumbup:

 

[Rachael]

if she's new and skittish, i would reccomend a smaller cage for her to get her bearings and for you to handle her.

 

[smilez_n_hugs]

if she's new and skittish, i would reccomend a smaller cage for her to get her bearings and for you to handle her.

I dont see how this would help....shes already kind of used to the cage shes in so you want to move her to a whole new cage and them once shes used to that move her back to a different cage? Also she will probably feel safer in a bigger cage where there is alot of hiding spots.

Sounds like new home sneezes to me :thumbup:

 

[Rissa]

I actually remember a member on here or maybe goose who has experienced rats that get really upset in a large cage after coming from a small cage because there is just too much space for them. she found she had to start them off in a smaller cage until they gained confidence then she could move them up. I wish I remembered who now.. You could just try putting a large box in her cage or something really secure for her to hide in

 

It could be a number of things:

- Your home is new to her, so she will be nervous for a while (espicially if she is young), give her lots of attention and hand feed her treats, let her know thet you won't hurt her.
- The sneezes are probably just new home sneezes, this could last for a week or more (if you start seeing a large amount of red stuff around her nose or eyes, A vet visit will be needed.
- My rats used to sneeze when they were on carefresh, so I switched to Yesterdays News and blankets. Never use pine or cedar.
- Take her out as much as you can and get her used to people.
- If in a week or so she still is sneezing it could be an allergy or URI. Rat's are allergic to smoke (so make sure no one smokes in the areas they are in and make sure you don't have the smell of the nasty stuff on your clothing. Air fresheners and dust can also cause them to sneeze, so clean only with a wet cloth and never use air fresheners.
- Some rat's just sneeze for no reason too, min sneeze when they clean their noses or when I clean their cages, but make sure you take her to the vet if she keeps sneezing to get it checked out.

Hope this helped.