Pet Rat Jackson

Question
QUESTION: My Girlfriend and I have a pet rat lately hes been acting quite different he is 2 yrs old (approx) he has a very difficult time breathing does a lot of wheezing, sneezing he has even seemed to be gasping or making some weird chatter noise while opening and closing his mouth. he also has the discharge coming from his nose(a Lot of it) He doesn't seem to be eating regularly anymore and has lost some weight. he waddles a lot more when walking and seams to favor one side when resting, he has also been hunching himself awkwardly towards the corners of his cage and sliding down it. I almost forgot his tail has changed to a dark grey color on the end (and has become chafed) as well as on his paws he also has become less active. I was wondering if hes sick, suffering and what we should do?

ANSWER: I have a little baby boy rat named Jackson *yes after THEE Michael Jackson*  
 

Anyhow, your rat is not only sick he is critically ill and without prompt attention he wil not survive.  He needs to see a vet that knows how to care for rats as soon as possible, as soon as tomorrow if not tonight at an emergency ER.

He has a respiratory infection if not pneumonia.  He is having a difficult time breathing and the noises your hearing are congestion, possibly fluid in his lungs. The darker tail tells me he is not getting enough oxygen and this is deadly.  Check his feet and see if they are blue or purple, also check his muzzle around his nose etc...see if it is purple, blue or darker. This will also indicate cyanosis and means your rat is hypoxic and is slowly suffocating.  You may notice the veins in his ears are even more prominent.   He needs medication, something to kill the infection and also something to open his airways so he can breathe, and also needs to be put on oxygen.  Please let me know where your located if you dont have a good exotic vet and I will give you some names.  He needs to be seen very soon or it can get worse and cause his death.


Please note that any time your rat refuses to eat, acts different in any way, this tells you he is sick.  From now on any time you notice your rat is not acting right, take him to the vet. If Jackson survives this, you will now know what it is like when rats are critically ill. If he doesnt survive and you get more rats, please keep in mind again that any change in a rats normal behavior, weight loss, strange sounds etc....is the only way they can tell you that they are sick and in need of medical attention.  If they could talk it would make things so much easier, but they cant, so its up to us to know how to tell when they are sick.  I hope he makes it through this.

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

QUESTION: I figured I'd give an update on this situation... Though a very prompt reply on your part (which both myself and my g/f appreciate) not long after we received your response last night Jackson (who as well was named after the one and the same Michael Jackson) passed onto greener pastures where I'm sure he is healthy once more and playing with many others including the man he is named after (as he was extremely affectionate to humans) although I do wish we had known sooner this was our first pet rat and we had assumed from all we read he was just getting old. I wanted to personally thank you though because you did give us a knowledge we never had before that we can now use towards our other babies (which is our female and her 7 children who are 5 weeks old) again thank you and I hope your little ones are doing grand.

Answer
I am so sorry you lost him.

Please read my Critter city site for info on rat care. I think you will find tons of information that can really help.

Also, I am just going to assume that you know this...but will remind you that the boys and girl babies must be apart as of right now.  The boys can get the girls pregnant and also can get momma rat pregnant as well.

http://www.freewebs.com/crittercity/