Anemic, underfed rat; separation?

Question
QUESTION: I own two female rats, Harper and Wendy, both about 9 months old, who have always been together with no separation and, until now, no health problems. Wendy has always been the quicker and more dominant of the two (Harper, an albino rat, has always been unsteady and less aggressive). Recently, Harper has lost a large amount of weight, been extremely sluggish, and appeared anemic, with completely colorless paws, tail and nose. There are also painful-looking scabs on her shoulders, but no sign of fleas or lice. I determined, I think, that fur mites were causing both the scabs and the anemia. As for her weight, Wendy has always taken Harper's food, but perhaps with Harper's condition she was less able to defend herself. Here's my question: yesterday, I bathed Harper and put her in a separate cage with plenty of food overnight, to see if an ample food supply would have any immediate positive effect. Should I keep Harper separated from Wendy until she seems to have some color back? Or will her condition worsen being alone? She's so thin and obviously ill, and my thinking was that if she could simply recuperate by herself for a while, she'd be fit enough to go back to the cage with Wendy in a week or so.

ANSWER: Hi Rebecca


Do you keep food down at all times for the girls? As for the pale color...sometimes when a rat has heart disease, they can indeed have pale extremities (e.g.,ears,feet,tail)including the muzzle, and loss of weight. The scabs on her shoulders seems to more or less point to a food allergy more than mites. Does she scratch alot?

Allergies to food, esp high protein levels in the food, can cause scabs mainly around the shoulders and head more so than the rest of the body like mites would cause. Your other rat would also display the same symptoms if there were mites in the mix as they are highly contagious.  As for anemia caused by mites, it would take months for this to occur since the mite is so tiny there would have to be a massive amount of tropical rat mites (these are the most common form of mites that are anaplura (blood sucking ectoparasites) so if your rat had mites bad enough to be anemic from them, you would see them yourself, they would even get on you when you handled your little rat and again, her cagemate would also become a victim.

Now I know that Wendy is not very old, but sometimes these things are congenital (heart disease)

I would get her in to see a vet as soon as possible but the vet MUST  be up to par with rats or it will be a waste of time and money. Many vets are simply general vets that see rats as a special interest but are not really properly educated to handle rats like exotic  certified vets are.   This is not always the case, though, of course, since I know several Vets that are general vets but do see rats as a special interest and are fantastic with them, but its not a very common thing to find, unfortunately.   Anyhow, if you need some names, please let me know and I will gladly give you some, no obligation of course.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for the thorough reply. I feed them an amount enough for both of them, but just once a day; from the sound of it maybe I ought to make extra certain that there's food in the cage at all times.

As for the fur mites, the reason I came to the conclusion that it must be some kind of bug (along with the scabs) is that after handling the rats, excepting right after a bath, I come away with small, itchy mosquito-like bites along my hands and arms. As I said, though, I have never SEEN any bugs. Could it be possible that they do have some kind of mite or other small bloodsucker, but these bugs aren't the cause of Harper's problems? Wendy has not shown any symptoms at all and appears totally healthy. I had just assumed that since Harper had not been eating enough, her immune system was compromised and so she had reacted badly to the mites in a way that Wendy did not.

I cannot get Harper to a vet for another week or so, or else I definitely would have brought her in by now - she looks awful. My main reason for writing was to find out if I was doing the right thing with their separation in the meantime, or if I ought to keep them together despite her condition. Judging by what you've said, there's no real reason to be separating them, right?

Answer
Rats should be fed at all times. Keep dry food down for them both. This way, the rats wont race to eat it, hoard it, hide it, steal it etc...because there will always be food availabe for them and there will be no competition.

If your getting little bites on you after holding the rat, yes, it sounds like mites.

Your right to assume that if she is ill, her immune system is compromised which will indeed make the mites come out!

How did it go at the vets today?