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Post by luxuriousferret on Nov 15, 2008 19:56:09 GMT -5
hi, my rats have been loosing weight, and it is all of them, and i dont know what to do, they have food-water etc. but keep loosing weight. i lost one rat, recently , and the autopsy said that he had possible cancer, intestinal infection, blood in one lung lube, and pnomnia and thats all, but the other rats are still alive, but my oldest rat is very under weight. no doubt they all have pnomnia, but her face is sooooo fluffe,,, not normal. and all the others are starting to get fluffy. so what home-natural things can i do until the vet??? i need help asap!!!
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Post by tss on Nov 16, 2008 0:23:15 GMT -5
What are you feeding them? What type of cage are they in? Are you giving them any vitamins or suppliments? What kind of bedding are they on??
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Post by luxuriousferret on Nov 17, 2008 19:15:21 GMT -5
they are on sundees rodent blocks, in a verylarge wire cage, and no, i just ran out of the powdered vitamins, but, yes. they are reguarly on vitamind. and ther are on shredded paper with toliot paper for bedding, and boxes.
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Post by tss on Nov 18, 2008 17:32:53 GMT -5
Okay, get then onto some other foods. Get some wild bird seed (millet and sunflowers) and give them some high quality dog food. Not a whole lot but maybe 10 or 15 pieces per rat. What kind of vitamins do you give them? Most of the time pet vitamins do more bad then good because they have all kinds of nasty additives. I wasn't about to find any info on the rodent blocks but most of the time they aren't really complete. Rats and mice benifit from extra protien, lab blocks don't supply that.
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Post by bigsis7 on Nov 18, 2008 20:46:00 GMT -5
Mazuri Lab Blocks, Harlan Tekland Blocks, and Subee's Mix are really good brands of food. Also how much do you clean out their cage? Just wondering cause shredded paper isn't very absorbent....
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Post by luxuriousferret on Nov 21, 2008 16:42:04 GMT -5
Yeah, it is not. I broke my arm a few weeks ago, but tit started before that, and it has been cleaned weekly, but I cannot do it again, until i get this cast off. and no one else will, so It has been waiting. I mix it with sifted pine shavings or YN, so it has more. and theres not any other lab blocks in out area, but I will try dog food and bird seed. I ues, i forget whats I called, but its powdered and has a LOT less junk in it.
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Post by tsslilsis on Nov 21, 2008 17:02:15 GMT -5
Different people have different opinions but pine isn't very good to use. It can cause them to get respritory problems. The only pine that is sometimes fine is keln dried, but not all pine is.. Most people who have multipul rats as pets use fabric bedding, like we use for our ferrets (Or, should use for our ferrets). It would also be good to add some puffed rice cearal to the food (You can get it really cheap).. Raw veggies would be GREAT for them too, it will provide a lot of vitamins. A lot of people I know actually give their rats home made foods with cooked pastas, chicken, peas, carrots, etc.
-~Ketlin
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Post by luxuriousferret on Nov 21, 2008 22:49:07 GMT -5
Yeah, I am aginst pine,but it works odors and stuff great, so I only use as last resort. Yes, I have tried fabric and litter training, only my 4 oldest rats are trainable for litter, so the rest, i have tried. they wont. Yes, i give them treats too. so I guess i'll just to have wait and see.
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Post by bigsis7 on Nov 29, 2008 11:11:35 GMT -5
How are your rats doing?
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Post by luxuriousferret on Nov 29, 2008 22:21:04 GMT -5
They are dying, all but 6. but my 6, seem fine, but you never knoow.
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Post by bigsis7 on Nov 29, 2008 22:30:27 GMT -5
I'm so sorry! Is there any where for you to get them to a vet? Here you can go to this forum and they might be able to help figure out what the problem is: www.goosemoose.com
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Post by luxuriousferret on Mar 31, 2009 10:10:51 GMT -5
They got to the vat a while ago, they had lice . So my remaining six were great. then for no reason one killed the other and then died her slef.
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Post by luxuriousferret on Mar 31, 2009 10:18:52 GMT -5
BTW they are off pine. I now ues corn cob and/or shredded paper. the mix of both works the best.
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Post by harrisi on Mar 31, 2009 13:11:45 GMT -5
Corn cob isnt very good as it holds mould like a good 'un!
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Post by bigsis7 on Mar 31, 2009 14:54:48 GMT -5
Try Yesterday's news. It's possible the other one died and the rat tried to dispose of it. Rats hate being dirty or near something gross. Was the vet expienced with rats?? This doesn't sound at all like lice...
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