Itchy Rats UPDATE 7/31: Back from the Vet

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fenshae

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 18, 2009
Messages
1,124
Location
Las Cruces, NM
So I was letting the boys free range earlier and noticed that Sweeney especially was grooming excessively, so I pulled him over to get a look and it appears he has dandruff -- definitely some white flakes. Ripper didn't seem as affected and it's much harder to tell if a white rat has dandruff, but I pulled him over and after some wrestling to let me get a good luck, it appears that there's a sort of orange-ish reddish speckling on his skin. I'll see if I can get him to hold still for a close-up photo. Neither of them have any scabs that I can feel -- I did as thorough an investigation as I could on both of them and didn't notice any bumps/abrasions/scabs, just the dandruff and in Ripper's case the orange flecks.

Does this sound like mites?

I've also changed their diet recently; they were eating a seed mix and recently changed them to Mazuri pellets. I know Mazuri is high-protein, is it possible they are reacting to the protein? I know when Velvet was nursing we added some kitten kibble to her regular food for extra protein (was recommended -- why kitten chow of all things is beyond me) and it made her very itchy; we cut it out immediately and she had no problems. Could that be the case here?

Debating if I should try and change their food first, or go ahead and take them to the vet straight-away?
 
my older boy had orangey type stuff on his skin too. i think the vet said it was the remnants of the buck grease that males produce.
he said it was nothing to worry bout.
however, my boy didnt seem at all more itchy than normal..
 
as previously said ... its buck grease.

As for the itching, could be the food if the protien is high. Changing to a good quality, lower protien block immediately regardless would be an improvement. 18% or less is good, although many of us feed a 14% protien block as rat research shows lower levels of protien is much healthier.
Personally, I would treat them for mites with revolution asap. It won't hurt if they are old enough and may help. Itching rats seem to usually have mites and itching isn't fun. You can't see mites and the reason people find scabs when their rats have mites is because the rats are breaking the skin when they scratch.

Some vets like to do a skin test for mites. Don't. The results are not accurate and the test is painful for the ratties. Just get them treated with revolution.
 
How do the little buggars even get the mites to begin with, has always been my question. They're the only rats I come into contact with, ever. *grumble* Ah well. I'll be calling the vet in the morning. I'll have the boyfriend help wrangle ratties for a nail-trimming too while we sort this out.

Would mites be causing the dandruff? The only other ratty I had with a mite problem was Athena and I was out of the country for a good portion of that so....yeah. Also of interest, the boys (especially Sweeney) have scabby tails; Ripper's are small fresh scabs around the base of the tail, while Sweeney's run the length of it and a couple are fairly large/raised. Would that be consistent with mites too?

....how likely do you think it would be that they just have dry skin? I ask because obviously I'm in the desert during the summer, so they stay in a room with constant AC and a fan -- I can imagine the air gets pretty dried out in there. They've got a constant supply of water obviously, but....well, it's a thought. Hmm.

Anyway. We'll see what the vet says. Anybody know roughly what I can expect for a 2-rat dose of Revolution and an exam?
 
Tarah said:
What does the skin test involve doing? I've never heard of it before..
Click to expand...
It's a skin scraping, they scrap where the scab is and look under a microscope to see if they can see evidence of mites. I've had it done 3 times and each time it came back negative, however I treated for mites anyways and the scabs went away. The test is often false negative so if you have a vet that will let you get rev. without it, go for it.
 
As for dry skin, get a humidifer and set it to a comfortable humidity level for ratties. That way when the air gets too dry, it will turn on.
 
My rats are in central air all summer too so I don't think that would cause dry skin not on all the rats.
Mites can be in food and bedding coming in from the pet store.
I would ask to bypass the skin scraping... it always comes back with false negative and that's a waste of money.
 
Naturally, the vet's office is closed over the weekend. :doh:
Ah well, we'll try it Monday. I'm going to see if I can get them to just sell me the Revolution without needing an exam, and depending on how much the exam would be I might just order off of 1-800-PETmeds. I'd rather hold onto their meager savings for an emergency if possible.

As far as their cage goes. Clean out everything with bleachwater and freeze or toss all their toys/hammocks, right?
 
Word. I'm packing for a move anyway, I'll just add it to my cleaning list. I guess I'll toss their igloo and log....thingy...in the beer fridge since there's no room in the regular freezer XD
 
scabbytail.jpg


That's a close-up of Sweeney's tail. Ripper's is also slightly scabby but nothing like that. Should I do anything special for those or will they heal up on their own?
 
Yep. Just a little mild soap and water, and I didn't want to really scrub since it's a delicate rattie tail. Didn't make much headway, heh. Perhaps I should be a wee bit scrubbier.
ETA: the vet can get us in on Friday, woot.
 
*worried*

Sweeney's developed a headtilt now.
I almost didn't notice it at first because his blaze is so lopsided it sort of disguised it, but sure enough -- it's DEFINITELY tilting to one side. He seems a little disoriented, too. When he sits up on his hindquarters to groom himself, he falls over sometimes, and while I was holding him he'd lay with one side against the crook of my arm and flop/squirm over sideways so that the side that's hurting him was against my arm. :sad3: I can tell he must be hurting because he's bruxing like CRAZY and doing the little shiver thing.

I can't get him into the vet until Friday! My appointment is 8am Friday morning, as early as I could get him in.

Ear infection? did the mites get into his ear somehow? oh god I hope it's nothing neurological....I don't know how old he is for sure :(

Also I can't tell for sure but it kind of looks like one eye is bugging out a little further than the other....then again, that might be because his head is tilted, because the one that's "on top" looks bigger than the other so it might be a total optical illusion...I'll see if I can get him to sit still for pics....

Oh jeez I'm so worried about him! Ripper seems fine, still just itchy. My guess is the mites must be hitting Sweeney harder because he's older....oh god I feel so terrible I can't get them to the vet sooner.

Is there anything I should be doing for him between now and Friday morning?
 
Okay....So from the vet tomorrow I can probably expect Revolution, Baytril, and Prednisone?

I think I'm going to print off the rat health guide page on headtilts (and the one on mites) and bring them with me to the vet tomorrow. I've never worked with this vet before and I have had TERRIBLE experiences with my last vet so I'm a little gun-shy about this whole thing. I'm also feeling terrible that there's no way I can get him in any sooner. :sad3: It's SO hard to watch him stagger around, it's like he's drunk, he's all wobbly on his paws and he falls over....I officially feel awful now.

Stupid vet not being available sooner....grrrr.

*sigh* Ok. I moved everything down to a lower level for him so he wouldn't have to climb, and I put hammocks under any levels he could fall off of so in case he drunk-falls he won't go far. Is there anything I can do to help him with the pain until tomorrow?

Man....I was up all night tossing & turning and having nightmares about this. I have to be out of my apartment by Friday, I can't get any time off of work and I'm getting sick myself...having my baby hurting is just too much.
 
Does sound like an ear infection, poor sweetie.

Do print off the info as a lot of vets don't like to give the steroid, but it would help take the pressure off.

For tonight give him a nestbox with a LOW ceiling.... it helps tilties feel more secure.
 

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