One of my rats won't stop loosing weight

[lv4dogs]

Penelope/Dimitri has been loosing a lot of weight the past few months. And I mean a lot, she has NO fat left on her what so ever & very little muscle left.
She is just about a year old and came from a great breeder.

The vet ran some tests & nothing turned up there, we have tried different meds & foods & supplements. The breeder, the vet & I are all stummped as to what may be causing this. Maybe some problem with her digestive tract not absorbing the proper nutrients is about all we can think of & we have tried everything we can think of for that problem & she has shown no improvement, she is only getting skinnier.

By her attitude & energy level you'd never know it though. She eats a lot, plays all the time, is active, friendly, outgoing etc...

I am wondering do you think she may be suffering? She is all skin & bones, litterally! But she acts like nothing is wrong.

She eats a LOT, but by the looks of her you'd think she is starving herself. I don't want her to die like that.

This is tough! She has so much spunk to her.

[luvofallhorses]

I have no advice for you I know how my rat neo(rip) was skin and bones because he was starved by my step uncle when my grandmother was dying in 2003 and my step uncle robbed our house and neo wouldn't get better he wasn't starving himself but his health wasn't getting better we were going to put him to sleep but then he died on mother's day before i got to say goodbye i was in tears all day..but anyways hugs and prayers to you for you to find out what is up.

[wolfsoul]

That's really odd. I'll google and see if I can come up with anything. What kind of food are you feeding her now?

[Desert Arabian]

That happened to a lot of my girls, and before I could do anything- they died. Phoebe ate like a horse, she was pushing 2 pounds at one point, then all of a sudden the weight melted off of her in a matter of days- before I could get to the vet (since he was on vacation, that SOB) she passed away. She ate normally until her passing. Something went wrong internally, it would be nice to know exactly what.

Nugget went through the same ordeal, it was because of her cancer though. She was a twig, but she still ate food every time I put some in the cage.

Nutrical CLICK HERE is very good at fattening up rats. I suggest you get some and start giving it to your rat/s. I have it to my seniors and it helped them keep the weight on their bones- it is packed with calories. I got a tube for $12.99, it might be cheaper where you are, I am not sure. It was suggested to me by my veteriarian- I did see a difference.

[lv4dogs]

Originally posted by YellowLabLover
That happened to a lot of my girls, and before I could do anything- they died. Phoebe ate like a horse, she was pushing 2 pounds at one point, then all of a sudden the weight melted off of her in a matter of days- before I could get to the vet (since he was on vacation, that SOB) she passed away. She ate normally until her passing. Something went wrong internally, it would be nice to know exactly what.

Nugget went through the same ordeal, it was because of her cancer though. She was a twig, but she still ate food every time I put some in the cage.

Nutrical CLICK HERE is very good at fattening up rats. I suggest you get some and start giving it to your rat/s. I have it to my seniors and it helped them keep the weight on their bones- it is packed with calories. I got a tube for $12.99, it might be cheaper where you are, I am not sure. It was suggested to me by my veteriarian- I did see a difference.

I'm so sorry to hear about your rats. It seems as it is something similar, but my girl has lasted months with only skin & bones. It does give me *some* comfort knowing I am not alone.

Thanks you so much for the info, but she is already on a supplement very similar, just a different name. I always have that on hand with the amount of critters that I have.

[wolfsoul]

Have you tried Satin Balls? They are great for fatteing ratties up. You can google the recipe.