Weak Mommy Rat

Question
QUESTION: Hi Sandy,

It's me again.  I've written to you about my girl rattie had 12 babies. She is the one who snuck into my buck's cage during the night!!  After delivery, there was a lot of blood in the cage - more than I expected.  She was very weak following the birth, but is a little better now.  

She is still VERY thin, I can feel her spine and rib cage. A day before the pups were born she weighed 15.1.  The pups are 7 days old now and she weighs 9.9.  I have been feeding her I increased her protein with baby food chicken and hard-boiled egg slices and some real butter on a bit of toast.  How much should I offer?  Is there any way I can help her more??  I feel so sorry for her, she is exhausted.

Thank you so much.
Heidi


ANSWER: You can go ahead and try feeding her various flavors of baby foods. Also a big hit is to offer rats ENSURE or BOOST, which are both packed with vitamins and are a high calorie drink. Try this for a few days and see how it goes. Offer her as much food as she will eat. Is she eating and drinking ok? Are the babies ok?

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

QUESTION: Hi SAndy,

Thanks so much for the super fast response.  I will get that Ensure and everything you suggested today.  Yes, her babies are fat and healthy and she is a wonderful mama.  She doesn't seem to be interested in her rattie food (although she is picking at it), but the egg and the baby food gets eaten right away.  I was afraid to feed her too much of that - didn't know if it was too rich or could cause stomach upest... She is drinking a lot of water - I use bottled water - is that good?  How much Ensure do I give??

I'll keep you posted.  This is one special little girl - so loving and gentle..it was too early to have ratlets for her.  But she decided that on her own!!!

Heidi

ANSWER: One thing about rats is that they dont over eat which is why we tell people to leave their food down with the exception of the fresh foods that spoil.  Some people try to schedule feed their rats which is a good way to make a rat food-aggressive.

I cant remember what diet your little Momma rat is on....is she on a homemade diet or rat blocks?  Check out my website going to the diet page.  If you already are using these diets, ignore me. I get 10 or more questions per day and my memory is not the greatest.  I do remember her as the young mother that snuck to visit the males because she was able to fit through the bars of the cage, the little street walker! :)

I had a female come to me pregnant.  Actually she and her mother were both pregnant, I had no idea since they dont usually show till closer to the birth. Oreo was just a few months old at the time and her mother was older, and Oreo had 7 perfect pups and Charlotte, who was a petite dumbo, had 15. Only one died out of that huge litter and yes I kept almost all of them too.  I had a rat colony of over 30 rats at one time, and had at least 15 cages in the room. My vet bills were OUT of this world since the pups all had health problems, dying in their young "2s" but Little old Charlotte lived to be over 3 and Oreo even older, being my second oldest living rat ever.   I wish I had pictures but that was before digital cameras were all the rage. I have video of them at least.


Anyhow, your momma rat is giving her all to her pups and this in turn is taking away from her own body. You can give her a few spoons of the ensure or boost because this might cause loose stools, which is why I am going to suggest you feed her puffed rice or puffed wheat if you can find it. I find the puffed rice in bags at walmart and quaker makes the puffed wheat. Its old people cereal my son calls it. LOL
It does cause dry stools which can be good if they have pudding for poo.  That didnt sound very professional did it. My bad!  ;)
You can offer her cooked brown rice too. Have you tried feeding her any chicken? White meat only. You can buy cheap chicken tenders and boil them but it is also easy to buy the baby food jars of chicken but becareful the rat doesnt gag or even choke on that stuff since it seems dry.  At least it was when I used it for my own babies (human babies that is) 20 years ago.  Another good thing (which is part of the homemade diet) is the whacky mac, which is the colored macaroni. It is green and red, which I believe the green is for spinach and the red is tomato (I think) You can boil it just to get the hardness out but not real soft though.  She may love this too.

When the babies are starting to eat, she may bring the food to them, so I would advise that they are eating a good rodent block (harlan teklad is the best) but if needed, Mazuri rodent block is acceptable and easily found in most pet stores. You will want to moisten them up a bit to soften them up when the pups are starting to eat solids, but remember, dont start them on seed mixes.  They dont need them. Sunflower seeds are OK as a treat but avoid the peanuts. They can have vegetables when they first start to eat. This is fine. Peas are the easiest and seem to be a favorite and a semi cooked carrot would be a hit with the ratlets too.

I hope she starts to gain weight soon and probably will as the pups ease up on nursing.  She has alot of ratlets to feed and she herself just was a ratlet not long ago.


REVISED:


HELP!  I lost your latest message...please send it again...I know it was about the fact you found parasites (sounds like rat lice, but thats better than the mites) and also that the ensure is helping. ALso no I do not use nutriphase. Its too high in proteins and fats.

Also, the happy jack powder, watch using powder with rats. It can really irritate their lungs and cause a possible respiratory infection. The best route is ivermectin from the vets. Also, mom cant be treated till the pups are at least 3 weeks old so it wont hurt if the is nursing and has the invermetcin once the pups get older...I would buy a flea comb and use it on her for the time being to trap those suckers. Please let me know if you get this.....

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

QUESTION: Hi Sandy,

Yes, I received your response.  You answered all my questions - but here was my message:

QUESTION: Hi Sandy,

The Ensure is working miracles for the Momma rattie!  I added some strawberries to it and she likes fishing them out.  I also bought different varieties of baby food meats.  I bought the ones that have "broth" so they are really moist and juicy.  I sent away for the Harlan tekland blocks too.  Do you offer any Nurtiphase mixed rat food to your rats?

Also, my bucks have been a little itchy and last night I found small beige spots running all through Barney's fur!!  I freaked out!!!!  I called the vet today and he said to fluff him and the others with "Happy Jack" powder and to remove the mommy and babies to another room - which I already have done.  I checked the mother's fur and I saw two little beige spots - but she is so wiggly I couldn't see if they were moving.  I know I can't treat her with anything because she is nursing, right?

__________

Sandy, I am so upset about the parasites.  I am so diligent about cleaning, scrubbing, soaking, even using diluted bleach and air drying the cage and ramps.  I don't know how this happened.  What did I do wrong????

Thank you so much for your help, I hope I am not a bother...

Sincerely,

Heidi  

Answer
Dont blame yourself! I think everyone that has rats has had to face problems with parasites at least once.

These little buggers can actually come in from the litter/bedding. I usually suggest that people freeze all bedding and even food mixes for several days. Some people say 24 hours but I say at least 3 days and in fact if you have room in the freezer I would keep it in all the time in case there are eggs or in case if you bring it in the room something may crawl in so it will be destroyed as well.  

And your not a bother at all! I am here to help and dont mind .