please keep my ratty in your thoughts!

[SnowyShiloh]

Hi everyone! I am feeling very sad right now. One of my girl rats has lost a ton of weight very recently and is pretty much skin and bones. She was born right around this time last year so isn't even really old, but she came from pretty bad genetic stock (she and her sisters were purchased from a feeder tank). She's still eating like crazy, drinking, pooping, playing, running on her wheel like a mad woman and isn't having trouble getting around at all, but she's just SO skinny! I don't think there's anything wrong with her teeth, either. I'm going to make her an appointment at the vet, but I get the feeling this is the beginning of the end for my spunky girl :cry4:It's just not fair that rats have such short life spans! Compared to her, my boy Colby looks like a giant marshmallow stuffed into a balloon. She and her sisters have always been small, slender girls, but even they look chubby in comparison.

Please keep my little ratty in your thoughts!

 

[maherwoman]

I hope she's okay...ray:

 

[stargazerLily]

Will do! I hope she'll be ok.

 

[Bo B Bunny]

Oh no

We had that happen with ours too. We have had 3 or 4 now - and we lose them after a year or two because of the poor genetics...... It breaks my heart to think about getting another one because you get attached and then they are gone

 

[YukonDaisy]

Aw, hope you find out what's wrong with her and she recovers! She'll be in my thoughts. What's her name?

~Diana

 

[undergunfire]

Poor sweetie . Is she spayed? It could be cancer, or a number of things. I lost my heart rat at 1 1/2...she was originally purchased at PETsMART before I rescued her.

I know how you feel, though. My Spartan may be older that I originally intended, around 1 year judging by his looks, and I have only had him for a few months.



I'll keep your baby in my thoughts ray:. Don't waste time getting to the vet, but I am sure you will get there as soon as you can.

 

[Thumpers_Mom]

Awe, poor baby girl. I'm keeping her in my thoughts. ray:

Sending you big :hug:. How is she doing today?

*jackie

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Hi everyone! WOW, I just wanted you all to know that your good thoughts are working! Today Miss Cranberry (her name is Cranberry Hootycreek after a type of cookie) is looking much better. I don't know how she managed to change so much in just a day, but she doesn't look emaciated anymore. Yesterday and today I've been giving her as much Suebee's Mix as she can eat (it's full of dried fruit, dried pasta, soybeans, total cereal and a bunch of other things) and she and her sisters just polished off an entire jar of chicken and vegetable baby food. Perhaps the problem is just that she's old and having trouble with her metabolism and needs extra fat and calories. She's always got as many lab blocks as she could eat, but perhaps they aren't caloric enough. I believe that Harlan Teklad (a company that makes food for rats) makes a lab block for older ratties, I believe I'll order some of that type and keep giving her extra Suebee's and hard boiled eggs and extra baby food. We will see if it makes a difference!

Thank you guys for your kind thoughts and let's hope she continues to put the weight on and stays that way!

 

[Bo B Bunny]

OMG! My son interupted me when I was opening this thread and I completely forgot what I was reading! I was wondering why this girl was giving this bunny chicken! LOL!

I'm glad your little ratty is better

 

[undergunfire]

Why don't you free-feed Suebee's? I don't actually have a Suebee's mix, but I made up my own basing it off of other people on goosemoose's rat food mixes. I like to follow the mix that Scubbs has...her rats look amazing. I am going to be altering my food mix to be more like hers, with a lot more variety and more high quality dog foods. I really don't see Suebee's & Harlan as complete....I think it needs more variety and I feel dog food is better than blocks.


I know some worry that their rats will get fat if they free-feed, but I free-feed all my guys and they look great.....even my now lazy neutered boys.


I am glad Cranberry is looking better, now . Does she like cottage cheese? You could make her eggs (mixed with soy milk) with peas or other veggies mixed in...then add cottage cheese and a meat-type baby food ontop. That is a hit here.


I think a wide variety of foods is excellent for rats. I give mine fruits, meats, and veggies EVERY night for dinner....and it is always a different dinner every night.

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Hi Amy! There's quite a debate on what to feed rats, and I do believe that Harlan lab blocks and Suebee's Mix, plus some fresh food every day, is nutritionally complete for the average rat. The Suebee's has a huge variety of stuff in it, too. I make the recipe just like it says: http://www.ratsrule.com/diet.html. I think my rats have a good diet, though I will now be upping what Cranberry gets to suit her caloric needs. I hadn't been free-feeding Suebee's because I think the blocks are more nutritionally complete, but now I'm going to free feed it as long as she eats her lab blocks, too. Tonight I bought several big jars of meaty baby food to give her every night. I've not tried cottage cheese, but I'm certain she'll like it! Good idea as cottage cheese is very nutritious and chock full of good stuff. I will buy some next time we go to the store! Do you think it would be okay to give a little of every day?

It will be interesting to see what the vet says! Also, thanks for your advice, Amy! They already had their jar of baby food and I'm going to give them some stuffing and carrots and a cranberry each now.

 

[undergunfire]

Yes, there is a huge debate on rat diets, but I think we all try out different diets....then settle on what works best for our rats .


A dash of cottage cheese every night is just fine. My rats get half a regular sized spoon fill a night . They are cottage cheese hounds.


Some might say I feed my babies too much, but what I feed works great....and my rats are all the perfect weight, a tad squishy, but still in perfect body condition.

 

[Rattiemattiesrattery]

It could also be how she runs on the wheel.
My girls LOVE their wheel and will fall alsleep running on it. And it can make them look awefully skinny.

Here's what I feed my Rats.

[align=center][font="Times New Roman,Times,serif"]We Feed our Rats a Multitude of food.
For our main diet we feed them:
Purina Dog chow,
Maximum Nutrition Dog food,
Purina Kitten Chow,
Fiesta Rat And Mouse Food.

Our moms get the same mix as above but with a few extra things added in to give them more nutrients:
Purina One Kitten Food, and Wild Harvest Ferret Food. to add in some extra Nutrients for them and the babies.[/font] [/align] [align=center][font="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"]This Mixture gives them every thing they need, and they really seem to like it,over our other tried mixes. It also gives them Lots of variety. Along with this mix they also get fresh, Dried, and Frozen Fruits and Veggies, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Along with some Leftovers from our dinners on Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Saturdays get a different treat.

And almost on a Daily Basis they get what ever we had for lunch, which can vary from Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches to Teryaki Chicken with Rice. [/font] [/align]

 

[EileenH]

Hi SnowyShiloh! It's Eileen from Goosemoose - there are so many familiar faces here, it's great!

How is she doing? I've had many older rats, and right now have mice that are over 2 1/2 years old. IMO, when they get older and start losing weight, I think it's ok to give them other stuff - it isn't going to hurt. And my first rat lived to be 3 years and 3 months, after having uterine cancer, congestive heart failure and then the bladder tumor that finally was what was too much for her.

I always gave my older ratties some warm oatmeal, mixed with Ensure and some Nutrical. There are lots of calories in it, and they love it. I also used to crush Harlan blocks and add it to the mix, so I knew they were getting the goodness of the blocks, with extra calories added.

Funny story: we have mice at my job (the ones mentioned above). My co-worker had hers on a lab block & vegetable diet - I used to add peanut butter for mine and they got a little fat.
A few months went by, the mice all hit 2 years old. Hers died eventually, but 2 is not bad for mice, right?
One day, mine were not looking so good; they were slow, shaking. Both have cataracts and are pretty much blind.
She said to me "well I guess peanut butter is not going to fix this".
Hmmmmm....I went in & got some peanut butter, which they ate - that was 6 months ago - they are still running on their wheel, blind as can be. They are a good weight.


So, when all my rodents get older & start losing weight, sure it's good to give them a good staple diet; but I don't think beefing up some extra high calories is such a bad thing.

And again - so good to see you here too!