igor is sick!!

Question
My daughter has a pet rat.  We have a total of two males but they are in seperate cages and were bought from the same pet store at different times.  They are about 3 months in age difference.  Igor is 6 months old and the older of the two.  I have told my daughter that she needs to be giving him other things besides the mix we get from the pet store.  She insists he won't eat anything else.  I noticed a few days ago that he didn't feel like he weighed as much as he did.  Tonight she brought him down and said something was wrong with him.  I am not a rat expert and these are our first ones.  I have tried to do alot of research on them.  I looked over him and he looked fine other than being skinny and his feet feels a little cold.  I cleaned his cage well and put in fresh cold water,  some fresh fruit and veggies, a different food mix and a small piece of cooked meat.  He ate well and there are no breathing problems, no runny nose or any other signs of illness.  After he finished eating he climbed up to the top landing of his cage and began grooming himself. I do not know enough about them to know if there is something that I am missing or if he has just become malnourished because of the diet she was feeding him.

Answer
Hi Wendy

Not only is the seed mixes they sell at pet stores lousy for rats due to not even remotely meeting the nutritional needs of the rat, but it can make the rat sick, literally, and not from malnourishment but other things. For starters, kidney disease. The seed mix is high in fats and proteins and high protein diet and rats dont mix well. This leads to kidney disease in adults. The hard kernel corn in the mix? Toxic molds have been found in them and this particular mold is a known carcinogen.
To top it off, rats like both veggies and meats, birds eat seeds. :)
I dont blame the rat owner for buying the seed mixes, especially novice rat keepers.  They see RAT FOOD and a perky cute rat on the front of the package, so you just are trusting this is the right thing to feed your rat. Same for cedar and pine. They stock that stuff by the tons and both litters slowly poison small animals with their phenol oils that cause allergies and respiratory illnesses.  But again, you see tons of this stuff and just trust its the right thing to do. This is not pertaining to you, however, just a scenerio.

Anyhow, weight loss in rats are symptoms of many ailments, but since he has a poor diet, its a bit hard to tell if this is why he is underweight (as per your description, since of course I havent seen him or examined him nor do I know how much he weighs) However, if he is eating, drinking  and has energy and no porphyrin discharge from the eyes and nose and no congestion or excessive itching or open sores and scabs all over his body and the only thing wrong (thus far) is weight loss, I think your right on target to want to change his diet.

I did want to ask though why the two male rats are not together in the same cage? Rats are super social and love company of other rats and in fact can become depressed if raised alone. Were the little bRATS fighting or have you just recently purchased the second rat and are waiting for proper introductions?  

Anyhow, I have recipes to make healthy rat chow or you can check my website out for some info and ideas of what else to feed your rats to keep them healthy. Healthy rats have a strong immune system and can fight off alot of infection that they are prone to getting.

The URL is on my profile to Critter city.

Or I can also type some ideas here, which I may come back and do soon as I reboot this PC. Its running SUPER SLOW

Anyhow, I dont think the little guy is sick, he just needs a change in diet to be honest, at least from what you describe. Since I Have not seen him in person, this would be my guess from what you have said.

talk with you soon

Sandra