Is my rat stressed or ill?

Question
Hi, i emailed you a couple of weeks ago about my adult rat and her behaviour with introducing a young rat. They are now sharing the same cage together and getting on fine.
Although, since i have had the young rat she has been sneezing. Sometimes it is occasional and other times she sneezes a few times in a row. At first i thought it may be due to the store using sawdust, i put her in a cage with safe bedding. She continued to sneeze so now i am using carefresh. The problem still persists when she is awake. She has the bloody residue around her nose, but her coat is not fluffed up, she has bright eyes and still has plenty of energy running around the cage playing with the older one. Is this due to stress as i have only had her two weeks and she has been in two cages and i recently moved to my other flat. Or is this possible something for the vet to check?

Answer
Hi Emma

The little one probably is stressed still. Being with you for two weeks with the many changes that have been made could cause stress, since some rats stress very easily. The bloody discharge you see is called Porphyrin and like you already know,it is from stress due to illness or stress from anxiety from changes from a new home to new cage to new cage mate, so she has had three whammies thrown her way the past 2 weeks she has to adjust to.  Porphyrin is made by the harderian gland behind the rats eyes that normally is produced to lubricate the rats third eyelid, but it has been found excessive amounts are produced when stressed or ill.  

Is she eating ok and all? How does she interact with you?

It does sound stress related...as long as you dont notice any congestion or odd sounds etc...

However, you must go with your gut if you feel a vet is warranted and if you need one, let me know and I would be happy to find one for your rat.

To me, a sneeze is benign and antibiotics should not be given if it is not related to infection. This is why there is so much tolerance with rats and meds and why they end up with lung scarring because when they did need the meds to work they were tolerant from them from taking them when they didnt need to or not taking them the right way *usually too short a duration, believe it or not, can cause tolerance, since the rat can relapse fast if they infection was not treated properly.*

A sick rat doesnt eat or play and show interest in treats or play time etc....