# Malnourished Rescue



## themacgregor (Jul 12, 2007)

My friend works at the local PetValu, and her boss has recently begun bringing in rats from a breeder. This breeder is anything but reputable, knows barely anything about rats and clearly is just trying to make a quick buck. Everytime I go in, I check out the new stock and am usually asked to sex the babies. Today, I went in to find the most pathetic-looking, malnourished & underweight baby rat that I had ever seen.

After about a half hour of mental debate, I ended up bringing the poor little girl home with me. I realize this will do nothing to stop poor breeding and pet store horror stories, but my friend begged me to take her (she would have taken her home herself, but she is moving). 

Anyways, I have little Ms. Scruff set up in a small cage with plenty of blankets, toys and a proper sized wheel. She has only been given a few lab blocks since I brought her home, as she is not accustomed to large amounts of food. We weighed her, and I'm scared that she is almost 2 months old and only 41.1 grams, less than half the size of her littermates. I'm also concerned that she might have megacolon. She hasn't gone poop yet, and her bottem seems a bit mishapen. Though this might just be because she is so skinny and tiny.

As for her coat situation, she seems really patchy. Some of her siblings were rex, so I'm wondering if she could potentially be a double-rex, or hairless? Of course, it could just be due to mistreatment, malnourishment or severe barbering. I will post a picture of her as soon as I can find some batteries for my camera.

Any help from you more experienced rat rescuers and owners would be greatly appreciated. This little girl has a long way to go.


----------



## eddricksmommy101 (Jul 16, 2010)

She sounds like she is lucky to have you. Just keep her warm and take her to a vet specializing in rats. 

And please post pictures soon. Id like to see if shes hairless


----------



## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

EddricksMommy101 said:


> She sounds like she is lucky to have you. Just keep her warm and take her to a vet specializing in rats.
> 
> And please post pictures soon. Id like to see if shes hairless


Malnourished babies will bloat sometimes. Is she eating and drinking? If she has megacolon that abdomen will swell up, she will be in pain, she will either be pooping mishapen strange poops or she will be not pooping at all. At this point she needs to be euthanized.

BUT if she's eating, pooping, drinking don't worry too much about the belly especially if its soft. I had some very malnourished babies and every time they ate they ended up with huge "preggy" bellies. It resolved within a week, and they are all now lean mean playing machines. Well, except for one. She stopped growing and eventually passed at about 12 weeks.


----------



## themacgregor (Jul 12, 2007)

She's just so smalll, I've raised a litter of babies and I still can't get over her size. You can count her ribs, her shoulders jut out and she seems so fragile that I'm almost afraid to pick her up. She is very affectionate though. As you can see in the pictures, she is missing fur all along her back, right to the tail. What little fur she has there is super soft and thin. Along her sides the fur is darker, thicker and coarser. Her feet seem too big for her, but they also are a lot smaller than what they should be. I think she will not grow up to her full size potential.


----------



## eddricksmommy101 (Jul 16, 2010)

Absolutely gorgeous little one you saved. I hope she grows up to be even more beautiful


----------



## ema-leigh (Jan 24, 2010)

Well done for rescuing her. I would think she is only 4/5 weeks of age, and very underweight. Is is possible the breeder the pet store got them from does back to back litters and accidentally threw in a younger baby with the older litter when removing them to sell? That would be my first guess. 

She doesn't look like she has mega colon at first glance. But you never know.


----------



## themacgregor (Jul 12, 2007)

The pet store told me that she is 3-4 months old. I find that hard to believe. She has gone to the bathroom since bringing her home, and she has already mastered drinking out of a water bottle. I have an upturned bowl for her to use as a stool because she is too small to reach the bottle. There are plenty of bits of fleece for her to snuggle into. I'm just really curious if anyone can tell me what type of fur she has?


----------



## dapples (Apr 24, 2010)

Such a cutie! Good luck in the rehabilitation! She looks like a double rex to me with the patchy hair. More will probably fall out as she gets older.

Curious about the megacolon for my own knowledge - there's a rat we've been caring for at work with a permanent head tilt. She doesn't eat as much as I'm used to seeing and she doesn't have very frequent bowel movements - they are pretty small. They were feeding her Kaytee lab blocks and I've switched her to regal rat mixed with suebees, which she picks at. She eats lots of fruits and veggies, but like I said, I'm used to rats eating more. She is about 3 months old and this infrequent pooping issue has been prevalent for about 2-3 weeks? If it was megacolon, would we notice a pot belly? How quickly does this disease progress?


----------



## ema-leigh (Jan 24, 2010)

She looks like a rex to me, who is having her baby molt. 

Rats don't tend to enjoy eating Regal Rat, you could try Mazuri or Hamsters Living World Extrusion. 

Are her poops misshapen, an odd color or smelly? Mega colon is usually pretty obvious by the time the rat reaches weaning, unless it is late set which could occur anytime before the rat is 1 year old. Does she look underweight or have poor muscle tone? failure to thrive? 

She might just be not eating because she has been sick, or is just a rat who doesn't eat that much and is small. What color is she?


----------



## themacgregor (Jul 12, 2007)

She has barely any body fat, pretty much skin and bones. I can count every rib. She also seems to be having troubles expelling her bowels.

Is there any food that might help her in this state? She's got the appetite, I'm just worried about her gorging herself and getting worse.


----------



## dapples (Apr 24, 2010)

ema-leigh said:


> She looks like a rex to me, who is having her baby molt.
> 
> Rats don't tend to enjoy eating Regal Rat, you could try Mazuri or Hamsters Living World Extrusion.
> 
> ...


She picks at the Regal Rat, and seems to be eating it more than the Kaytee blocks! Her poops just look a lot smaller than my rats poops. Not as long, but I guess that could be because she's smaller. She doesn't look underweight and her muscle tone seems fine. She doesn't seem like she's growing as fast as I would like, but again, that could just be because she was so sick. 

She is a pink-eyed white rat.


----------



## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

themacgregor said:


> She has barely any body fat, pretty much skin and bones. I can count every rib. She also seems to be having troubles expelling her bowels.
> 
> Is there any food that might help her in this state? She's got the appetite, I'm just worried about her gorging herself and getting worse.


keep her on a basic diet for now, easier on a once-starving tum. no fruits, fibrous veggies are okay in moderation, and just watch those poops. Are her poops moist? Maybe since she's soo wee and so weak put in a small dish of water with her just in case she's not strong enough to work a waterbottle yet.

she's darling!


----------



## themacgregor (Jul 12, 2007)

UPDATE 
She has a water dish and a bottle. I even put in an upturned bowl as a stool for her to stand on when she drinks. Her poops are moist now, but before the were hard and she needed stimulation to pass them. Right now she's cuddled up in a scrap of fleece on my lap. She's pretty content to sit and snuggle. I can already notice a difference in her weight, her sides fill out more and she seems more attentive. I gave her a bit of ensure last night before bed, but she wasn't interested. She had a few licks off of my fingers then ignored it. I've tried giving her some water in a syringe, as she seems a bit dehydrated, but she just doesn't seem to want anything unless its from my hands. Except for lab blocks, she loves her lab blocks.


----------



## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

themacgregor said:


> UPDATE
> She has a water dish and a bottle. I even put in an upturned bowl as a stool for her to stand on when she drinks. Her poops are moist now, but before the were hard and she needed stimulation to pass them. Right now she's cuddled up in a scrap of fleece on my lap. She's pretty content to sit and snuggle. I can already notice a difference in her weight, her sides fill out more and she seems more attentive. I gave her a bit of ensure last night before bed, but she wasn't interested. She had a few licks off of my fingers then ignored it. I've tried giving her some water in a syringe, as she seems a bit dehydrated, but she just doesn't seem to want anything unless its from my hands. Except for lab blocks, she loves her lab blocks.


YAY!!! I saw a wee scrawny baby dehydrated and she looked so ill, the girl had her with a 32 oz waterbottle and she was unable to get water from it, so I think of that first these days 

give her a gentle kiss for me


----------



## themacgregor (Jul 12, 2007)

ANOTHER UPDATE

So apparently my little rescue is a *boy*.

Ms. Scruff is now Chrono, 10 points and a cookie if you can guess which video games his new name is in reference to. So this complicated things a bit, as I own females, but as his future is undetermined, Chrono shall remain solitary until he gets big and strong enough for either a buddy or fixing. But seriously, I'm amazed at how well he hid his "manliness" from me. And to think, I let him nestle doen my shirt! The nerve of some rats


----------



## dapples (Apr 24, 2010)

Neuter! Keep!


----------



## eddricksmommy101 (Jul 16, 2010)

Yes. Keep the gorgeous baby boy


----------



## themacgregor (Jul 12, 2007)

I'm amazed, in three days, his weight is up to 52.2 grams! Right now he is enjoying some cuddles and ensure, although he is becoming much more curious and has found a new hobby--exploring the crevices and caves of a balled up blanket. As for neuter... I'm seriously considering it. About how old should a rat be to safely get neutered? I'm obviously going to wait until he gets bigger, and I'm 99% certain that my vet will be able to do the neuter.


----------



## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

themacgregor said:


> I'm amazed, in three days, his weight is up to 52.2 grams! Right now he is enjoying some cuddles and ensure, although he is becoming much more curious and has found a new hobby--exploring the crevices and caves of a balled up blanket. As for neuter... I'm seriously considering it. About how old should a rat be to safely get neutered? I'm obviously going to wait until he gets bigger, and I'm 99% certain that my vet will be able to do the neuter.


Babies gaining weight is a wonderful sign!! I have had my little Goliath done at 7 weeks (he came to me at 4 weeks, sick and malnourished) but its usually more like 10-12 weeks or so.


----------



## Jaguar (Nov 15, 2009)

Chrono Trigger/Cross? 

Great job on helping him, though, can't wait to see more pictures as he grows up


----------



## dapples (Apr 24, 2010)

Just don't forget that after he's neutered he is still capable of producing viable sperm up to two weeks after surgery. My vet forgot to mention that detail. :/ Fortunately I thought it was odd he humped one of my girls and did some research!


----------



## themacgregor (Jul 12, 2007)

Just out of curiousity, could someone tell me the price range of a neuter?


----------



## eddricksmommy101 (Jul 16, 2010)

Bad: 20-40
Good: 70-150

These are in my area. Im assuming its different for all areas


----------



## ema-leigh (Jan 24, 2010)

You have to call around and ask, its totally different depending on area. It is worth it to pay extra to go with a more experienced vet because whilst the surgery is straight forward enough. The anesthesia and stitching type can be more tricky. Make sure to request internal stitches and glue so your rat can not pick at the stitches and thus healing a lot quicker.


----------

