eye problem

Question
Hello Sandra,
My 13 year old son has a beautiful hairless rat named Violet, she's such a sweetie.  I still can't find the courage to hold her but I talk to her a lot and give her pecans, which she loves.  Recently we have noticed that she doesn't open her right eye all the way, after checking her out there didn't seem to be anything wrong so didn't think anything more about it.  Today I came home from work and checked in on her, the eye seems to be the same meaning not open fully but now there is a scratch on the skin by the inside corner of the eye.  The entire family is concerned now.  My daughter and I just inspected her and there is no discharge, it doesn't look infected (yet)and she opens the eye fully when we take her out to hold her.  Is there anything, like a home remedy, I can do to ensure she is comfortable? I have considered washing her eye with the same saline I use for my contact lenses but I do not want to cause her any discomfort or permanent damage.  Could you provide any information.
Violets family!
p.s. your site is great

Answer
Hi Kelly

Oh you MUST hold pretty Violet. Her skin feels like buttery soft leather and she is really warm to the touch. Hairless rats have a super fast metabolic rate (rats do, in general, but its even more so with hairless rats) so their body temp is a bit higher making them always feel as if they are feverish.

Hairless rats do not come without their own set of problems, unfortunately.  For starters, they have more of chance of having problems with their eyes since they lack eyebrows and some even lack eye lashes.  They even have curly whiskers that can hinder their judgment of width in objects, so always be sure that any toy she has to go inside that there is plenty of room since she cant judge width using her whiskers.  In the wild, rats can tell if they can fit through pipes or tunnels by using their whiskers to judge width for them.  

Anyhow, sometimes a hairless rat has an eyelash that is actually turned in, rubbing the eye and causing some discomfort, making the rat close the eye half way.  Check closely, even using a magnifying glass to see if you notice a hair growing inward rather than outward.

Is her eye a normal color? Do you see any haze or cloudy film over the eye at all?  

Also, please check out my site, Critter city, about proper diet and nutrition.  Rats should not exceed 15% to 18% protein per day and to be sure she is eating healthy  you can check up on the best foods to use etc.... pet store foods (seed mixes) are not good to use due to teh fact that the seed mixes contain too high of protein and fats and rats do not stay healthy eating seeds meant for birds!!  Pecans...I know she loves them but you need to limit them to maybe a few times per month. The fat and protein content is just too excessive for her system and high protein is too taxing on the rats kidneys, leading to kidney disease later in life.  

I know you didnt ask any of these things but just for  a heads up. I would feel bad NOT telling you when I know that these things may not be in the best interest for little Violet.

Anyhow, please let me know about the eye and the eyelash, color of the eye etc....and we can go from there.

You can use saline solution, the same thing you use on your contacts as long as it is preservative free.

Here is the link to my site, Critter City:

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

Hope this helps some!