# My rat keeps scratching her back



## zhurka (May 28, 2017)

Hey so, my rat's been itching for a while now. She often has this problem where she keeps itching herself and now its gone to blood and scabs. Is that allergy from treats or am i giving her too much? Her nails are also quite long but I think it's not the case? My other rat doesn't has this problem. They used to have those bugs rats usually get but we got rid of them. 
any suggestions of what I can do? She has fur ripped out in places because of scratching :/


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## Shadow <3 (Jan 25, 2017)

Sounds like lice or mites. If the fur is being lost on the shoulder area, your most likely dealing with an external parasite. Too much protein can also cause itchy skin, but you wouldn't see hair loss (which is associated with lice). As a note, you can't actually see mites with your bare eye as their just too small. You can see lice, but in my previous experience, it can be easy to overlook them even if you look diligently. I had a girl with similar issues to yours and as I couldn't see any parasites so I suspected mites, but my vet was able to find a small black dot that turned out to be a louse.


I'd recommend getting kitten revolution and applying a drop to both rat's skin. It's easiest to do this on the neck, as rats have a harder time grooming here (even so, you'll need to watch her and stop any grooming attempts until the revolution dries).

Revolution is usually used to get rid of mites/lice/fleas in dogs and cats, but it has such a wide margin of error that it can be safely used on rats. I really recommend it as well, one of my girls recently developed a lice issue and one drop of revolution killed off every louse on her body/in the cage. It kills the parasite in all forms of life, and you don't even need to excessively clean the cage. But you should treat both rats, as my vet has told me that lice have a nasty habit of jumping host. 


Revolution is generally considered a "prescription" medication, so you'd either need to get some from your vet or buy it online (pet stores won't sell it in-store).



My girl right before treatment:
View attachment 291218



Hope she feels better soon!


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## zhurka (May 28, 2017)

Oh, I see, thank you for reaching out! I see your rat has hair loss around her shoulders, while mine is just scratching her back, and from that she scracthes her fur off on the places where scabs appear. Maybe it is what you say, I will consider your suggestions.
They had some bugs or worms once but their eyes were also bleeding at that time, so yeah. Right now my younger rat has so scratching.


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## Shadow <3 (Jan 25, 2017)

No problem. However, the hair loss wasn't on my girls back or other side because she has a "weak" hind leg that can't reach behind her. So she could only scratch one area, poor thing 


Nice thing about revolution is that it can't harm your rats, so treating with it will only help if anything. You could also try cutting out all treats (therefore eliminating any extra protein) and see if that helps (I had a girl who was very protein sensitive and would scratch herself to blood and scabs whenever I gave too many protein filled treats. She was also allergic to yogies, but had a totally different reaction - after consuming one, she'd sneeze for minutes on end.)




Only Latte out of my 4 girls had any scratching and parasite symptoms. The others had no scratching, and I had brought nothing new into the cage (the vet believes my "new" rats (I got them 6 months back lol) may have carried in lice eggs, and they only hatched and attacked poor Latte as of now). The reason we treat all rats, as I said, is to prevent host hopping, when the lice transfer themselves to another rat. 

The one nice thing about rat parasites is that they're species specific, meaning that any humans or other pets can't contract them.




I assume by "bleeding" your referring to porphyrin, the red mucous that rats and other rodents secrete. It looks a bit like blood, and you'll sometimes find it on rat's nose and eyes (especially once they get older and stop grooming it off). It can mean the rat is ill...or it can mean nothing. I had a rat who had constant porphyrin staining on her eyes, nose, and fur for her entire life, and up until she died, she was completely healthy. 






Anyway, keep us posted.


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## zhurka (May 28, 2017)

Aa gotcha!! Yeah it seems like what you say it is - too much protein or treats, because I feed them every morning and evening a few treats and cheese, since they stand and wait for me to do so ahah.

I've brought the other rat a while ago into the cage and apparently she had brought the insects from the pet shop, we got over it.

Mmm it seems I will have to indeed cut out treats for a while to see how it goes ;// poor babs will have to keep waiting.
Aa thank you again for helping!!!


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## CorbinDallasMyMan (Feb 24, 2017)

Hi zhurka! It sounds like your rat is struggling a bit 



zhurka said:


> They used to have those bugs rats usually get but we got rid of them.


How long ago was this, what medicine did you use, and did you treat both of your rats?


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## zhurka (May 28, 2017)

It was around summer or so, yes I treated both of them as the vet said and cleaned the cage with a special liquid the one the vet gave, I treated them and all was well.
She feels okay and acts as usual right now, I think she just had too much treats or protein, so I will cut that out.


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## CorbinDallasMyMan (Feb 24, 2017)

I doubt that treats are the problem but cutting back on sugary treats is never a bad idea!

Rats can get mites again, even if they've been treated in the past. Scabs often appear on the shoulders/back, nape, as well as the jawline. You probably wouldn't be able to see any mites as they're too small. It's also possible that both rats have mites even if one of them isn't showing any symptoms.

Depending on what country you live in, there may be different types of medicine available. Kitten Revolution (see info here) would be the most effective but ivermectin (see info here) can be used as well. Ivermectin is available as horse wormer paste at most farm & fee shops. It's a cheaper option but it's also more work and less effective.


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## Coffeebean (Jan 6, 2017)

If they keep getting bugs then you can try to somewhat prevent it in the future by freezing the bedding before use, but also pet stores can send all sorts of things home to your pets. Since you mentioned that a rat you brought home from the store likely had the parasites, they could actually be all over the store. Bugs like mites are super easy to spread, and think about it... A pet store employee goes through those cages throughout the day, has their hands in the rat cage and gets the microscopic little bugs on themselves, then carries them all over the store before the day is over. They're touching bags of food, bags of bedding, toys, money, other animals... So if you tend to shop at that store you might want to avoid it in the future now that you know they have bugs there. I honestly just do all my shopping online, with the exception of the dollar store for cheap rat stuff.

There's also the small possibility that the treatment you gave them over the summer didn't completely eradicate the infestation. If the vet had you thoroughly clean the cage, I'm guessing that they gave you ivermectin? A lot of vets don't voluntarily prescribe Revolution unless asked, since it's off-label, so ivermectin is most commonly used. Ivermectin is tricky to use because it requires several treatments and a strict cleaning regime, and additionally some parasites have built up a resistance to it. So it could be that the bugs didn't completely die off and that their numbers have just steadily increased below the surface until now, where they have become a noticeable problem again. I don't know, it's something to consider when you go back to the vet. Just another huge +1 for Revolution, it's almost impossible to mess up so no worry about the parasites clinging on past treatment.


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## zhurka (May 28, 2017)

I just checked my rat and she made the hole on her back bigger, scab falling off. However I didn't see nor felt other scabs, and there's no scars under her chin. I dunno what it could be and I will check on the revolution or other thing ya all advised, not sure if we have them.


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