General Health Concerns As we have recommended many times on this site, the very first thing we urge you to do, is buy "The Rat Health Care Booklet" by Debbie Ducommun and thoroughly read it from cover to cover. It is the best, and about the only book you can get on proper rat health care. It covers just about every health concern you could ever face, and how to deal with it. However, we also strongly recommend that you get second opinions through your vet before using any treatment which the book lists. Again, just to cover all your bases. Debbie is not a trained vet, and so might not be aware of all the options your vet may know of. You can buy the book from her site at The Rat Fan Club for only $5 plus shipping. It is very important that you do regular health exams on your rats at least twice a week! (See "How to Perform Your Ratty Health Exam" within this Guidebook to learn how.) You need not worry about catching any of your rats ailments or diseases. They cannot be transmitted to humans or any of your other pets (except mice). (This even includes their lice and mites, if they get them.) The only human illness that you can give to your rats is strep throat. And this is actually to be avoided at all costs, because your rats can die from it. Human colds, flu's, etc... cannot be transmitted to your rats, so you do not need to worry about handling your rats if you are sick (unless you have strep of course). If your rat stops eating or drinking, this is a serious sign of illness. You need to get your rat to a vet ASAP. You also need to start forcing food and water into your rat (see "Special Care for the Elderly" for information on how to do this.) Click on a Health Subject Below to Learn More About it... (The symptoms of each health problem are listed in the parenthesis.) Abscess (lump in skin) Allergy (scabs on head/shoulders, sneezing, constant itching) Benign Mammary Tumors (lump under skin) Choking (drooling, gagging, gasping) Congestive Heart Failure (appetite loss, blue toenails, breathing problems, hunched in sides) Dusty Litter (sneezing, runny eyes/nose) Injured Eye (only one eye is runny, cloudy eye) Inner Ear Infection (constant head tilt, rolling) Parasites/Fungus (constant itching, hair loss, scabs on head/shoulders) Pituitary Tumor (circling, coordination loss, paralysis, rolling, seizure-like behavior) Poor Eyesight (head swaying) Porphyrin (looks like blood around the eyes/nose) Respiratory Infection (runny eyes/nose, sneezing, wheezing which is often mistaken for "talking", labored breathing, rapid breathing, gasping, coughing which looks like hiccups) Spinal Nerve Degeneration (partial paralysis) Stressed Rat (pooping/peeing, runny stool, runny eyes/nose) Vaginal Benign Tumor (lump coming out of vagina) Abscess This can affect your rat at any age. Abscesses are an infection of the skin itself. They are usually caused by a scratch, or an imbedded foreign object. This is what allows the infection to enter into the skin. They will feel like a round, hard, puss filled lump, embedded within the layer of the skin, and they can be of various sizes. Abscesses will also usually develop a scab on their surface, which is usually easy to see by parting their hair and looking at the lump. Abscesses can occur anywhere on a rat's body. Once discovered, abscesses need to be drained, sterilized, and then treated with antibiotics. If you discover one, take your rat to the vet and they can take care of doing these things for you. Your vet might even be willing to show you how to do these things yourself next time if you discover another abscess in the future. A healing cheek abscess which has already been drained. <<< Back to the top Allergy This can affect your rat at any age. We discovered our rat Jojo had a problem when she started displaying scratches all over her face and shoulders. A good example of what an itchy rat can do to themselves. When you see scratches all over your rat's face and shoulders, it may appear to be from their cage mates, but in fact they are self inflicted. The reason your rat scratches themselves up like this is because they are extremely itchy. At first we thought Jojo had parasites, which is the most common cause for a rat to be itchy, so we treated our entire clan with Revolution for two months. It didn't help. The only possible cause left was an allergy, especially since none of the other rats were showing any symptoms of itchiness from parasites. It can be very hard to discover what your rat is allergic to. You basically need to separate them out, and completely remove everything they have usual contact with. You need to use a new type of litter, different food, no treats. Keep them as isolated as you can, then see if they show improvement. If they do, add one thing at a time, until the symptoms return, and then you have your culprit. If you can't figure out what your rat is allergic to, your only solution is to try treating your rat with an over the counter allergy medicine. Doses are detailed out in Debbie Ducommun's book listed at the top of this page. Another sign of allergies can be sneezing. <<< Back to the top Benign Mammary Tumors Benign mammary tumors develop commonly in female rats once they pass the age of eighteen months. (Females have a 75% chance, males have a 10% chance of getting them.) A rat can develop several of these in their life time, and even several at the same time. These tumors should be removed from your rat's body through surgery by a qualified vet. It is a very non evasive surgery and can be done at any age. The smaller the tumor is when removed, the cheaper and safer the surgery is. Although these tumors are benign, if left to develop, many can grow to be tremendous sizes, even much larger than the rat itself! This female rat has a large tumor under her armpit. This is what can happen to a female rat that is not spayed. This hairless female is riddled with tumors - - including one giant one on her belly. Large tumors impede your rat's movement, sometimes preventing them from eating/drinking, and even sometimes immobilizing them. This is why it is critical to have them removed. Spaying your female rat at a young age (preferably three months of age), practically guarantees the prevention of these tumors. Benign mammary tumors are usually located in the area from the armpits to the groin, on either side of your rat, but they can also appear elsewhere on the body. These tumors start out small and flat, becoming more round as they develop, and can grow at varying rates of speed. Some will feel hard, some will be more squishy. They can be hard to tell apart from an abscess, but the easiest way to make the distinction, is that a mammary tumor will feel underneath and somewhat independent from the skin, as opposed to an abscess, which feels like it is part of the skin. <<< Back to the top Choking This can affect your rat at any age. This can be preventable by keeping your rats away from choking hazards. Sticky foods are an extreme choking hazard, such as peanut butter, and caramel. Another hazard can be small hard nuts. Our girl Mojo, while trying to grab as many soynuts as she could to run off with, managed to let one slide down her throat and get caught. Obvious signs of choking are frothing at the mouth, gagging, and constant swallowing motions. If the object is hard, and the rat is still able to breath, leave them alone to work it down. If you monkey with it, you will make it worse. If they haven't worked it down within four hours, take them to emergency. If they can't breath, take them to emergency. If it was a sticky substance, try offering water. You can even try forcing some down using a needleless syringe. Again, if they can't breath, go to an emergency clinic, or your vet. I do not recommend that you use the "fling" or "heimlich" maneuver, recommended in the "Rat Health Care" booklet. You can seriously hurt your rat by doing these. <<< Back to the top Congestive Heart Failure This is usually an elderly aliment. This is the second leading cause of death in rats. Heart failure is treatable with heart medications prescribed by your vet. You can give them medication to help ease their symptoms and make them feel more comfortable, thus extending their life. Rats, if treated, can have a chance to comfortably live for quite a bit longer, even up to a year. Signs of heart failure include; a non flexible hard rib cage, easily fatigued when exercising, appetite loss, blue toenails, hunched in sides, rapid labored breathing, and even gasping for breath when the final stage is reached. Be warned though, that a rat with heart failure can, and usually does, have a respiratory infection at the same time. So you need to treat for both. Also, the signs of heart failure are so close to the signs of a respiratory infection, that it can be next to impossible to diagnose which one it is. You need to take your rat to a vet immediately, if either one is suspected. <<< Back to the top Dusty Litter This can affect your rat at any age. Rats have a very delicate respiratory system. If you use a litter/bedding which contains a lot of dust, it can cause havoc in your rat's lungs. If you are not using a dust free litter, and you notice that your rats are sneezing, It could be caused by their litter. Especially if your rats' sneezing improves when you take them out to play away from their enclosure. Change to a dust free litter immediately. If left unchecked, your rats immune system can become weakened, leaving them open to illness. <<< Back to the top Injured Eye This can affect your rat at any age. If you notice that only one of your rat's eyes is constantly runny, but the other one remains clear, than your rat has most likely scratched their eye, or they may have debris in it. This picture shows a rat who's eye has become infected and cloudy from an injury. Take your rat to the vet immediately to have your rat prescribed an eye ointment. <<< Back to the top Inner Ear Infection This can affect your rat at any age. If your rat is holding his/her head at a constant tilt to one side it is a sign of an inner ear infection, which is quite serious. Take your rat to the vet immediately for treatment. This picture shows a rat with a head tilt. <<< Back to the top Parasites/Fungus This can affect your rat at any age. If your rat has bald patches spreading over their body, this could be caused by a fungus or parasites. Bald patches can also be caused by barbering (which is excessive grooming), if the rat has a hairless gene, and/or if the rat is a rex. Rat's can also get thinning hair as they become elderly. So it can be tough to diagnose what is causing your rat's bald spots. If a fungus or parasite is suspected, you need to take your rat to a vet for treatment. If your rats seem to be excessively itching themselves, and/or if you notice a multitude of scabs on your rats, your rats could be infected with lice or mites. Rats can get lice or mites from infected food/litter, or from new rats brought into the home. If you suspect any of your rats have lice or mites, you need to have your vet prescribe them a couple doses of Revolution (a flea medication usually used on dogs and cats). If one rat has them, they all have them, so treat your entire colony. Do not bother to have your vet test for mites as the skin test commonly gives a false negative. Itchiness can also be caused by an allergy to something. <<< Back to the top Pituitary Tumor This is usually an older rat's aliment and is slowly fatal. A Pituitary Tumor is a benign tumor of the brain. Although these tumors are benign, a pituitary tumor's growth will press on your rat's brain, effecting the motor functions of your rat. Eventually the tumor will grow to a fatal size. These tumors can not be removed. The best you can do if a pituitary tumor is suspected, is to treat your rat with an anti-inflammatory such as Prednisone to help lessen the swelling to make your rat more comfortable. Signs of a pituitary tumor include; circling, coordination loss, paralysis, rolling, and seizure-like behavior. You will need to help your rat eat and drink and clean him/herself once they start loosing their coordination. (See "Special Care for the Elderly" for more information.) Make sure that everything your rat needs is on one level of their enclosure, and make sure that there are no dangerous heights your rat can fall from. Spaying your female rat at a young age (preferably three months of age), practically guarantees the prevention of these tumors. <<< Back to the top Poor Eyesight Rats simply have poor vision, and to compensate for this, some rats will sway their head back and forth to focus their eyesight better on a particular object. It is mostly rats with pink/red eyes that display this behavior. <<< Back to the top Porphyrin This can affect your rat at any age. A rat's tears are not clear like human tears are. They have a brownish red coloration that can often be misinterpreted as blood. This substance is called porphyrin. They can discharge porphyrin from both their eyes and nose. You may also notice similar red stains on their hands, face, and/or neck. These stains are caused by porphyrin as well. As rats clean themselves, they will spread the porphyrin from their runny eyes/nose to these other areas causing these stains. (Stains might also occur from another rat's runny eyes/nose.) Discharge around the eyes/nose can be caused by stress, their environment being too cold, allergies, or a respiratory infection. If your rat shows other symptoms, such as wheezy breathing noises or sneezing, it is most likely a respiratory infection and you should get your rat on an antibiotic from your vet ASAP. The longer you let a respiratory infection go in your rat, the more permanent damage it will cause to their lungs. <<< Back to the top Respiratory Infection This can affect your rat at any age, and is the leading cause of death in rats. Respiratory infections are usually triggered by Mycoplasma. Mycoplasma is a bacteria which practically all domestic rats carry from birth. Myco itself is incurable, however you can treat the respiratory infections that Myco causes. Some rats live their whole lives without this bacteria causing any respiratory infections what so ever. Some rats will have infections starting to develop as they become elderly. Some rats will have infections randomly throughout their lives. And rarely some rats will suffer constant infections throughout their entire life. Signs of a respiratory infection can include one or more of the following; runny eyes/nose, sneezing, wheezing which is often mistaken for "talking", labored breathing, rapid breathing, gasping, and coughing which looks like hiccups. Your rats should never make any clearly audible sound when breathing. It is critical that you start treatment on your rat with antibiotics from the vet as soon as you suspect an respiratory infection, even a minor one. The longer you wait, the more damage the respiratory infection will cause to your rat's lungs, and this damage is permanent. Some rats will always sneeze a few times just after waking up. This is not to be worried about. <<< Back to the top Spinal Nerve Degeneration This is an old age aliment. Slowly, and steadily, your rat can loose the function of their hind quarters. Here is a picture of our girl Baku, who had developed spinal nerve degeneration. Notice as she walks, she drags her tail, her haunches are sunk low to the ground, and her feet are just flopped forward, not placed. Not all elderly rats get this. It is not painful for your rat, and they can get along quite splendidly in spite of it. You do need to take some special precautions though. Make sure that your rat can easily reach their food and water. Remove any objects that your rat could try and climb and fall off of. Everything they need should be on one level. You also need to make sure that your rat is not urinating on themselves. This can cause urine burn. If your rat is urinating on themselves, you need to start washing their bum area several times a day. You can also help your rat groom themselves, by holding them in your lap and helping them get to difficult areas. This does not require a visit to the vet. There is no medicine or surgery which can help. <<< Back to the top Stressed Rat This can affect your rat at any age. When a rat becomes stressed, there are several things which may occur. An immediate stressful situation can cause your rat to defecate/urinate. Often times, if stressed, your rat's poop will become runny. (For example, you may see signs of this when you bring your rat home for the first time.) Prolonged stressful situations can cause your rats to develop runny eyes/nose. You will want to keep your rats from prolonged periods of stress as this will weaken their immune system and leave them open to respiratory infection. <<< Back to the top Vaginal Benign Tumor This is a rare occurrence. Our girl Mojo developed this. We noticed that she was behaving strangely one day, as if she was having trouble with constipation, and she was making efforts to squeeze some poo out. When we looked closely at her, we noticed that her vagina was opened, and it looked like a lump of hard flesh was stuck in it about the size of a pea. By that evening, she had managed to squeeze it out. It was actually the size of a lima bean, and was attached to her internally. This lump ended up being a benign mass of overgrown skin, and was easily taken care of by spaying her. If signs are seen of this, take your rat to the vet immediately to be spayed. <<< Back to the top