Stimulating the appetite of an emaciated rat

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smallvic

smallvic

Supporting Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Apr 13, 2008
Messages
190
Location
Montreal for now
My Archie has pneumonia, and the worst of that is over, but he is skin and bones and he is just not eating enough. He is on 12 mL subQ electrolytes twice a days as well as Baytril and Tramadol. Today for the first time in almost 3 weeks I put a bowl of pablum with banana in front of him and he did eat some, but for the rest of the day, like other days, I will have to force feed with a syringe. It is a combination of Boost, pablum, and either butter or peanut butter, and occasionally i swap out the Boost for soymilk. When he accepts it, I can get 3 mL into him but sometimes he lets at least 1 ml of that dribble out. I am always having to clean his face and neck of rejected food. When he doesn't want to eat, he just clamps his mouth shut or holds the liquid in without swallowing until it dribbles out. I am so frustrated! And worried. 2-3 mL only 3-4 times a day is not enough to sustain life, let alone recover from starving. I calculated he needs 25 calories a day at his weight, and I doubt there are even 2 calories in 1 mL of the food. Today I smelt ketosis on him again. I am waiting for the vet to get back to me about stimulating his appetite but can someone please advise? My last resort today is to go get some a/d and, if I'm lucky to find it, Nutrical. the only good news (other than that the pneumonia hasn't killed him yet) is that he has produced a couple of small poops every day and he had enough energy over the past day to do some moving around on his own. Including push my food away.


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When they are that unwell / recovering from being so unwell, I honestly just give them whatever they want to eat.

Baby foods (maybe baby cereals), biscuit mixed into some soya milk, a little custard etc. I know it's not the healthiest but I think it's more important that you get them back to eating again.
 
I get a special diet called Emeraid from my vet...you can use Omnivore alone, and it seems to really build up sick and starving rats...they also love it for the most part. If I am syringe feeding a sickie, this is what I fall back on.

If your poor boy had a virus related pneumonia, you have a very very long road ahead.

Are you sub-q'ing him with Ringers? With my super sickies I was sub-q'g 10 ml's morning and night.
 
Finn was like that too when he had kidney disease we just gave him what he wanted baby food, yogurt, banana cookie, avocados (soft and high in calories), watermelon (contains water). I don't think I saw him drink out of a water bottle in three months so we gave him fruits/veggies that contained water. Pedilyte which we made into ice cubes since it has to be used within 48 hours. Good luck and healing vibes to you baby :cuddle: its just so hard to watch them get that way - Finn lost over 300 grams
 
Thank you everyone - I bought him a/d and also medi-cal recovery today, but when I got home he was on his head and cold as can be. I gave him some ringer's but he didnt ally take it, and it's not much point rehydrating him again at this cold temperature. He is still not warm, so he's on the heating pad. Things do not look good for him at all. At 10 pm he will get his shot and hopefully then he will take something. Not good at all.


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I've had two rats that were starving when they were ill and another who wasn't eating because she was picked on by the others. To get them to eat I fed live mealworms. It's not the best thing, since they are high in protein, but they are high in fat and all of my rats go nuts for them. Once they started feeling better from eating I started giving other things. You could try that. If he doesn't take one right away try cutting it open so he can smell it more. They are easy to 'care for'. I buy them from a reptile store. Just pop them in the fridge and they go into hibernation. They last for a couple weeks. You could also freeze them but that takes the smell away.
 
I am sure the little man will be gone this morning or very close...when they stop eating, drinking and get cold and lethargic like that...especially at an advanced age, they usually don't bounce back. :(
 
After warming him for a few hours, he took some food at 10 pm. I rehydrated him and brought him to bed. At 2 AM I woke and he had crawled up beside my head. He was bruxing a bit. I got up and gave him a LOT of food that he finally had an appetite for. He continued bruxing. I wrapped him up and went back to sleep. I woke at 6 and he was gone.


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:cry: I feel guilty and I miss him terribly and I am grateful for your sympathies. :hug: I have to avoid thinking about it more for tonight as I'm exhausted. I'm going to go out and do some business networking :doh: and then party like this hasn't happened and as if I was half my age. But there will surely be a few tells on my face happening anyway.
 
I'm so sorry! I was ready to reply to your 1st post that I couldn't think of anything more you could do or offer more that what you were doing & offering. Then I read he'd passed. If he had a chance to recover he'd have done it with your good care. His body couldn't absorb the food, but you can bet his heart & soul absorbed the love you offered it with.
Run free knowing you were so loved, little man.
Hugs, smallvic, you go party and find some life like he'd want you to do!
 

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