My brothers Rat

Question
Well I just noticed that my brothers rat i'snt acting like she normally does. Shes white. And I noticed that her face is pink, theres blood on the wall, she wont keep her eyes all the way open and she hardly eats. Could she have a cold? Or is everything ok? I just want to make sure because ive never had a rat act like this before. Please help!

Answer
Hi

She is sick. The pink fur you see is from porphyrin discharge from her nose and eyes and when she grooms herself, it gets on her paws and when she wipes her face she is wiping the reddish colored porphyrin on her fur.

The blood you see on the wall is not blood. IT is also porphyrin and when she sneezes, it is going on the wall because porphyrin is found in the mucus on the nose and also in the rats saliva and even secretions vaginally and in the urine at times too, depending an the stress level.

CHeck out my website and please let me know if you notice the porphryin on your rats nose and eyes as compared to the photos on my page.
http://www.freewebs.com/crittercity/bloodynoseandeyes.htm


Porphyrin is a secretion produced by the harderian gland which is found behind th rats eyes. WHen stressed from illness or anxiety, they produce copious amounts of it and it comes out of their nose and eyes. People that are no aware of this think its blood and this is what sends them to the vets office. Rightly so. This is a perfect indication of illness and its mother natures way of speaking for the rat when they are sick and stressed.

She probably has mycoplasmosis. Rats cannot get the common cold and are immune th the several hundred types of germs that cause the cold virus. However, they are born with mycoplasmosis and eventually if their immune system weakened (from stress etc...) myco usually causes problems in the form of respiratory infections that are usually mild at first in the form of sneezing but it can progress, fast and turn into a secondary infection,possibly causing a nasty pneumonia.

Read about myco here:I promise its not boring and will really help you understand what is going on better!

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


Rght now what to do is find a vet...even a 24 hr vet is good. If not, you need to get her in tomorrow.  I can find one for you if you dont have one.  Second,you have to get him to eat.  Baby food fed on your fingers is one thing she may go for. You have to keep her hydrated to avoid that she gets any worse, so offer her smashed watermelon, pedialyte, kool aid, even sugar water. It doesnt matter about the sugar content  at this point, but we have to keep him hydrated etc..

ALso, if you want me to give you names of good exotic  vets let me know your location.

Please get back to me on what your plans on.