Rat acting normal but losing weight

The Rat Shack Forum

Help Support The Rat Shack Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Tesslalala

New Member
Joined
Mar 2, 2019
Messages
0
Location
Colorado
Ive got a boy who's about a year old that was the plumpest of my 3 but in about the last week he now seems like he may even be underweight. I can't tell for certain because I don't weigh them but his spines a little bit pronounced. Hes still eating normal and active and interested in doing things, if possibly taking more naps. He's even running around my room as I write this. We did just move and they seemed pretty stressed out by that but it just seems like a dramatic weight loss. He also seems to be drinking more and I know that can be a sign of renal failure so maybe there's too much protein in his diet? I feed them oxbow with supplements of fruits and veggies but I do give them cat and dog treats too which have a decent amount of protein. I do wanna take him to the vet but I thought I'd ask here first because if I don't have to take him I'd rather not put his through that stress. Any ideas?
 
the best thing to do is get a scale (very handy for every rat owner), weigh him every 3 days at the same time, and see if he continues to lose weight steadily. I would advise no more cat treats especially as they are pure carnivores whereas dogs are more omnivorous.
 
Have you tried baby foods or watering down the lab rat blocks? One of my rats, Ni, has been struggling with his weight for a long time and I've found that yogurt, applesauce, baby food (usually in pouches) are the best way to try to keep their weight stabilized. Minimizes effort required to eat it, and it tastes yummy :) Ni runs over when he sees the baby food pouch and happily laps it up, lol.

Scrambled eggs are great too, as they're relatively easy to hold but offer a ton of calories, which is important. When I have a rat struggling with their weight, I'll give them just about anything to try to get calories in them.
 
Back
Top