# All of my rat's poops are green and mushy?



## delitebrite (Jul 29, 2012)

Okay, so this isn't a one-time occurence. All her poop for the last four or so days has been really green and really mushy. She hasn't had anything green to eat. She's not a new rat (I've had her for 3 or 4 months). She also is having trouble controlling her bowels. This is the only symptom.

She went to the vet 3 or 4 weeks ago (not for this, for sneezing/lethary/etc), and was diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection. The vet had on 3cc of Baytril every day for a week. Cleared the infection right up. She is no longer on the Baytril, and has not been for the last couple of weeks. She's been having problems with her poop now for the past 4 or 5 days, maybe. And it's ALL her poop that is like this.

What could be causing this? Is she sick again? I really don't want to have to take her back to the vet (expensive) unless I absolutely need to, and it's not very good timing for her to get sick again so soon after she just got over something.

Thanks for any help.


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## cagedbirdsinging (May 28, 2012)

Can you tell us everything that she eats?


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

You might want to start with a probiotic just in case the antibiotics killed off her good gut flora. You can use live culture yogurt daily to see if that helps?


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## cagedbirdsinging (May 28, 2012)

lilspaz68 said:


> You might want to start with a probiotic just in case the antibiotics killed off her good gut flora. You can use live culture yogurt daily to see if that helps?


Good call. This is why I shouldn't check the forums from my phone in bed as I'm waking up. I miss important details.


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## delitebrite (Jul 29, 2012)

Thank you for your replies.

As far as the probiotic suggestion - one of the foods that I give her has both prebiotics and probiotics! Who knew?

There are two pellet mixes for rats/mice that I give her. I alternate the two so that she doesn't get too bored with it (she's a bit of a fussy eater). In addition, I supplement her diet with bits of my own meals (pasta, waffles, chili, etc) and treats (I usually give her Honey Nut Cheerios or Cinnamon Life as treats). I give her fresh fruits and veggies (apple, carrot, tomato, etc) when we have them (my household is not so concerned with healthy eating). 

Here are the main ingredients of her pellet mixes:

Mix One: Corn, soybeans, wheat, barley, oats, sunflower seeds, kamut, dried apple, flaxseed, and then a load of nutrients that they stuff into the alfalfa pellets.

Mix Two: Corn, wheat, sunflower seeds, peanuts, soybeans, barley, milo, flaxseed, dried banana, dehydrated carrots, raisins, dried papaya, peas, pumpkin seeds, rice, beans, dried pineapple, almonds, dried beets, dried egg, dried yogurt, sesame seeds, and again a load of nutrients in alfalfa pellets.

I will say, though, that I doubt it's her diet. I'm feeding her the same stuff that I've been feeding her since I got her, and this is the first time she's had this problem. Please don't tell me I should feed her blocks. For one thing, I don't have any way to order things online, and even if I did, I think it would be awful to make her eat blocks. She will starve herself (I am not kidding - if I leave the pellets in there she just won't eat) before she eats the pellets in mix, although she eats everything else. I can't imagine having to eat blocks all the time, it would be awful. And I think her diet is pretty varied (the only thing she doesn't eat in her mixes are the pellets), so I'm not worried about it.

Thanks again.


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## cagedbirdsinging (May 28, 2012)

I was just checking, because sometimes soft stools can be from an abundance of watery fruits and veggies. It doesn't sound like that's the case.

I am certainly not going to tell you that you need to be feeding her blocks. I don't feed blocks myself. I would, however, take another look at her diet. Corn as the first ingredient is a big no-no for many reasons. It's fatty and rather empty as far as nutrition goes, but also the dried corn in bagged mixes tend to harbor fungus.

Also, there's a good reason that she's not eating the pellets. They're no good! Rats cannot digest alfalfa very well. The problem then becomes that, since this is a fortified dry mix and the fortification is only found in the indigestible pellets that she doesn't eat... where is she getting her nutrition?

Just something to think about. There are many people here, including myself, that would be more than happy to help you work on that diet to get her in the best shape possible and give her the longest life!

I am not thinking that the soft stools are diet-related either. You mentioned that the probiotics are in the food... I'm guessing that they are probably built into the pellets, which she isn't eating. I'd start with some yogurt and see how that goes over.


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