# My rat's fur looks pink what does mean



## kali mabel (Sep 30, 2015)

I have a white girl named Stickers and the fur around her neck and and head seem to have a pink tint to it is this a result of barbering(I have another female rat who is dominant) or just thin hair? Or is it something else i should be worried about?


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## Finnebon (Jul 15, 2013)

It's porphyrin. It comes from their eyes and nose and is usually produced in excess when a rat is ill or stressed. I have a white boy and sometimes after his treatments for his medical condition, he looks like a pink hooded rat because he rubs the porphyrin off his nose, then cleans his head with his hands and rubs it into his fur, resulting in pinkish tinged fur around his face/head/neck, and sometimes on his body when he licks his fur and has a porphyriny nose.

Is your girl snuffly, sneezy, or wheezy at all? she could be developing an upper respiratory infection and is starting to show signs of it. Has something been stressing her out possibly? Has the weather changed drastically recently? Is her litter dusty and irritating her nose, or is a bad litter (pine or cedar) and damaging her respiratory tract? There are a lot of reasons why a rat could be producing more porphyrin with fur staining, but it's best to rule out the most dangerous issues first (like if she's getting sick) just to be safe.

The best way I found to get it off fur easily is pet the rat with a wet hand so the surface of their fur is all wet where the porphyrin is, and then wipe it off with dry toilet paper. Bathing seems to not get it off, but the toilet paper trick seems to work best!

I hope your girl isn't getting sick and it's just a change of weather of something! 

(It might just be the lighting but it looks like she might be a very light beige hooded that also has some porphyrin stains?)


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## kali mabel (Sep 30, 2015)

oh my gosh thank you so much!! she is a very stressful girl i got her a month ago and i swtiched cages to a bigger one so being new to my place and switching cages freaked her out a bit , but i am working slow and steady on gaining her trust c: (also in wisconsin the weather keeps going up and down from cold to warm so that might have something to do) I will keep an eye on her health though too just in case. (what do you mean by light beige hooded? )


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## Finnebon (Jul 15, 2013)

As long as she's not sneezing too much and wheezy, it's probably all those things you mentioned what with her new cage and the weather stressing her out, she's probably just adjusting to her new life.

Beige hooded like how rats can have the "hooded" markings, but wiht beige color. Some rats are really super light beige and look almost white. Just from the picture it looks maybe like she's a hooded rat, but that's probably just the staining you mentioned.


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