rattie not eating!

Question
Hi I have a hairless dumbo boy who will be 2 in December. His 2 brothers died when they were very young without any symptoms from genetic heart disease. This guy was diagnosed with heart disease and has been on Enalapril for about 6 months now. I noticed within the last 3 days or so that he looks very skinny and is not eating his food. I'm managing to get him to eat a couple bites a day of yogurt mixed with powdered soy baby food for fat and calories. Here's the weird thing- he isn't sneezing or showing any signs of respiratory illness and he is always on the side of his cage wanting to come out and explore. When I let him out he goes around the room and checks everything out like normal. It seems his only symptom is weight loss and loss of appetite. I'm hesitant to take him to the vet because last time I took him to get his enalapril he had severe respiratory distress and the vet thought he was going to die right then and there. I brought him home and he recovered but I'm worried his little heart won't hold up under another vet visit unless absolutely necessary. What do you think about the loss of apetite? What are some causes of that?
Thanks so much!
Lisa

Answer
Sometimes the rats medication needs to  be upped some as time goes on. You should discuss this with your vet.  There are other heart meds approved for use in rats such as antenolol depending on what type of heart disease the rat has.  Has he been formally diagnosed with heart disease? Does he have cardiomyopathy?  Although weight loss is seeb in both hypertrophic and dilated cardiomyopathies. the deciding factor in treating the rat depends on what is wrong with his heart.  I would call the vet, explain that the rat reacts negative to transporting him to the clinic and see if he would suggest changing meds or changing the amount you are using to a higher dose. I also want to apologize for the delay in response. I have had some serious personal issues at home to deal with and have gotten behind on my questions so please excuse the delay in response.