poorly male rat

Question
He is about 18months old.  lives with one other male rat, they get on well together.  they are in a cage, with cardboard type bedding, as they allergic to the sawdust. they eat standard rat food brought from the pet shop, although every sunday, they have there own roast dinner - comprising of pork bones, to help file their teeth, lots of sweetcorn, and broccoli, and a little mash and gravy.  i also let them have odd bits of treats every now n again.
they have pretty much complete freedom. cage opened when i get up, and it stays open til i go to bed, they have run of, from the cage across the sofas, and are very well behaved.
for the last few days, one has been lethargic, and he has lost a lot of weight. certainly in comparison with the other. he is albino, and as blind as a bat, although this doesnt normally effect him, if you see him bounding around sure footedly.
he is eating but i've not seen him eat much, only really when i hand him something. but having just set down their sunday 'feast' he wasnt interested at all.  i put a little mash on my finger which he took but that was all.
he is happy to be picked up, held, or snuggle up to sleep.....he is not normally the affectionate one!!!  that is where the signs of lathargy are showing.
any advise would be great, as i am really worried about him.

ps. i havent noticed any lumps and bumps, although they both suffer with their lungs due to being housed in sawdust prior to my getting them, his nose and eyes have seemed quite clear of recent.

Answer
Hi Jolene

I am sure glad they are off that sawdust! I am sure it has caused some respiratory issues with both rats but sometimes the good news is, if there are no phenol oils in the old litter they were on, they have a good chance of having little problems from it.
Weight loss and lethargy are indicative of heart problems but it could be a secondary infection as well.  Now don't get me wrong, rats do NOT get the "flu" but alot of time when we see rats come in with non specific signs and no real diagnosis to pinpoint, we start them on fluids for a few days (keeping them at the clinic) and antibiotics and call it the "rat flu" or the "rat blahs!"  In fact, I have two of my wonderful boys at the clinic now and have been all week. The first one started out so weak he could not hold his head up and he stopped eating. No other signs though. We ran blood work checked the heart out etc...and NOTHING was wrong. Nursing care, fluids and antibiotics got him on his feet again, but his cagemate, who I brought there to keep him company, came up with something entirely different. Weakness and loss of balance, almost like an ear infection. It must be the time of year for rats to get sick!
Anyhow, its super hard to really say what is wrong with any rat when they have symptoms that can fall under dozens of categories like loss of appetite and lethargy. He wants you to hold him because he wants to feel secure. He doesn't feel well and he wants comfort. I have bonded a strong bond with alot of my rats that were usually off on their own, wanting only love from a  distance, but when they fell ill and I took care of them and held them and talked to them and soothed them, we bonded closer after that.

Do you have a vet that is good with rats? If so, I would telephone he or she for an appointment. If not, let me know where your located and which cities surround you and I can find someone or at least try to find someone for your rat. Meanwhile, I would try to keep him hydrated. The first thing to happen when they get like this is they tend to dehydrate and that makes them super lethargic as well. If he will suck water from a dropper, that would be awesome. Alot of times when they feel lousy, they may turn their head to the water bottle nipple but may be curious about sucking from a syringe.  You can also offer water melon too...good source of water. This may perk him up a tad as well.

Hopefully we can get him in to see a  decent vet and get him well again.  Rats, with good care, can typically live to be 3 years old and he is not even 2 yet so he has a good chance at turning things  around.

hang in there

Sandy