# How to stop a rat losing weight with respiratory illness?



## Ckelly765 (Mar 9, 2016)

Hello, we've got an 18 month old with reoccurring respiratory infections who's been on baytril/doxy combos since she was 6 months - we're on her longest treatment now so far (2 doses a day/6 weeks treatment) to keep it at bay but she's been losing about 12 grams a week and is now 260g, we're getting worried as she's responding to the treatment and behaviorally perking up but she's rarely eating and seems to lack an appetite.
All we've got from the vets is try feeding her more meats to help her build protein, but she's eating a bit then leaving it, and it's not working, she's dropped weight week after week.

Does anyone have any advice for good foods to help? We've been doing Avacados, chicken, pork, spinach, pasta, yogurt. I've heard tahini's good for calories?
Thanks


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## Miss_Rattie (Jul 5, 2016)

My ratties love scrambled egg and so I tend to give them that when they are poorly, as well as baby food. They like Nutella, custard and rice pudding too, so I try and give them anything high calorie that is quite easy for them to eat. My vet gave me Oxbox critical care formula, which is a powder that you dissolve and they seem to like it too. Warming food can make it more appetising as well. I would only syringe feed them if absolutely necessary, as they can get really distressed which isn't good if they have a respiratory infection.

I had a rat recently who was very poorly with a respiratory infection and the vet gave me an anti-inflammatory to use. It was Meloxicam and it really did seem to help, when used with the antibiotics. I also steamed my rattie a couple of times a day, putting her in the bathroom with the shower running. She hadn't been responding much to antibiotics, but these things seemed to really help a lot. She did hate the taste of the Meloxicam though, so it was quite difficult to give her. You could discuss these with your vet, as they may help with clearing her lungs.


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## anilec (May 2, 2016)

Baby food is really good for feeding stubborn rats, I don't feed my rats meat so they get the fruit ones but chicken baby food is very popular. You could also syringe feed ensure to bulk her up. Its really not good that she's loosing so much weight so even if something isn't great for her as long as she's eating it, let her. Rats love peanut butter which has a lot of calories but as its a choking hazard you'll either have to spread it very thinly on a banana slice or add a little water to thin it. Other suggestions would be baby cereal, cheerios, rice krispy cereal, scrambled eggs, and a bit of dark chocolate


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## Shadow <3 (Jan 25, 2017)

Yeah, as others have suggested giving some meat baby food is a good idea. Try warming it up some to really bring out the scent, and then giving it to her. You may also want to think about force feeding (syringe feeding) her food, as if she won't eat on her own then you'll need to make her do so. My vet always gives me wet kitten food to give to my rats when they're very sick, as they love it (again, it's best if you warm it up) and it really helps them keep up their weight and strength.

You can also try ferretvite for ferrets, it's sugary and not the best food but all of my rats have loved it. It once helped me get a sick rat through pnemonia, when all she would eat was the ferretvite mixed with water.

Also, as mentioned, scrambled eggs or boiled eggs are a good idea for extra protein.

Finally, try cutting up the lab blocks and mixing them with water to create a mush. My rats sometimes want to eat lab blocks when sick, but are thrown off by the effort of eating them. Making a lab block mush (with warm water) often encourages them to eat the lab blocks.

Otherwise, give her any favorite treats, and as much as she'll eat of them. Even if they're bad for her, it's better for her to eat them now and keep up her strength.

I hope she's back to full health soon


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## SoaringRat (Apr 18, 2016)

What I've done for a couple years now is giving my ratties Enfamil soy baby formula (powder). I regularly give that to elderly rats to help them maintain weight and make sure they're getting nutrition at the same time. I also use that to mask meds, commonly mixing in something like real vanilla extract or pudding or rat safe, jarred baby food. If you're concerned about her hydration, you can adjust the amount of water in your mix to allow for more (one thing I love about this powdered formula)

My lady and I also made a "fatty mix" for one of our babies last December, who was very ill with pneumonia and dropped weight quickly. It consisted of:

finely chopped steak
peanut butter
enfamil soy formula
avocado

We mixed it into a paste of sorts, and would feed it to her that way. It was very fattening, and she LOVED it, so no troubles feeding that to her! Mashing up finely chopped walnuts into something like that would be a nice, fatty addition as well.


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## Ratnamedbuddy (Jan 10, 2017)

When my boy lost 30g of his body weight due to pneumonia I mixed together some babyfood, water and live active yoghurt in to a bowl. The water should keep them hydrated while the baby food is giving him food and the live active yoghurt is good for the stomach and helps keep the poop relatively normal. 

It was the only thing he could manage to eat/drink for about a week and a half till he was strong enough to eat a little bit of normal food again.


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## Fu-Inle (Jan 22, 2015)

I was actually about to start a discussion on weight gain but since theres already one:

I've been having the same problem with my 3 year and 2 month old rat for the past week. Shes down to 270g from 420g last year and steadily loseing . Its very hard to get them to gain when they have no interest in eating. But my rat is not lethargic or weak, I think shes just gone senile. Shes constantly wondering around aimlessly, like shes in a hurry or searching for something. She always atempts to climb high objects even though she isn't strong enough and she falls alot, I swear, I have to supervise her because shes extremely clumsy and because shes so boney she could really hurt herself.

I've been feeding her ensure powder for almost a week ( actually I just ran out today). I mix the powder into custard or baby food. Or I just add a tiny bit of water so its still thick in consistency, for some reason she refuses it in liquid form. She will not touch the food from the cage, her whole diet consists of what I feed her. So far it hasn't been much success, she is still losing. I'm now going to focus on packing as much calories into the little food she does eat. I'm thinking about adding either a teaspoon of coconut oil or peanut butter to her baby food.

I don't think her condition is going to improve much, shes extremely old, at this point I'm trying to buy her extra time rather than restore her to full health, i doubt thats possible.


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## glh (Jul 2, 2016)

When my rat was poorly with pneumonia id try these combos which all worked a treat. I realise these are unhealthy options but at the point I used these foods my rat was 4yrs old and clearly wasn't going to be with us for much longer so I wanted to make his food the most enjoyable as I could.

Avacado and scrambled egg mashed together

Macaroni cheese

Oatmeal made with full fat milk and add some cream 

Oatmeal mixed with nutella & peanut butter 


Also, nutrivit it's actually made for poorly kittens but the paste smells and tastes like beef gravy and rats LOVE it.


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