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Pet Forum / Mammals / Rats / October 2004Rat Bath >>Joanne<<
I was looking through your pics of rats in a bath. A bath for rats? Can you tell me how I can give them a bath. Do I shampooing them and how do I dry them? I'm from Michigan and it is a colder climate up here now. -TJ- >I was looking through your pics of rats in a bath. A bath for rats? > Can you tell me how I can give them a bath. Do I shampooing them and > how do I dry them? > I'm from Michigan and it is a colder climate up here now. > > -TJ- I'm from northern Ontario...so I know what you mean about cold!! lol Yep, I just fill the tub so the water goes just below their necks, some don't like it and some will start to swim. If you put say a small step stool in the tub so they can choose to be out of the water may make them feel safer. They may at first cry bloody murder because they are scared but eventually they will get used to it. You don't have to ever give them a bath. This is more for playing for my gang. Rats usually keep themselves quite clean. You can shampoo if you want or not. I use rabbit shampoo as it is mildest thing out there. And I just towel dry the little buggers. If you do want to bathe your rats, start them young. ;)  SignatureJoanne Mom to 11 rats http://community.webshots.com/user/joanneb70 Oh that's interesting for your gangs. ha Speaking of rabbit shampoo, I remember giving my bunny a bath seldom. I miss my bunnies. My little boy even want one that he ever had. I will get him one next Easter. TJ > I was looking through your pics of rats in a bath. A bath for rats? > Can you tell me how I can give them a bath. Do I shampooing them and > how do I dry them? > I'm from Michigan and it is a colder climate up here now. > > -TJ- Rats groom themselves efficiently, so baths aren't a necessity unless you have something like a problem with mites. If you do, you can use the mildest puppy flea-and-tick shampoo you can get. Use warm water and a gentle no-nonsense approach, just as if you were bathing a baby (except they can swim, and some enjoy it). You can towel them off and blow-dry on the lowest setting. SignatureChris Green Ok, if in the future they have mites, do I use shampoo on their heads without getting it into their eyes and how do I rinse it off w/o water getting into their eyes and nose if the shampoo dripping into their eyes? > Ok, if in the future they have mites, do I use shampoo on their heads > without getting it into their eyes and how do I rinse it off w/o water > getting into their eyes and nose if the shampoo dripping into their > eyes? I've given up worrying about it; I've never had one complain about puppy shampoo in his eyes. If you're bathing them for reasons other than flea/tick/mite treatment, you can use Johnson's baby shampoo, which is even gentler. A kitchen faucet with a pull-out sprayer that you can use very gently is a big help. Some of them think being blow-dried is fun; others hate it and protest. SignatureChris Green We use cat or kitten flea shampoo. Unlike dog shampoo, it is formulated for animals that groom themselves. SignatureMark Tomlinson "I'm not a trouble maker; I am a catalyst for change." >> I was looking through your pics of rats in a bath. A bath for rats? >> Can you tell me how I can give them a bath. Do I shampooing them and [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > (except they can swim, and some enjoy it). You can towel them off and > blow-dry on the lowest setting. > Rats groom themselves efficiently, so baths aren't a necessity unless > you have something like a problem with mites. If you do, you can use > the mildest puppy flea-and-tick shampoo you can get. Use warm water > and a gentle no-nonsense approach, just as if you were bathing a baby > (except they can swim, and some enjoy it). You can towel them off and > blow-dry on the lowest setting. We just treated two rats for mites a few days ago. We covered them in mineral oil for about 10 minutes to smother the mites than washed it off with baby shampoo. It worked wonders. We'll probably do it again in a few days to catch any mites that may have hatched since then. Do you dunk the rat's head in the water to rinse off the shampoo and without it swallowing the water? Baby shampoo can't irritating its eyes, right? > Do you dunk the rat's head in the water to rinse off the shampoo and > without it swallowing the water? Baby shampoo can't irritating its > eyes, right? Here's some facts: rats are great swimmers, once they get over the fear of water and they can even hold their breath for 3 minutes under water. Also, I don't recommend flea shampoos for rats. Some do it with great results. There are other ways to treat. Many times, a vet is necessary to help determine if indeed they have mites. And some vets have their preferred method of treatment. :) SignatureJoanne Mom to 11 rats http://community.webshots.com/user/joanneb70 >> Do you dunk the rat's head in the water to rinse off the shampoo and >> without it swallowing the water? Baby shampoo can't irritating its [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > help determine if indeed they have mites. And some vets have their > preferred method of treatment. :) P.S. one good way to avoid mites: freeze all bedding and food for 24 hours before using. :) SignatureJoanne Mom to 11 rats http://community.webshots.com/user/joanneb70 Nick, Have you used the mineral oil for mites in the past? And it works good? How do you manage to keep them from washing off the oil and keeping them in one place...Cage? Sue >> Rats groom themselves efficiently, so baths aren't a necessity unless >> you have something like a problem with mites. If you do, you can use [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > with baby shampoo. It worked wonders. We'll probably do it again in a few > days to catch any mites that may have hatched since then. > Nick, Have you used the mineral oil for mites in the past? And it works > good? How do you manage to keep them from washing off the oil and keeping > them in one place...Cage? > Sue No, this was our first time. The vet gave them ivermectin injections back in the spring for mites, but they just came back a few weeks ago. We think the mites may be coming in from rats/squirrels in the walls (it's an old house). Another ivermectin treatment wouldn't do much good if mites can keep coming. So we're working on plugging up walls and cleaning up everything, and tried the mineral oil to keep the guys from being eaten alive while we worked on that. If the oil works than I don't see a reason to go back for ivermectin. The oil looks like it did the trick, it was about two weeks ago that we treated them and haven't seen evidence of mites. To keep them from washing it off, we held them in a towel (damp with mineral oil to keep it from wicking away oil). They didn't try too much to wash it off, but part of that may have been that we did this when they were groggy. We used baby shampoo to get the oil off, but the single wash didn't get all the oil, they had spiky hair for a couple days, but other than that we've had no problems. Nick, If you do ever have to go back to the Ivermectin, if you are comfortable with it, you can give it yourself. It really is a lot cheaper. Ivermectin comes in a paste for horses. (it's a wormer) You give each rattie no more then a grain of rice worth. Since it doesn't taste the best...(I didn't try it, I'm assuming) I mix it in with a syringe of maraschino cherry juice. Works wonderfully! Actually, they fight over it..... Good luck with blocking the holes in the walls...it's a tough job. They can get into the tiniest of places... Sue >> Nick, Have you used the mineral oil for mites in the past? And it works >> good? How do you manage to keep them from washing off the oil and [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > all the oil, they had spiky hair for a couple days, but other than that > we've had no problems. |
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