weight loss hair loss red discharge

Question
QUESTION: we have 2 rats a black male and a white female we keep them in separate cages so they dont breed and a couple of months ago our male started to get sick. we first noticed the hair loss. he also has the reddish discharge from his eyes and noses. now he isnt eating and weve been giving him antibioticts but it didnt help. he had pine bedding but we changed that to clean newspaper. nothing we do helps and hes just getting worse. now his bones are showing he has less then half his hair hes slow moving and lethargic his appetite changed the past few days and hes not eating much. hes not even a year old yet and we really dont know what to do to help him. i have asked a vet who is a friend and he couldnt help me either. please help we dont want him to pass

ANSWER: He needa a better vet.  Let me know your location and I will give you  names of good vets.  He probbaly had lung disease from the pine or possibly liver problems due to exposure to the phenol oils in the pine bedding.

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

QUESTION: sorry to say he passed away the next morning. we have another and she has been in pine bedding also and hasnt showed any signs of problems or illness. weve changed her bedding but i wanted to kno if shell develop any problems? thank you for your help

Answer
I would remove her from the pine bedding. This causes kidney problems and can even contribute to cancer.  Even if there is no sign of illness that doesnt mean there isnt something going on internally.  Using pine bedding or bedding with phenol oils has contributed to death during the use of anesthesia because the rats organs have been damaged from the toxic phenol and this in turn keeps the kidneys from filtering properly thus in turn the anesthesia is toxic to the rats.
Other problems can occur as well, so its best not to use it at all regardless of lack of symptoms. I am sorry your other rat passed away. Its so hard when we lose them regardless.