# Lethargic rat with "wet tail" like syptoms.



## WinonaGun42 (Feb 2, 2013)

Went to do a cage cleaning and noticed my boy has something similar to "wet tail". I have heard that rats do not get wet tail, but this looks very similar to what happened to a Syrian hamster I had a long time ago.

My boy ran over to see me at the door just fine, but when I picked him up for belly kisses, he had urine and a little feces around his tail. Now he is rather lethargic and I noticed he was a little more skinny than his normal pudgy self. (He could have stood to lose weight, so now he just looks less pudgy). He is rather stinky. The closest way I can describe it is that he smells like old, leftover Taco Bell. His breathing seems to be laboured. His stomach does not seem bloated and it doesn't seem like diarrhoea. His diet has not changed in the past month, even the fruits and veggies are things he normally eats. He is a little cold so I wrapped him in a hoodie after wiping his bum with wet wipes and he is sitting on my lap.
He was not like this on Sunday afternoon. I did leave the rats alone overnight as we went to see my boyfriend's mother for her birthday. We just got back a little while ago and now he is like this. 

I am taking all three in to the vet first thing in the morning*. Luckily the two girls have clean tails, although my hooded girl seems a touch lethargic. I checked the cage and there are no runny poops inside, that I can see. I'm going to do a cage cleaning, but am wondering if there is anything I can do for him overnight? I mixed a little honey with water, which he seems to be drinking well from the syringe. Should I put him in the hospital cage or would it be to stressful to be away from the girls? I have unopened probiotics that was originally prescribed to one of my girls when she had runny poops about 4 months ago. (The vet thinks the runny poops were caused by too much fruit in her diet as their were no parasites and I was feeding a LOT of fruit at the time.) Would that help or hurt?

*Note that the emergency vet is not familiar with rodents/exotics and I would rather him be seen by my regular vet who knows about rats. The vet won't be in till 8 AM.


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## autokate (Mar 17, 2014)

I know it's probably too late since it's almost 10am in most parts of FL (which is where you appear to be). But I personally wouldn't have done anything until I got to my vet this morning. I do agree with getting him some fluids in him, so that was good. One of my guys once had a runny poop that left a mess on him. We already had a vet appointment the next day for a different reason, and the vet just asked me to watch him to make sure there were no more runnies before she prescribed anything else. His poops were fine thereafter, so it turned out to just be a one-off incident. I hope it turned out the same for you.

Please let me know how this turned out for you (for my own personal knowledge and future forum posts!). I hope all your babies are healthy and doing well


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## DustyRat (Jul 9, 2012)

Citrus fruit is to be avoided. How did you make out at the Vet?


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