Help, rat problem

[Fierce Deity]

I have a male rat, about 2-4 weeks old (not an adult yet), that is one out of about 11. My female had just recently given birth. However, this one male rat doesn't seem alright. Everyone once in a while, he will race around the cage, running into things, falling over, and he can hardly ever walk to begin with. One time I wanted to see what was wrong with him, because he was on his side and looked dead. When I went to carefully pick him up, he bit my finger really hard (it bled for a while, and he has never bitten before) and ran off again, hitting things, falling over, and then suddenly he leaped out of the cage and fell about 3 feet. It stunned him a bit but he ran again and I caught him and lied him down on my bed. He was very lethargic, and made hardly any effort to do anything. I would have thought it was dead if it weren't for the heavy breathing and slight movements. I sat him back down in his cage, and he started running violently, hitting things and harly being able to run at all. The mother and a few others came to investigate what was going on. They moved him into a little hide and they've been sort of cuddling with him for a while. I haven't seen him move for a few hours, and I think he might be dead. This behavior has been going on with him for a few weeks. Any ideas as to what is happening?

 

[wickedsweetheart]

we had a lil fella act alot like what your describing, we'r fairly sure he had a tumor, proba. on his pituitary (sry about the sp) asked a vfew ppl about it and was told there really wasn't anything to do for him but make him comfy and feed him his fav foods. which we did until he unfortunatly passed on about 3 months after the symptoms started.

 

[pinkzebra]

Poor little guy! Yes it does sound like a brain tumor/damage of some sort, one of my rats died not too long ago from something similar. She acted very disoriented, stumbled, walked into things. The vet said it was likely a brain tumor or brain damage from a fall. I had her euthanized, as she was becoming a danger to herself and was not going to recover. It doesn't sound too good for your little guy but I will keep my fingers crossed. Good luck with him.

 

[kraken]

Actually,its a inner ear infection.I read it in a rat book.I bet he sits around with his head cocked doesnt he? Believe it or not,antibiotics will remedy it.if you can,take him to a vet,one that knows exotic or "different" pets.

 

[pinkzebra]

How is he doing? Any improvement?

 

[Fierce Deity]

No, his behaviour has not changed. He hasn't come out of the shoe box hide yet, so I haven't had a chance to look at him closely. He hasn't died yet though. A bit more happier news - my female gave birth about a week or two ago, and the little pinkies have started to grow a tiny bit of fuzz, and ocassionally come out of the box to look around. They never go far, because the mother puts them back though.

 

[pinkzebra]

It really sounds like he needs to see a vet, if you can.

 

[Fierce Deity]

It's too late. She died about 5 minutes ago . She was running around the cage again, and then was suddenly very sluggish. I picked her up, and then after a few minutes there was no more movement, and she died.

Another question though:
I have read that pine shavings are bad for rats?
What I have in there right now is "Living World pine shavings, for small animals." It even has a picture of a rat, mouse, hamster, and bunny on it. I understand that cedar is a definite no, but are these pine shavings fine for my girls?

 

[pinkzebra]

Absolutely not! I don't know why they are still marketed and sold for animals, but cedar and pine both have harmful phenols in them. Aspen is ok. Carefresh is another choice. I use clean rags that I launder, much cheaper that way.

Sorry about the baby rat

 

[Fierce Deity]

Alright, thanks for your help. I have changed the pine shaving substrate to aspen. The way I got these rats was that there was a lady who had an adult male and female, and then 15 babies (5 two weeks old, the rest pinkies). Four babies died on the pine substrate in her care (two pinkies, two of the two week old), and when I took them off her hands to look after better, two of the pinkies died the next day. She had already given the adult male to someone else, so I was left with 10: 8 pinkies, 1 adult, 3 two week olds. I did a ton of research about how to care for them properly, and read the pine and cedar are toxic. So I went to the pet store the next day and switched it to aspen, but just before I left, the female we've been talking about died. Could the pine shavings be the cause of all these babies dying? Why the hell do they sell it if it is toxic?

 

[bugmankeith]

Yeah cedar and pine are toxic. They sell it because they want the money, and it's not toxic to all creatures. Your rats should be better now.

 

[Fierce Deity]

I understand that it is not toxic to all animals, but it has a picture of a mouse, rat, hamster and bunny on it. Thats what gets me.

 

[bugmankeith]

False advertising then. You could write to the company and say what happened, mabye it will help and they will not put pictures of rodents on pine or cedar chips.

 

[pinkzebra]

I don't know why they do it - it bothers me no end. Alot of people don't know that it is toxic to many animals (not just rats). I would think that the folks who sell the pine and cedar would just switch over to aspen, many times it is the same company selling all 3. Or at least not advertise it for those animals that are negatively affected by it. Cedar is by far the worse of the two. I don't think that there is any animal that can live safely on it. I once asked a pet store why they sell cedar when it is so toxic and they said for people to fill their dogs beds with, it keeps the fleas off. :wall:

 

[Fierce Deity]

Yes, Living World sells pine, cedar, and aspen shavings. All have the same picture of the rodents on them, and all are in the small pets section of the store. Nowhere on the package does it say that it is toxic to your small animals. So, by law, you have to post health risks on a product that has them, so since it killed 6 of my rats, I could probably successfully sue them. I won't do it though, at least I know better now.