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Pet Forum / Mammals / Rats / June 2005Skin condition
My silver Rex is 'living with' (or presumably dying from) myco; she's hiding down my shirt at the moment and sneezing wetly on my stomach... Because of the nature of her mutated coat, her fur has never been particularly thick, but in the last few weeks I've started noticing ochre-coloured patches on the skin of her back where the fur seems especially thin. It's hard to be certain, but they seem to disappear and come back elsewhere. She's not a very cuddly animal, although she's become more docile in her old age after all her cagemates died, and she doesn't much like my holding her and poking around her fur, but the patches are definitely rough and raised from the skin, like scabs, although I don't think they are. (Wrong colour, for a start.) She got very fat, started losing weight when the myco kicked in, and has now put on quite a bit after I started a concerted campaign of feeding her up again. To be honest, I don't expect her to live beyond the autumn, when she'll be two -- all three rats apparently had the lung condition when I was given them, though I didn't know at the time, and the other two both died of it in the cold spell last winter. As well as panting when she's nervous, spraying sneezes and coughing at night, she's definitely starting to look and act elderly now, and none of our former rats have ever made it into a third year that I recall. So basically, the question is: does it sound as if she has some kind of mange or skin condition that is likely to affect her quality of life before she dies anyway? (She doesn't seem to be aware of it; I've never seen her scratching or in any distress, and you wouldn't notice the marks unless you glimpsed them through the thin fur in the right light.) Is it likely to clear up of its own accord (I thought it was doing so, but I suspect that what she has now are new patches) or am I obliged to go through the expense and stress (for both of us) of a visit to the vet and further treatment, after the three failed courses of drugs she's already been through for the myco? I'm unhappily aware that emotionally I've never really forgiven her for being the one unloving animal to survive when her livelier and more affectionate cagemates died after weeks of nursing night and day, though I try to give her a happy life... (Now out from my shirt and hiding under the printer!)  SignatureIgenlode Visit the Ivory Tower http://curry.250x.com/Tower/ - I don't want to 'fit in' any more... - That makes two of us! > My silver Rex is 'living with' (or presumably dying from) myco; she's > hiding down my shirt at the moment and sneezing wetly on my stomach... [quoted text clipped - 30 lines] > already been through for the myco? I'm unhappily aware that emotionally > I've never really forgiven her for being the one unloving animal to > survive when her livelier and more affectionate cagemates died after > weeks of nursing night and day, though I try to give her a happy life... > > (Now out from my shirt and hiding under the printer!) Poor little one, it's hard just nursing the rats and waiting for their untimely end. I think the patches could be her body producing oils and she not being able to clean it. I don't really know what mange look like so I can't comment on that one. SignatureJoanne Mom to 13 rats http://community.webshots.com/user/joanneb70 > My silver Rex is 'living with' (or presumably dying from) myco; she's > hiding down my shirt at the moment and sneezing wetly on my stomach... [quoted text clipped - 34 lines] > > (Now out from my shirt and hiding under the printer!) The skin condition COULD be diet related so you might add some powdered vitamins to whatever you've been hand-feeding her. If you have her on antibiotics for the lung condition this will keep her from being able to process nutrients properly even if her diet is fairly well balanced. Adding something with live asidophilous (like an unpasturized yogurt) can sometimes help digestion. Lower the ratty's total sugar & protein intake to as low as possible, as that effects skin condition & makes elder care more difficult. Sugars are in more foods than you may realize. Sometimes if a rat is elderly its harsher to treat an incurable lung conditions than to not treat it, due to the side-FX of antibiotics. But there's an antibiotic usually recommended to pigeons & chickens (frequently as a daily part of diet) that will usually bring congestion down to minimal in an elderly rat without causing so much stomach trouble. This is chlortetracycline (trade name Areomycin) formulated in an over-the-counter powder sold by pigeon supply houses, very low in toxicity, but rats almost never have a resistance to it because it's a rare choice for vets to give to rodents. It is probably the best "maintenance" antibiotic for chronic lung conditions. You can also probably bring the level of congestion way down if you can obtain ma-huang a very powerful deconcongestant. Unfortunately ma-huang's or Ephedra's misuse as a weight-loss aid, & resultant heart attacks, caused it to be banned as an over-the-counter herb, but it can still be gotten from Chinatown herb vendors & from "qualified" crackpot herbalists. Most of what herbalists pawn off on the public is junk, but ma-huang is a superb decongestant -- cures nothing, but relieves distress -- so it's too damned bad its misuse by herbal hypochondriac caused it to become harder to get. It works miracles on elder rats without causing injury of any kind. But if you don't have access to an herbalist, Areomycin may be your only option. However, if your vet has the old ratty on antibiotics already, you wouldn't want to mix anything in without consulting, even though all too often the vet won't have a deep knowledge of any of this he or she should still be consulted. if your rat's on nothing right now, ephedra or the mild Areomycin could greatly reduce the congestion to make the last days or weeks of an old rat's life a lot easier breathing. -paghat the ratgirl SignatureGet your Paghat the Ratgirl T-Shirt here: http://www.paghat.com/giftshop.html "In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot." -Thomas Jefferson [snip] > > in the last few weeks I've started noticing ochre-coloured patches on > > the skin of her back where the fur seems especially thin. [snip] I got worried enough to take her to the vet this morning; it was mange, in an early stage, he says (which is why she wasn't showing any distress). I suspect the recent hot weather was probably ideal for mites... Probably explains why she has shown so much more enthusiasm for having her back scratched these last few weeks -- she never seemed to care for it before. I thought it was just the docility of old age! > The skin condition COULD be diet related so you might add some powdered > vitamins to whatever you've been hand-feeding her. If you have her on [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > to as low as possible, as that effects skin condition & makes elder care > more difficult. Sugars are in more foods than you may realize. She mainly lives on dried rat food, but I give her occasional crusts of bread -- literally; I eat the bread, she gets the crust! -- apple cores, cherry-stones (also over-ripe cherries, but she tends to excavate straight to the core and take the stone out to eat first...), bits of cucumber and yoghurt pots. The pots after I've eaten the yoghurt, that is; she likes to lick them clean. Also, sometimes when I'm eating bran cereal I used to give her single flakes (mainly because she stuck her whiskers in the bowl and stole them otherwise!), but she's not nimble enough to get across onto the desk under her own steam any more. Unfortunately, although we do eat it, the live yoghurt comes in very large pots, so she only gets the lickings of the small flavoured kind. [snip] > However, if your vet has the old ratty on antibiotics already, you > wouldn't want to mix anything in without consulting, even though all too > often the vet won't have a deep knowledge of any of this he or she should > still be consulted. if your rat's on nothing right now, ephedra or the > mild Areomycin could greatly reduce the congestion to make the last days > or weeks of an old rat's life a lot easier breathing. She's not on antibiotics any more; the last course had absolutely no effect one way or the other, and I'm not convinced the previous two did either. But I got the vet to have a listen to her chest when she was down there, and he sounded cautiously optimistic; she's not congested, or 'whistling', apparently. The damage is there, and permanent, but she seems to have reached a stable state. She's put on weight since the last visit, too :-) Does mange cause an unpleasant smell in the coat? Most [female] rats seem to have a sort of ozone-ish, seaweedy smell, but I've noticed that Rexie's coat tends to pick up a faecal odour... (She may simply not be washing properly, but she looks clean enough, and with silver coloration you'd think it would be obvious!) SignatureIgenlode Visit the Ivory Tower http://curry.250x.com/Tower/ * Never assume malice when ignorance is a possibility * > Does mange cause an unpleasant smell in the coat? Most [female] rats > seem to have a sort of ozone-ish, seaweedy smell, but I've noticed that > Rexie's coat tends to pick up a faecal odour... (She may simply not be > washing properly, but she looks clean enough, and with silver coloration > you'd think it would be obvious!) Mange is caused by a mite & is treated with Invermectin (Ivomec), with the general vicinity of a cage treated with vapona pest strip or animals will become re-infected. A mange-like dermatitis is usually caused by too much protein in the diet & is treated with topical ointments ranging from antibotic ointment to BluKote, & most importantly an improved low-protein diet. Dermatitis can also be fungus-caused. It can even be caused by nothing but stress, & kept going by aggressive scratching which can become infected. If your vet really specifically found it to be mange, then your vet will have given you Invermectin, as the condition won't go away otherwise. Invermectin is available cheaply over-the-counter in feed & farm stores under brandnames Zimecterin, Rotectin 1, Equalvan, & Equimectrin; it's sold for horses but can be used for small mammals too. One additional aid is to keep the back toenails clipped, as scratching will worsen skin conditions & scratching is usually the first point of entry for a staph infection. These conditions shouldn't cause an odor, but if there is a staph infection of the skin it can smell bad from bacterial waste in the infected area, & staph can be passed to people very easily. "Moist dermatitis" can also become bacterially infected with resultant stench. -paghat SignatureGet your Paghat the Ratgirl T-Shirt here: http://www.paghat.com/giftshop.html "In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot." -Thomas Jefferson |
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