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Odd skin concern with hairless rat

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Odd skin concern with hairless rat Empty Odd skin concern with hairless rat

Post by dani. Sat Jan 17, 2015 1:14 am

Dobbie currently lives with a group of hairy boys - He is my only hairless, and he lives with his sons.

He has had a mild rash around his eyes, and his eyes have been watery. The odd thing is that this improves when I have him out of the cage for a few hours - his skin and eyes are perfect!

He never had this when he lived on his own.

Question is, is his skin reacting to cuddling up with hairy rats? Or is it likely to be something in his cage?

I admit I have been experimenting with substrate - I started using a paper base litter when then wee rats moved in with Dobbie. I had been using fleece blanket on top of newspaper, went back to that a few days ago, no sign of any difference yet.

There's no sign of fighting between the groups. No scratches, injuries, nothing.

Anyone else had experience of this???


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Post by eoghan Sat Jan 17, 2015 6:31 am

this could be por, and the added stress of an intro could be causing it to increase and it would build up on the eyes more often than not the nose. can you grab a pic of it? and try gently rubbing his eyes with some damp tissue to see if it comes off, as he would clean it off naturally anyway
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Post by dani. Sat Jan 17, 2015 10:52 pm

what's por?

He had lived on his own for about 8 months before I got him, so stress may be an issue. I might have to think about reducing his group to just one or two other buddies.

i'll try to get a pic today.


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Post by eoghan Sun Jan 18, 2015 1:44 am

sorry that should be porphyrin.

http://www.ratbehavior.org/porphyrin.htm

http://ratguide.com/health/eyes/porphyrin_secretions_red_tears.php

it happens in all rats in small doses but normally they clean it off.

the stress should reduce with time. so i wouldn't take him out just let.
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Post by dani. Sun Jan 18, 2015 10:44 pm

Thanks for the links.

He does look content in with his boys. He cuddles into sleep with them, and is content to eat side by side without any obvious sign of stress. I generally handle him solo, and he is content to go back into the cage afterwards. Some evenings he just doesn't want out. Although I do have him out approx. 5 evenings out of 7. I worry about his skin, his weight, is he stressed, and he is significantly older then any of the others. He does seem healthy and well, but I do worry.

The fleece bedding doesn't seem to have made much difference. I have added extra hides and levels to the roof and sides of the cage, so they all have plenty of places to go, and to reduce reduce potential stress levels.

Dobbies boys just seem to have reached their full size, so they are needing plenty of space. They look beautiful!!! Smile

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Post by smokierat Fri Feb 06, 2015 5:44 am

Hows he doing now?
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Post by dani. Fri Feb 06, 2015 6:22 am

I did end up moving my groups around, Dobbie has moved into a cage with pair of girls. I had moved the girls from their large group, they weren't thriving - weight was low, and they were very timid compared to the others. I will be keeping this wee group, still trying very hard to rehome their previous cage mates (if anyone is interested please please get in touch!!!)

The red markings still appear around the eyes, and dissappear so quickly. I read through the links on porphyrin, and this seems to be the culprit.

I do worry about Dobbie, he just looks so delicate compared to his buddies. After he was neutured, he developed a huge absess, that just seemed to appear overnight. Thankfully with anti-biotics it healed very well. The speed of that one scared me, and I've been so observant ever since.

No further concerns thankfully!

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Post by smokierat Fri Feb 06, 2015 6:58 am

I think its easier for hairless to look a bit 'weedier' glad hes okay Smile
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