Sweet Boy Suffering with Anxiety

[kathrynwithak7]

Hi guys,

I NEED HELP!

I have two young adult male rats named Winston and Teddy. I adopted them from the animal shelter about 5 months ago. They pick on each other sometimes, as brothers do, but they normally are super friendly with each other. At the end of the day, they will always cuddle up and fall asleep with each other.

About two weeks ago, Winston started squeaking because Teddy was hoarding all of the food and Winston was trying to get some for himself. (I'm assuming this is a shelter animal behavior, hoarding food) So I started feeding them separately, one pellet at a time.

On and off, Winston has the "bloody" red eye problem. I've read this can be caused by anxiety. Whenever I'm gone all day, he gets it. Whenever he doesn't get food at the same time every day, he gets it. Whenever the water level is too low, he gets it. Whenever I don't play with him (for example, I had the flu last week and couldn't play with him), he gets it. He is ALWAYS anxious. Also, he's been shedding a lot too.

He's my baby boy and I just don't know how to help him. I've been watching him carefully to make sure he's not sneezing or coughing. I'm afraid of a respiratory infection, but I can't afford to go to the vet every time his eye does the thing. AND his brother is fine! Teddy has never had anxiety issues.

Someone PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE help my baby boy. I just want to help him. He is just the most anxious rat I have EVER had.

 

[jorats]

Hi!
The porphyrin in his one eye is not necessarily anxiety...it could be stress but that's not a huge concern. All animals have some level of stress, some deal better than others. Do you know their age? Also, food hoarding is a rat thing. Rats LOVE to hoard and hide their food, it's got nothing to do with the shelter. I used to give my rats their food in a bowl, wait for them to hoard it and then I'd go find it and put it back in their bowl. I did this all day long. But I do like the idea of feeding them by hand, that will gain you lots of trust with them. For the leaky eye, just to make it sure it's not an infected duct, I would get over the counter polysporin eye drops and put one drop twice a day in the eye for a week. See if that helps at all. That's what my vet had recommended for me.

 

[kathrynwithak7]

jorats,

Thank you for the reply! The shelter believed that they were around 1 year old, which to me seems about right. Where do you recommend I get the eye drops?

Thanks again!

 

[kathrynwithak7]

Oh no! I think its getting worse!

Now that I look at Winston's nose, I feel like its crusty and a little bloody. And I keep hearing sneezing, but it is hard to tell which rat it is coming from.

Time to go to the vet?

 

[lilspaz68]

The blood is actually porphyrin and combined with the sneezing, he's likely starting a respiratory infection. A vet visit will be an exam fee plus any antibiotics the rat will need prescribed. Do you have a competent rat vet? Where are you located?

 

[jorats]

I agree, a vet visit is best.

 

[SQ]

A vet visit as soon as possible with a good vet who is knowledgeable about rats (or at least willing to learn) because rats become ill and die fast. As previously mentioned, he will likely need an antibiotic or combination of antibiotics for 6 weeks if they help, and if they do not start to help within a few days then the vet will need to try different antibiotics or a combination of antibiotics.

 

[kathrynwithak7]

The blood is actually porphyrin and combined with the sneezing, he's likely starting a respiratory infection. A vet visit will be an exam fee plus any antibiotics the rat will need prescribed. Do you have a competent rat vet? Where are you located?

I live near Denver, Colorado. I think I have a good exotic pet vet, but last time I went it seemed like a lot of guess work. If you have a recommendation I would appreciate it!