Basil

Question
Hi Sandra, thank you very much for your answer. I am having trouble asking a question back, so thought I would re-send via this way. You asked me the previous questions, which I will try and answer the best I can.
First off, lets look into his mouth and look to check his teeth. You should not notice a foul odor that is indicative of an infection or abscess in the mouth and of course there should be no open sores etc...
There should be no visible overgrowth or uneven growth of his teeth.
They should all be aligned and not crooked or split.  There is a condition called malocclusion that is the malposition of the teeth that prevents the alignment of the teeth or jaw thus in turn causes serious problems and a Vet needs to be seen for this condition. The rat will need his teeth clipped back for starters if this is the case. Malocclusion can cause the rat to stop eating or not eat well and thus in turn causes weight loss. However, you did say he was eating just fine so I would bet he is not having a problem with his teeth.

Here are a few questions I need answered since I am doing a "virtual exam" rather than a real life hands on physical!

1. Basil was formerly known as 'Beige' - and that's a pretty good description of his color! He has dark eyes, and his coat does vary in color, from a dark brown 'dorsel line' to a deep beige, with a few white flecks. His coat seems to be a lot longer lately, but thinning out.

2. He has not previously, or now, shown any signs of head sway.

3. His daily diet consists of 'pet store' rat food, plus fresh fruit and vegetables, a small amount of cheese (his favorite) and muesli. He has eaten this daily since i have had him (with minor variations to the vegetables) and I have found out since, my housemate would feed him an entire slice of toast each day, which was certainly gone long before I returned from work! he has always been a VERY big eater, and scoffs his food like no tomorrow.

4. Other than his visit to the vet for my concern over his 'blood noses' (which was simply mucus) he has not shown any signs of illness in the past, or had any medications since living with myself.

5. His urination levels seem to be normal, but I have been cleaning him out on a more regular basis (ever day as opposed to every second day) as he has been smelling rather a lot more lately. Might this have something to do with his urine? His faeces have been normal.

6. The water consumption is a tricky one - he has, in the past month or so, worked out how to unclip his water bowl from the side of his cage, and throws it around a lot. I have been refilling it several times daily, and he has been gulping it down as I put it in - I can't say I had previously noticed how much he did drink, as he rarely drank in front of me. I will be purchasing a bottle with marked indications of ML's on today, to see how much is really is drinking. Might this be a sign of diabetes or liver/kidney problems?

7.  I flipped him on his back, and there as no squeaking at all. He looked somewhat hypnotized! He seemed to enjoy it, and there were no signs of discomfort. He did feel horribly bony, but I could not feel any lumps, bumps or organs.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               8. I have been testing his vision (like you suggested with the treat) and he seems fine, then occasionally misses. He's running around at the moment, and hasn't walked in to anything!

Also, I would like to ask. I do feel so sorry for him, as he must be so lonely. If I were to get another rat, would it need to be female, (i.e will he fight another male?) and if so, will they breed if he's so old/unwell? Should they be housed seperately?

Thank you so much for your help. I have found a vet relatively locally to myself, who specializes in 'pocket pets', and I have an appointment with her later this week. Until then, I would love any more information for making him more comfortable/anything I can change or do to make his quality of life better. I really appreciate your help.

Answer
Thank you so much for getting back to me.

For starters, lets talk about getting him a mate. You do NOT want a female because they will breed and breed and breed.
Males will NOT fight. I have six males, four living in one cage and two in another. They do just fine. Rats are social animals and should not be kept alone no matter how much time people spend with the rat, we cant take the place of their own species.
You can get a male a bit younger than him...I suggest two younger males, but NOT babies. How old is he again? I would get two males (but one is fine) about 4 months old. You need to do a 3 week quarantine by keeping the new rat in a separate airspace.  You can read my site about that since it  takes a bit to explain how and WHY.

Lets talk about the food he eats. Pet store food is not the best diet.  Why? well if he ate everything in the mix that may be ok but he wont, they never do...instead, they pick out what they like, which is usually sunflower seeds and most of that stuff is high in fat and protein. Rats should not have high protein because it causes kidney disease in elderly rats that can be fatal. Of course we know why fat isn't good...the heart, for one thing.
A few suggestions are to make your own rat food. Many rat keepers on the net have discovered a great diet recipe that consists of cereals (unsweetened breakfast cereals) mixed together with a low protein and fat dog food (nutro light) and the cereals are:
rice chex
puffed rice and puffed wheat
dry oats (oatmeal flakes)
Total cereal
and a ton of other things to add too such as unsalted sunflower kernels etc... I can give you the links to a few places that talk about these diets and are vet approved.
I feed mine a homemade mix and also canned or frozen peas and carrots daily and also REGAL RAT by OXBOW.  I can suggest a good rodent block but so many rats hate them and wont eat them and we WANT the rat to eat!

Also I must tell you that be wary of a vet that specializes in pocket pets. There is no such thing. I just wrote an article to someone named ALICIA on here about looking for a good vet and warned her about vets that say they are pocket pet or small animal specialists where they do not exist. I mean, small animals in the vet world are dogs and cats but if they try to lead you to think they are specialist for rodents etc..its not true..there is no such thing.
Here is the article I wrote for you to help you know what to look for. I am not saying NOT to see this vet, just know that unless they are certified exotic vets that they should not claim to hold some other special title that doesn't exist.
http://www.allexperts.com/expert.cgi?m=1


Links for food

ere are the links to the sites that I told you about:

http://www.ratnutrition.com/ourfood.html

http://www.kimsarkrescue.org/content/view/35

http://www.oxbowhay.com/link.sp?page=RegalRat