Rat not interested in food

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RattoPazzo

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Joined
Apr 8, 2020
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113
Location
Italy
My 1.7 year old rat has lost interest in food seamingly from one day to the next. She is still very active, jumping and running more than her sister, who is still eating fine.

For some backstory. She (Tamira) is a rescue and her parents had a petstore litter. For some months her sister (Nifti) had a respiratory infection that took three diffrent vets to solve. In the mine time Tamira became food aggressive and would bite her sister when they would eat colse; so I started to separate them douring feedings. The new pattern became Tamira eating some and stashing the rest for later snacks, and Nifti eating all she colud before her sister would come close.

Recently I found a mass, like a hard rice corne, near Tamiras neck (between her arm and base of the neck) and a week later a suspected mammary tumor on her side. I observed her for a week to be sure and called the vet who gave me an appointment for next week.

Two days ago a took in a hamster to take care of for a friend and almost in parallel Tamira stopped being interested in food; she still eats some but she has completaly stopped stashing, which is very odd. I don't know if the hamster and her eating patterns are conected but it's the only major thing that has changed; but to be fair she had stopped attaccing her sister a few days before which I read as a good sing that Nifti had heald, but maby there was somethin more to it.

As mentioned before she is still VERY active, and she has eaten some but not as mutch as she would before, and now I worried that apart from the tumors ther coud be someting mutch worse going on.
 
Ok first, check her teeth, if they are straight across the tops there is no issues there. Next offer soft liquidy food like baby cereal mixed with water. If she eats hungrily but not very adeptly there's something possibly neurological going on like PT. Report back once you've checked these things
 
My first thougth went to PT as well, but she still looks determend in her actions, so if it isn't like the erliest stages I hope I can rule that one out.

Her teeth look fine, sraight as can be.

I tryed giving her a variety of soft/softer foods and she went for the meat baby food, then soft peas, she left the egg completely and went for two nuggets of her normal (hard) food. It dosen't seam like she is unable to eat, more like she gets distracted and becomes compleately disinterested...
I haven't had a chance to take a good look at her poops but that will come next.

Today she was again running around like a crazy rat, trying to get to he hamster and failing that any other high place (she has always been a jumper). In the end she pulled a claw trying to grab on to something and still has not calmed down.

edit: this could not be it but is it possible that the heat has someting to do with her not eating as mutch as before?
I also was able to take a look at her poops and they looked good consistancy ways but they were very small, like half the normal size
 
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hi, i'm still having truble gettinge her to eat her normal food (sience selective and also their home made mix)... I cooked some rice and barly whitch she ate but her poops are still small (and today moist and soft). Im' taking her to the vet today but if anyone has any idea of what could be going on with Tamira, please share.
thankyou
 
Thanks for responding.
I know is a long post but please bare with me as I try to explane the best I can what's going on.

I took a look at her belly but it looks normal to me, but as I was fealing her belly I felt a little lump in her groin area. I'm pretty sure it apperad last nigth, at he most yesterday, as it's been almost a week since I started to monitor her every inch, worring that something like this could happen.

As I wrote in a previus post, I took her to the vet the other day for a check up and he told me a few things; first the lup I felt on her side is not a mammary tumor (it's not where the mammari tissue is located and it's formed by two smaller masses), second, the hard lump under her chin/on her neck is most probably an infalammed limphnode that is draninig something and since she is having truble eating hard foods, its possible it could be a tooth. His advice was to monitor her every day (lumps and weight) and see if anithing get's worse, report back and probably get surgery at some point.

As for white patchy markings, she has none, just some bronzing, but she has had this for a long time now.

I don't think she was panic running; I've seen her doing it when something scares her and that's different. if anything she seams to have calmed down since last I wrote (to be fair she has had a rugh cuple of days: the morning after the vet visit she jumped, as she always does, but this time she landed wrong and hurt her arm. Then in the evening she tried to eat some hard food and choked on it. She seams fine now but still a little out of it, undersendebly). I feal it a bit early to say she is lethargic but if tonight she is as calm as she is now I thik it could be more than just tiredness from the last few days.

I'm starting to be a bit scared to say the least, it's coming on all at once an in a weeks time I'm supposed to go away for 4 days (I have arranged to have people to come by but still, given her situation, I'm worried)

thenks for raeding my very long post
 
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