Is Kitty dying, rat people?

I've had Kitty for nearly 3 years now. I'm not sure exactly how old she is, but she is at leat 3 years old, possibly a few months more. I've kept her on the recycled paper bedding because I heard that's better for their health. She's always had a quality mixed diet, fresh fuits/veggies, rat food, sunflower seeds, nuts, ect.

She used to be this nice plump rat who ran as quick as she could to the door of her cage when I opened it. Lately she's been really slow and hasn't been responding to her name every time.

She hasn't been keeping weight on no matter what I put in the cage. She doesn't even gobble up the fresh fruit when I put it in the cage! She lets Mercedes have it all. Her hair is also getting really thin and I think some of the reason is that Mercedes is picking on her? I haven't seen it happen, so I don't know. Why would Mercedes start picking on Kitty after this long and is there anything I can do? There's always plenty of food in there so I don't know why else they would fight I'm willing to seperate them if it means Kitty would be happier.

They live in a very large cage 3 feet long, 2 feet wide, and 5 feet tall.

Here's a picture of Kitty a few months ago


And today


Even her color is fading


With her buddy Enzo

Sounds like old age.
Small rodents only have a life span of 3-5 years.

I would let her have her own cage, this will let her get the rest she needs, and spend lots of time loving on her.
If she and Mercedes were buddies, I'd keep the cages side by side.

When old age caught up with my last rat, I had him another year after, it was a slow decline as he was a large, healthy boy.
I had him put down when he lost interest in everything, he was about 5 months shy of his 4th birthday.

3 years is definitely getting up there for a rat. Many don't reach that age and most don't reach 4. Losing weight it one of the first signs a rat will give that they're sick or getting sick. They hide illness, a factor of being a prey species... Listen to her breathing and make sure she's not clicking or crackling or just sounding stuffy, maybe get her checked by a vet, but otherwise, just helping her get food may help.

Perhaps feed her separately from Mercedes? You could also supplement her diet with a high-calorie food, like Ensure (the strawberry sort is a big hit over here...). Just let her lick it off an eyedropper. Baby food may help too. When my boys get weak they have a hard time chewing up food, something soft that they can lick up really helps. Make sure she's staying hydrated, that's more dangerous than losing calories. Another reason wet foods like ensure, baby food, or oatmeal could help. I say spoil her as much as you can.

Three years is pretty old for a rat. Many rats don't live much beyond 2 years...
I'm not sure how to tell if your other rat is picking on her but IMO it may do more harm than good to separate them because rats are very social animals.
When I had an old sick rat, I fed her Nutrical to keep her weight up. At one point she was hardly eating at all (she had pneumonia) but I was able to keep her alive with the Nutrical while the antibiotics did their job.

Originally Posted by Nekochan

Three years is pretty old for a rat. Many rats don't live much beyond 2 years...
I'm not sure how to tell if your other rat is picking on her but IMO it may do more harm than good to separate them because rats are very social animals.
When I had an old sick rat, I fed her Nutrical to keep her weight up. At one point she was hardly eating at all (she had pneumonia) but I was able to keep her alive with the Nutrical while the antibiotics did their job.

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I wondered if it would just make it worse to separate them. I'll have to check into that Nutrical, it's the puppy stuff isn't it?

Rats are pack animals so seperating them would be good for her but best idea is too maybe get a friend for mercades?

deffinately sounds like old age though...
shes lead a full and healthy life

I second the idea of feeding Ensure and baby foods. Feed your rat more fatty, but healthy foods.

Please do not separate your rats. They NEED each other in Kitty's old age. If you separate them, it WILL cause Kitty to be depressed....which will only speed up her death.

Three years old is very old for a pet rat. Cherish her and love her until she goes on to rattie heaven. The best way to die in cuddled up in a hammock with your buddy, so please try to make a good decision on when to let her "go" on her own or to have her PTS by needle/gas.

As long as she is still eating something and drinking (along with you supplementing her with Ensure & baby food)...then she will be fine.

Oscar just passed and was just under 2 years old. He lost weight and wasn't eating. His fur also thinned out. How is her breathing. He had severe respiratory disease and most likely pnuemonia. Also, rats live 2-3 years so 3 is definitely on the longer side of life. If you are worried about her eating habits, you can feed her baby food. I gave mine carrots and strawberry banana.

Originally Posted by bad_kitty2001

Oscar just passed and was just under 2 years old. He lost weight and wasn't eating. His fur also thinned out. How is her breathing. He had severe respiratory disease and most likely pnuemonia. Also, rats live 2-3 years so 3 is definitely on the longer side of life. If you are worried about her eating habits, you can feed her baby food. I gave mine carrots and strawberry banana.

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Thanks for the info and I'm so sorry about your rat. I was following your sister's thread the whole time. Her breathing is ok. I don't hear anything so Hopefully she's ok. She's not eating much, I've been putting fresh fruits in, but I probably need to get some baby food. She's fairly skinny, and she's starting to look like my sister's hairless rat.

Do old rats usually loose hair? She also has scabs all over her that she keeps scratching. I've had Mercedes and her separated for about a week now to see if the wounds were from Mercedes or just Kitty scratching herself too much. The wounds aren't getting any better I don't know.....It's very sad.

Please put your rats back together. I can't stress it enough that they NEED each other. Kitty is probably very sad because her friend is no longer with her and this can cause her to do into depression and die quickly.

Treat Kitty with a round of revolution from your vet, ASAP. It sounds like she has mites/lice. This can be from using a new bag of bedding without freezing the bedding for 24 hours before using it. Freezing the bedding will kill mites/lice.

If Kitty has mites, she would be scratching a lot. Oscar was scabby for a while and I think I saw the mites on him. He was given a shot and then the scabs began to clear up. Also, he had really oily skin so the vet gave me Keratolux medicated shampoo for dogs and cats to bathe him in.

I don't know if you want to take Kitty to the vet or if you already have. I have a website that will show you where local exotic vets are. http://www.aemv.org/vetlist.cfm

I used this to find mine, even though he was an hour and half away. He really did what he could and tried harder than Oscar's regular vet.

I spoke with a vet in my area that does some work with rats and he just told me she's old and that's what happens I looked at that site you gave me and it says the closest one is an hour and a half away too! I've been checking to make sure I don't see anything on her, she doesn't scratch a ton, just every now and again when she's up at night.

It's very sad because she used to come running when I said her name or opened her cage door. Now she just lays there and sleeps. She does seem happier alone, I know they are pack animals, but she lived for the first couple years alone. She walks around more and sits on her house more at night than she was with Mercedes in there.

IDK, I just want her to be happy, if you think I should be Mercedes back in I could do it tonight.

Thats the hard thing with these little guys. They don't live very long. I feel bad because Oscar sniffled sometimes and I hope that wasn't me ignoring the signs that I should have taken him in. I hope the best for kitty.

Originally Posted by EnzoLeya

IDK, I just want her to be happy, if you think I should be Mercedes back in I could do it tonight.

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I've been saying it all along, PLEASE put your two rats back together. If you need more people to tell you this, please join this rat forum...they will tell you the same things that I have already told you....

www.goosemoose.com

Update

Mecedes has been back in the cage with Kitty for a day now. We'll see how she does.

could you maybe take her to another vets for a second opinion? i had a rat come to me with mites who was rapidly losing weight with scabs on her and i used kitten revolution to treat her an she recovered fine. also it could be power grooming making the fur come out, have you noticed your other girl grooming her a lot more??

3 years is getting on a bit for a rat so it could be that but i`ve known rats to live until 5 years. good luck with her and i hope she pulls through!

Aww sorry about that. It looks as if this thread was created in 2008, so I guess I'm a bit late. I have four rats and I think one is dying now. He is called Flash and he looks a bit like Kitty. I hope she died peacefully, and same for Mercedes.

I would never have a rat as a pet. Cats are my favorite pets.