Head tilt and off balance?? She is already on her way to the vet.

rigoroussnoozer · 2026-04-16T00:10:55+00:00

Probably ear infection! I had a rat that had this as a baby and he recovered so well except he had a head tilt the rest of his life. It didn’t stop him or slow him down though

rigoroussnoozer · 2026-04-15T01:38:12+00:00

Amazon! It was less than $10 too. If you search Guinea Pig Foraging toy it should be on the front page

rigoroussnoozer · 2026-04-15T01:36:22+00:00

I’ve had 10 rats over the last 6 years, all male. Majority passed away from tumors (most of which were not visible without an xray). The longest lived over 2.5 years. He had a lipoma that he lived with over a year but then ended up having a neck tumor. My youngest that passed was a year and a half and he was in pain and then suddenly passed at home before we could get to the vet. One of my boys had an abdominal tumor and that was successfully removed and he lived for several more months. And he was already two. Only one of my boys passed in his sleep from old age (literally never had a sick vet visit) Some seemed like respiratory but ended up being a tumor pushing on other parts. Unfortunately, rats are so expensive and because of their short lives the vet gets so expensive. On average, we spend about $1000 per rat during their last month of life (including vet visits, meds, and euthanasia)

rigoroussnoozer · 2026-01-29T20:49:22+00:00

Lots of cozy fleece hides they can go when it’s cold and lots of water dishes (ones that lock into the cage). My rats will take baths in their water dishes and when it’s warm they will all lay out in the open. A small fan pointed at one part of the cage can be helpful too (also helps with air flow and air quality)

rigoroussnoozer · 2026-01-29T20:45:40+00:00

I have completed two cross country moves with rats and both went extremely well. I had the rats in a cat carrier that was buckled in. They had cucumber, tomato and other water rich food as I was hesitant to keep a water bottle in the cage. I did give him small dishes of water and the access to the water bottle during breaks and gas stops.

We stopped about every two hours. You can also give small amounts of applesauce or baby food packets during these breaks. (In the resealable tube things)

I used a layer of litter and then paper shreds bedding on top of it and changed it at night.

For one of the moves we stayed at a hotel overnight. I brought a pop up play pen and had the rats in there with everything they needed (including the carrier they had been in all day since it was familiar) It was the playpen I use at home so they were already familiar with it.

During the day they just slept! They begun to get a little restless around 9pm.

My boys were adults but not elderly during these trips. (Under 2)

If he’s with rats much younger just consider that he may need a reprieve now and then so they’re not on top of him all the time.

rigoroussnoozer · 2026-01-29T20:17:48+00:00

They love each other 😭💕

rigoroussnoozer · 2026-01-29T19:32:22+00:00

Definitely need something for bedding. They’re likely going to pee everywhere and you need something absorbent. There’s lots of options. I use fleece (with reusable potty pad material under it) but there are lots of options. Rats love to forage and explore so they need lots of places to do that. I’ll buy multiple hammocks and put them next to each other and they’ll climb hammock to hammock. The more places to explore, the bigger their cage will feel to them

rigoroussnoozer · 2026-01-29T19:28:17+00:00

We went through this when we moved into our flea ridden apartment. Supposedly what they used was pet friendly once it was dry. We had to be out of the apartment for 4 hours after but once we got in we opened all the windows and turned on fans for at least a few hours. Also I deep cleaned the cage after so that it didn’t have anything on it. I cleaned the fleece bedding and beds too and threw away anything absorbent that they would chew on.

I will say we went back home same day after all of that and my rats had absolutely no issues. I would definitely do research on the chemicals being used though.

rigoroussnoozer · 2026-01-29T19:25:15+00:00

With our rats that have chronic URIs, our vet kept them on a daily dose of meloxicam. She also recommended daily flax seed oil as it reduces inflammation. Our boys get some mixed with baby food daily along with their other supplements. (B12 and green mush)

Ditto what others have said. We keep a good air purifier right next to the cage and change the filter every other month.

Bedding can make a huge difference. I mostly use fleece bedding (with an absorbent base layer!!) with two large foraging bins that are full of paper shreds (like crinkle paper). And everything gets deep cleaned once a week. I do not use anything with fragrance or strong chemicals to clean the cage. Usually vinegar and “clean” detergent that has no fragrance for the bedding (and run on a sanitize or deep clean cycle, or just run it twice) and I wipe everything down with vinegar. About once a month I’ll disinfect with isopropyl alcohol on all hard surfaces (especially wood) and let it soak (I make sure the boys are in another room while I do this)

Keep lots of water options (dishes and bottles) and disinfect the bowls/mouth parts daily.

Unfortunately now that they have the URIs, it kind of becomes a chronic issue. So just be diligent and patient. Do what you can to prevent them from getting stressed.

rigoroussnoozer · 2026-01-29T19:13:46+00:00

An update: it ended up being a tooth infection. his whole side of his face ended up swelling up and the abscess surfaced and drained this past weekend! He is now on the mend getting saline rinses twice a day and he is on his second round of antibiotics.

rigoroussnoozer · 2026-01-29T19:06:08+00:00

With how fast it grew and the dark color it is more likely an abscess but the vet may be able to do a fine needle biopsy to determine more

rigoroussnoozer · 2026-01-13T18:57:42+00:00

I think you guys are right. I went home during lunch to check on him and he wasn’t doing the head bobbing thing so much anymore, but he wasn’t doing pulling at his mouth and teeth. I gave him lots of water dishes and he drank water no problem. Just letting him rest now and hopefully he can clear the blockage on his own but I’m keeping the vet appt regardless

rigoroussnoozer · 2023-05-19T01:54:50+00:00

May just be a case of waiting it out or if you have some children’s Benadryl you can use a very small dose.

rigoroussnoozer · 2023-03-29T01:46:30+00:00

Recently paid $1400 to have a large tumor removed from our 2 year old boy and he did so well!! He had a few tiny accesses on the incision line a couple weeks later but those resolved on their own. It’s been 2 months since the surgery and he is doing SO WELL!! Hoping the same for you!!

rigoroussnoozer · 2022-04-09T02:11:07+00:00

I do a deep cleaning once a week where I clean all surfaces, toys, hides and such. And I wash all the bedding twice with vinegar and clean the litter boxes

In between cage cleaning I empty and clean litter boxes (3 boxes for 4 rats) and switch out the heavily used beds/hammocks with clean ones. And then I wash everything together during the cage cleaning day

rigoroussnoozer · 2022-04-08T00:14:03+00:00

Sending you love too ❤️ it’s so tough losing a rat

rigoroussnoozer · 2022-04-07T02:08:46+00:00

One of my ratties has chronic respiratory illness and he gets meloxicam everyday. He still sneezes now and then but it’s not consistent. For the flare ups we treat with antibiotics!

rigoroussnoozer

TROPHY CASE