My rat is acting strange

Question
QUESTION: I used to have two rats but my rat Snowball died when he was three years old and now I only have one, Jellybean. Jellybean is going to turn four in one and a half months, today is the first time he has acted differently. Jellybean has always been an active rat, he always ate what he was given and did what he was told (basically come to his name. Every day I give him in total about 2 hours of time to run around my room and play. Every single day for about three and a half years he ran under the bed and played. Yesturday I noticed a very small hard bump under his belly. He doesn't do anything when i touch it though. He also did not want to go under my bed. I put him under there and he ran out. I don't know if this is a silly question, i just get really worried about him. Recently he has been as active as always, but he can't jump as well as before. I am guessing that is due to age. I would love it if you can help. Thanks!


ANSWER: I have rats that old now, and your right, jumping is difficult now as they are aging because they lose muscle tone. I would make life super easy for him now and lower everything to avoid accidents since he may fall and really get injured. Also, the bump, it may be an abscess. Take a really close look at it and see if there is a pit in the center of it or a black scab type crust over it which would be a bit of necrotic tissue.  Let me know what you see or feel.  See if it feels really squishy or hard and attached like it cant move around much. Increase his protein and iron intake just a bit by offering him a scrambled egg a few times a week too. He will love you for it.  Sounds like Jellybean and Snowball have been well taken care of to live as long as they have, even losing Snowball at three years old is still an age to be proud of. Many rats end of life is somewhere between 2.5 and 3 years old if they have had a fairly healthy life without incident.  Seems males live longer since they dont have to battle those pesky mammary tumors females get, (males can too but not as often) which is why I wont own females unless I spay from now on.

What else can I help you with today?

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QUESTION: Thank you soo much! I will start giving him more protein and iron. He does love meat. The bump on his belly is hard to  find, you have to kind of feel your way through to find it. It is very small and hard, feels like a bone. He has had fur loss for quite a while, i got him to the vet but it wasn't anything serious. I got him to the vet again because he was itching a lot, he had a pretty bad infestation of lice. Or at least that is what i think it was, it was a long time ago. Since then his skin has been kind of rough and so i gave him is medication and every other day i scrubbed him with a soft wet cloth. It got a lot better but it is still sort of rough compared to when i first got him. Thanks again for answering! And one more thing, how do i rate your answer? Its great!

ANSWER: Hi

Thanks for wanting to rate me, but I dont accept ratings. It makes me feel like it is some type of competition against the other experts, Janell, Molly and Robin, and I dont want it to be that way, so I dont accept ratings. I just want to help rats and their owners give them a good happy and healthy life.  Doing that is  better than a score of 10 any day!  :)

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QUESTION: Sorry about that! About my rat, you were right! He does love me for giving him scrambled eggs! I was wondering if there is anything I can do to get him back to jumping. Jellybean jumps a lot, he just never really gets where he wants to get in the first few tries. And are rats supposed to eat less as they get older? It seems to me Jellybean is eating a lot!

Answer
I would actually discourage Jellybean from jumping because he is older now.  Let me explain why:

Rats life span used to be much shorter, 2 years or less. With more vets learning about pet rat care and more rat owners learning how to properly care for their rats esp now with so much information on the internet, rats are getting healthier foods, better housing and overall better care and living longer. However, their bodies didnt expect this! They are made to really last about 2  years and after that, there are alot of degenerative changes going on, from arthritis to loss of muscles mass to chances in the spine and even nerve root compression on the spine that can cause hind leg paralysis. This doesnt stop the rat though as he will learn to be mobile without the use of his back legs, usually propelling around on their bellies. Some people think their rat is suffering at this point but they arent, actually, since they cannot even really feel anything below, they simply cant move their legs or support weight on their hind legs. They get around fine as long as there are no ramps or anything they need to climb. Other rats move slower, some may be a bit unsteady on their feet and others just lose the spring in their step, like Jelly bean has. Trying to get him to jump again is like asking an 80 year old grandpa to run a marathon (although some have!) If he could do it, he would do it, put it that way.  
Treat him like the older rat that he is by pampering him but trust me he wont give up for a long time. Rats are strong, brave, clever, intelligent, loving, territorial, stubborn, I can go on and on....but one thing he wont do is give up until he cant go on any longer.


As for eating, no, age doesnt have anything to do with appetite. Let him eat what he wants. Rats dont overeat which is why they should be allowed to self feed rather than feed on a schedule. The rat that gets fat from self feeding only does so because he is getting the wrong foods, fattening foods, but if he is fed the proper diet, self feeders do just fine weight wise.  Hope this helps!

Meantime,check out my website and the page on caring for elderly rats.

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