# Rat is scratching fur and skin off



## Ridley_89 (Jul 13, 2007)

Hi guys this is a question about my gf's rat it is scratching until its fur and skin is off and is covered in scabs patches where its scratching.

So i'm just wondering what could be causing it to do this?


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

Ridley_89 said:


> Hi guys this is a question about my gf's rat it is scratching until its fur and skin is off and is covered in scabs patches where its scratching.
> 
> So i'm just wondering what could be causing it to do this?


Can you put up a picture of the rat? Is there a lot of little scabs and where are they located, OR is it big scabs and where are they?

the first thing to do is to treat the usual suspect, ectoparasites (lice or mites). Can you get your hands on Revolution? One drop and the buggies are dead


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## Ridley_89 (Jul 13, 2007)

I don't know if I can get a pic but they are big scabs all around the shoulder region pretty much, its in with another rat which is perfectly fine so could it still be mites?

I can get hold of revolution as I work in a pet store so thats no problem


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

Ridley_89 said:


> I don't know if I can get a pic but they are big scabs all around the shoulder region pretty much, its in with another rat which is perfectly fine so could it still be mites?
> 
> I can get hold of revolution as I work in a pet store so thats no problem


Mites and lice usually go after the compromised rats first, but are actually on all your rats, so treat them both, or if you have other rats in different cages, all your rats.

I will post some pics to see if any look familiar.

This is a bad case of mites (they are invisible so you only see the damage to the skin the rat inflicts in its pain of being bitten). First one is classic shoulder scabs, 2nd is face and chin, neck, etc. You can also feel under your rats chin or on his cheeks to see if you can feel scabs...if so this is mites.


















and this is lice, which if you look carefully, can be seen moving around by the naked eye.









then there's pyoderma, a nasty bacterial infection of the skin (usually staph)
this is surface pyoderma, we think it was caused by lice/mites that was left untreated. Little Faith was in filthy conditions and was scratching herself bloody, so the staph infection got in and was still left untreated, until I got her. First thing I did was treat her with Revolution, then she was on strong pain meds and antibiotics...we were beating the infection when something else came along and I ended up having to put her to sleep...she was very old and her body couldn't take a surgery. 









And here you can see we were winning against the infection...


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## Ridley_89 (Jul 13, 2007)

compared to that rat this one looks really really bad like I mean the whole shoulder region is just a big scab not fur. 

I'll have to get a pic but it is really bad compared to that i've only seen it once or twice so can't remember exactly.

If its not lice or mites what else could it be though?


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

Ridley_89 said:


> compared to that rat this one looks really really bad like I mean the whole shoulder region is just a big scab not fur.
> 
> I'll have to get a pic but it is really bad compared to that i've only seen it once or twice so can't remember exactly.
> 
> If its not lice or mites what else could it be though?


I have more pyoderma pics, I went through 2 cases of it...hold on.


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

Here is Faith's back (it was her main nasty scab). It was moist (infection) and very very sore. Surface pyoderma involves a lot of nerve endings so they scratch themselves raw.










Here is Selene's deep pyoderma case history on ratguide.com. I also used baytril and metacam til she was cured (4 months). She made it 

http://ratguide.com/health/figures/pyoderma_figure_4.php

Start with Revolution, see if you can borrow a camera to take a pic of this girl and get her to the vet. make sure you print out the ratguide.com's page on pyoderma.

http://ratguide.com/health/integumentary_skin/pyoderma.php


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## Ridley_89 (Jul 13, 2007)

Well I haven't seen it like any of that all puss and soft its all actual red scabs but it could have been like that before it scabs over.

I will def try and get a pic upI know they took it to the vet once and got some cream for it but didn't really do much and she couldn't remember what the vet said it could be i'll try get some better info.


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

If it is a real infestation of buggies, cream is useless, and the same with pyoderma.


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## Kinsey (Jun 14, 2009)

We really need pictures.


Make sure to dose with revolution. I think that would be a good first step.


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