twitch
Well-Known Member
i think some of you have heard about rosie. she and lydia were surrendered to me in horrible condition. lydia died the next day as she was too far gone for me to help. rosie at the time was too thin but otherwise healthy. she was gaining weight like a fiend and when this started she was just on this side of a healthy weight. all that wonderful weight she gained and progress she made as since melted off her and now she is down to 8 ounces. i tried feeding her baby food but i don't think she likes it. she eats her regular food fine. scarfs into the good left overs from diner and if she out while i'm eating will steal the food right off my plate! her activity levels are normal. she doesn't run anywhere but neither does she plod. she just doesn't seem to be in a hurry. she needs something that she will eat that will boost her weight up but here is what i think may be her problem that is causing her to lose weight.
1)something that kinda maybe be related to URI but doesn't act like a rat with URI should or;
2)heart issues or;
3)internal parasites if that is possible
1) she has been breathing fast, faster then she should for a little while now. and i know with the effort put into breathing so quickly it would be common to lose weight. at first the vet thought it was allergies but she did not respond to the dexamethazone shot at all. so we put her on baytril (as well as stewart who had the sneezes--he has since completely cleared up) but there has been no improvement with that either. her limbs are pale and though the rest of her limbs seem the proper temperature her ears are cold and pale too. but through all this she has not been acting as a rat with breathing problems should be acting other then losing the weight. she's been active. she's amoung the first to the cage door when i greet everyone. i have not had for very long and this breathing issue cropped up at just about the same time that she was coming into herself after settling in so i'm not sure if her medium speed behavior is just her or a result of illness. if the information i was given about her age is correct she is about 1 and half and probably closer to 2. so that may be it too speed wise. i contacted my vet and am waiting on a reply back for clarification on some issues. she's not lethargic in any way and she is making NO breathing sounds. i'm thinking maybe its scar tissue or a pulmunary abscesses.
2)though she doesn't seem to be having the other symptoms of CHF her limbs are pale. there are not cyaonic though but where she isn't having breathing sounds or acting like a rat with URI i thought maybe this might be it. i'm not a vet and i really hope i'm just being paranoid but does anyone else think this might fit?
3) finally after learning a bit more about what she and her sister went through before i got them and learning that they were fed LIVE mice when the previous owner's snakes would not eat i got to thinking that maybe this is 2 separate problems and maybe rosie has worms. i know she's small and worms (as much as i know about them) tend to be in larger animals... but eating live mice cannot be healthy for rats, i wouldn't be surprised if something was transmitted. that could explain the weight loss and then maybe the fast breathing is just scar tissue but the weight condition is aggravating it and making her breathe even faster so that i'm noticing it now where i didn't before. i'm not sure how the original weight gain could be explained though if she already had the worms when i was given her. but maybe there's a different kind of internal parasite that acts differently then the worms i'm familiar with for dogs and cats and such.
i have contacted the vet. i am waiting for her reply back. any information you can give me on this or theories you could put forth for me to research would be greatly appreicated. i just think more is going on here then just a typical RI, there's something just not adding up right...
1)something that kinda maybe be related to URI but doesn't act like a rat with URI should or;
2)heart issues or;
3)internal parasites if that is possible
1) she has been breathing fast, faster then she should for a little while now. and i know with the effort put into breathing so quickly it would be common to lose weight. at first the vet thought it was allergies but she did not respond to the dexamethazone shot at all. so we put her on baytril (as well as stewart who had the sneezes--he has since completely cleared up) but there has been no improvement with that either. her limbs are pale and though the rest of her limbs seem the proper temperature her ears are cold and pale too. but through all this she has not been acting as a rat with breathing problems should be acting other then losing the weight. she's been active. she's amoung the first to the cage door when i greet everyone. i have not had for very long and this breathing issue cropped up at just about the same time that she was coming into herself after settling in so i'm not sure if her medium speed behavior is just her or a result of illness. if the information i was given about her age is correct she is about 1 and half and probably closer to 2. so that may be it too speed wise. i contacted my vet and am waiting on a reply back for clarification on some issues. she's not lethargic in any way and she is making NO breathing sounds. i'm thinking maybe its scar tissue or a pulmunary abscesses.
2)though she doesn't seem to be having the other symptoms of CHF her limbs are pale. there are not cyaonic though but where she isn't having breathing sounds or acting like a rat with URI i thought maybe this might be it. i'm not a vet and i really hope i'm just being paranoid but does anyone else think this might fit?
3) finally after learning a bit more about what she and her sister went through before i got them and learning that they were fed LIVE mice when the previous owner's snakes would not eat i got to thinking that maybe this is 2 separate problems and maybe rosie has worms. i know she's small and worms (as much as i know about them) tend to be in larger animals... but eating live mice cannot be healthy for rats, i wouldn't be surprised if something was transmitted. that could explain the weight loss and then maybe the fast breathing is just scar tissue but the weight condition is aggravating it and making her breathe even faster so that i'm noticing it now where i didn't before. i'm not sure how the original weight gain could be explained though if she already had the worms when i was given her. but maybe there's a different kind of internal parasite that acts differently then the worms i'm familiar with for dogs and cats and such.
i have contacted the vet. i am waiting for her reply back. any information you can give me on this or theories you could put forth for me to research would be greatly appreicated. i just think more is going on here then just a typical RI, there's something just not adding up right...
