young rat stress?

Question
QUESTION: Hi,
Only about half a week ago i purchased to young rats at PetSmart.  One is a fancy blue and the other is a dumbo, both males.  From day one both the rats were sneezing a lot, particularly after i would handle them (i don't know if its just me or not).  From the morning after i got these two rats my blue rat would wake up with red crusty-like ring around his eyes (porphyrin stains i believe). A lot of online sources i've read said this is just a matter a stress from moving to a new home but i don't know if its something i should take both of them to vet about.  A little advise would be greatly appreciated. Ive heard that many pet store rats have a high risk of illness but these rats are very young (a couple weeks old i was told but i suspect at least a month or two judging their size).  Either way I'd hate to lose these rats to something that can be preventable so please get back to me when you can. Thanks

PS- I use Carefresh bedding and feed them Mazuri rat/mouse food.

ANSWER: Hi Kris

Porphyrin is indeed caused by stress but what is the rat stressed from, is the problem. Usually they have tons of it when they are sick or in pain.  Check out this site for photos of rats with porphyrin discharge as well as learn accurate information about it and where it comes from:

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

You did hit the nail on the head when you said the rats seem to sneeze more when you handle them. This is because their histamine levels rise due to being excited or nervous and this causes sneezing and runny nose or eyes etc... just like an allergy attack would do. Once the stimuli is removed, the sneezing eases up.   They are higher risk for illness being from pet stores and the reason being is that the breeder they come from often are breeders that breed by the dozens, never knowing anything about their health history etc...often inbreeding as well. Another problem is that they do not socialize the rats right which is why so manypet store rats are super shy unless you find a rat that has his own unique personality and he was born to love people. Most rats are born to fear people and you cant blame them really, since humans have been trying to eradicate their species for centuries. Rat pups should be touched and held and talked to the day they are born and by the time they open their eyes they will not have a fear of humans. Breeders for petstores just simply dont do this because they have too many rats to even keep count.  Most of them are bred for feeders but the ones that have unique colors or ear placement (dumbos for example) are usually kept for pets, although there is no difference in personality, blue or black, white or gray, dumbo or standard ears, if they are not bred for health and tempernment, they will need alot of major TLC.  I have a special page on how to handle shy rats too since I get alot of questions about that as well and also how to set up a play area for them so they have an area all of their own to spend time out of the cage and to interact safely with you and their own toys etc...

As for the vet: It wouldnt hurt to have the rats checked mainly because they are new. I usually advise people to bring in a stool sample and allow the vet to check the rat over. If they are only sneezing, the vet may or may not elect to medicate them unless there are more signs of illness but sneezing in itself is usually a sign of early stages of mycoplasmosis in many cases.
More on myco:

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

I myself always say this is normal for the first month of the new rats life at their new home but I have also seen the rats come down with a bad respiratory infection from ignoring the sniffles and sneezes, chalking it up to their new move. I hate to have that happen, so its better to be safe than sorry.

Do you have a vet for them? If not, please check out my page on how to find a vet for your rat, the importance of the right vet and also a link to the AEMV, where you can find exotic vets in your area. Although rats are far from exotic pets, this is a generic term used to describe any animal that is not of the traditional pet, such as dog or cat.

Here are the links to my site:

For vets:
http://www.freewebs.com/crittercity/therightvetforyourrat.htm

For shy rats:

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


Setting up a play area etc...

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



Please let me know how it all goes!

Sandy

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

QUESTION: Hi,
I can't thank you enough for your long thorough answer, you even got to me the day i asked you.  I found out more about these porphyrin stains I've been noticing on my blue rat.  Its only been on one eye I realize, and the eye has been slightly squinted in comparison to his left eye which has had no porphyrin.  I read on a few online sources (by the way the sites you suggested to me were extremely helpful) that my rat probably had an irritation in his eye, in which case i am definetly going to get him to a vet ASAP.  However, i wanted to first see what you had to say about this whole situation because i also read that i could remove the pain with some saline solution, but I think i might want to take him to the vet just to be safe.  I also read that this could eventually blind him in that eye and even kill him if it goes neglected which really scared me.  Please get back to me when you can and thanks for all your help.

ANSWER: Hi

If the rat is squinting his eye, this often means he has pain in it.
I have had rats with eye infections and even though he had treatment the day I noticed his eye was infected, the vet still had to remove his eye because the infection destroyed the nerves etc...and his vision was totally gone in that eye. You cannot mistake an eye infection. The eye is often cloudy or swollen.  You can see an example on my site here:


Scroll down about half way for eye infections and see my rat, Santana, before and after total enucleation .

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

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

QUESTION: Hello again,

The rat's eye is not fogged in any way or swollen as I saw in your pictures.  All I see is porphyrin staining just like it shows on your freewebs.com page about bloody nose and eyes.  However, I just wanted to let you know that I will be getting vet help tomorrow morning just incase.  Thanks for all your help!

Answer
Good deal!  Better to be safe than sorry!!  Hopefully its not a big deal and nothing is wrong but even so, I am sure it can be taken care of right away and all will be well. You were right on top of this, and did a good job paying close attention to her health enough to realize there may be a potential problem.  This is the care I love to see rats have. Your a good rat parent:)

Please let me know what the outcome is and what the vet did for her etc...

Good luck!