Blonde Roof Rat

Roof Rat Symptom Checker and Health Glossary

A healthy blonde roof rat with bright, clear eyes

Emergency? Labored or open-mouth breathing, a blue or gray tinge to ears/nose/feet, collapse or a seizure, uncontrolled bleeding, a hard bloated belly, or a rat that is cold and not eating or drinking: see an exotic vet now. Rats are small and go downhill fast. How to find a rat vet.

Not sure what is going on with your roof rat? Start with the symptom you are seeing, then follow the link to the full guide for signs, causes, treatment, home care, and when to see a vet. This is a starting point, not a diagnosis: when in doubt, see a vet. (The detail and doses live in the Roof Rat Health hub.)

Start here: what am I seeing?

  • Sneezing, snuffling, rattly or labored breathing, or any discharge from the eyes, nose or mouth: most likely a respiratory infection.[3] In a Norway rat the classic sign is red “blood-like” staining (porphyrin). A roof rat is different: a roof rat should not have visible discharge of any colour, so clear or red, any discharge at all is the sign to act on. “I’ve never seen any roof rat get porphyrin. Their discharge is clear, and if you see it, it is usually a sign of serious infection.” (the breeder, from his own account). See Respiratory disease. Labored breathing is urgent.
  • Head tilted to one side, circling, falling, or rolling, with eyes flicking: a balance problem (inner-ear infection,[3] or in an older rat a pituitary tumor[4]). See Head tilt and balance. A new head tilt is a same-day call no matter how slight: treated early it can resolve, treated late it can be permanent. Go now if she is rolling, cannot right herself, or is not eating or drinking. Only a tilt a vet has already seen, that is not changing, can wait for a routine visit.
  • A lump or swelling. If it came up fast, feels warm, and may have a scab, it is more likely an abscess; if it grew slowly over weeks and is soft and movable, more likely a tumor.[5] See Abscesses and Tumors and lumps. A lump that is warm, painful, growing fast, has broken open, or sits anywhere on the face, jaw or throat needs a vet within a day, and the same day if she is also quiet or off her food. A slow-growing lump on the body can be a booked appointment: check it weekly and go sooner if it changes.
  • Scratching, scabs over the shoulders or neck, hair loss, or “walking dandruff”: most likely mites, lice, or ringworm. See Skin, itching, and parasites. Book this week: mites spread through the cage, and scratched-open sores get infected. Go sooner if the sores are wet, smelly or spreading, or if she is also quiet, off her food or losing weight, because heavy parasites in an adult rat often mean something else is wrong underneath.
  • Back legs getting weak, splayed, flat-footed, dragging, or the tail dragging (usually an older rat): most likely age-related nerve degeneration. See Aging and hind-leg weakness. Weakness that crept in over weeks in an older rat is a booked appointment. Weakness that arrived over hours or days, fine yesterday and dragging today, is a same-day call, and so is a rat who cannot reach her food or water or has stopped peeing normally.
  • Drooling, a wet chin, dropping food, or eating slowly with weight loss: think teeth. See Teeth and mouth. See a vet within 24 hours: a rat dropping food or losing weight is already failing to eat, and rats go downhill fast. Same day if she has stopped eating altogether or is pawing at her mouth. Overgrown teeth never correct themselves.
  • Diarrhea, no stool, a hard or bloated belly: a digestive problem; a drum-tight belly or no stool in 12 hours is an emergency. See Digestion.
  • Drinking and peeing much more, with slow weight loss in an older rat: think kidneys. See Aging kidneys. Book an appointment this week: the extra drinking is the early warning, and the treatment window is before the weight loss starts. It becomes a same-day call if she also goes off her food, hunches up or turns quiet, because that is the kidneys tipping over rather than a wait-and-see change.
  • Just “not right,” off food, hunched, low energy, losing weight: weigh the rat (a drop is the earliest warning) and see a vet; not eating is always serious. See Getting the best care.

Calling a vet when nobody nearby treats rats

Roof rats are barely kept as pets anywhere, so the vet you reach may never have seen one, and at 3am that is the problem you actually have to solve. Search for exotic vet, exotics, or small mammal vet rather than rat vet, and widen the search before you narrow it: an emergency hospital an hour away that sees exotics beats a closer one that does not. When you call, ask three things. Do you see rats, or any small mammals? Is someone who does see them on tonight, or only in the morning? If not you, who nearby does? A clinic that says no will often name the practice that says yes, and that answer is worth the call on its own.

Take your rat’s weight with you if you have it, along with what you have seen and when it started. See Getting the best care for more on finding and working with a vet.

What to watch while you wait

If you are waiting for morning or for an appointment, watching carefully is not doing nothing. It is the part of the visit only you can do, and a vet who has never seen your rat before will lean on it.

  • Weigh her, and write the number down. A rat’s weight is the earliest warning there is, and a change over a day or two says more than how she looks.
  • Count her breaths for fifteen seconds while she is resting, and note whether her sides heave or her mouth is open. A number you can repeat is far more use than breathing funny.
  • Note what she has eaten and drunk, and roughly when. Not eating at all is the one that matters most.
  • Look at her droppings. None at all, or watery ones, both mean something. Say which.
  • Write down when it started and whether it is getting worse, staying level, or easing. Getting worse quickly changes the answer.
  • Photograph or film anything odd, especially a head tilt, a wobble, or laboured breathing. It may have stopped by the time you are seen.

Keep her warm, keep water within reach, and if she is unsteady take the height out of the cage so a fall cannot add to the problem. If anything in the emergency list at the top of this page appears while you are waiting, stop waiting.

Glossary (with links to the details)

Signs and symptoms

  • Porphyrin staining: red-brown crust around the eyes or nose that looks like blood but is a Harderian gland secretion; heavy secretion tracks stress and illness.[6] This is a Norway rat sign, and it is where most care guides will lead you astray: in a Norway rat a little is unremarkable and a lot, or daily, is the red flag. Roof rats are not the same. “Unlike Norway Rats, it is not normal for Roof Rats to have any visible red discharge from their eyes (porphyrin.) If you see any discharge coming from their eyes, nose or mouth, that’s a bad sign!” (the breeder, from his own account). So for a roof rat there is no unremarkable amount: any discharge at all, red or clear, is the sign to act on. Respiratory.
  • Labored breathing: sides or belly heaving, or open-mouth breathing. Emergency. Respiratory.
  • Torticollis (head tilt) / nystagmus (eye-flicking) / ataxia (wobble): signs the balance system is off. Head tilt.
  • Knuckling / plantigrade (flat-footed) gait: the paw drags or the rat walks flat instead of on its toes, a nerve sign. Hind-leg weakness.
  • Ptyalism (slobbers): drooling and a wet chin, usually a tooth problem. Teeth.
  • Bloat: a rapidly swelling, drum-tight belly. Emergency: a rat cannot vomit, so it cannot bring up what is fermenting in its stomach.[7] Digestion.
  • Weight loss: often the first sign of a hidden problem; weigh weekly. Best care.

Conditions

  • Mycoplasma / chronic respiratory disease: the lifelong lung infection most pet rats carry.[3] Respiratory.
  • Otitis media/interna (labyrinthitis): an inner-ear infection, the most common cause of head tilt. Head tilt.
  • Pituitary tumor: a benign brain tumor of older rats; causes neurological signs such as blindness, weak back legs and a sudden change in behaviour.[8] About half of them produce prolactin, which is what “prolactinoma” means.[9] Head tilt.
  • Mammary fibroadenoma: the common benign breast lump in Norway rats.[1] The breeder, on his own roof rats: “I have personally never seen any with mammary tumors.” Tumors.
  • Radiculoneuropathy: age-related spinal nerve-root degeneration, the usual cause of weak back legs.[2] Aging.
  • Chronic kidney disease (chronic progressive nephropathy): slow kidney scarring in older rats. Aging kidneys.
  • Malocclusion: teeth that no longer meet and overgrow. Teeth.
  • Megacolon (Norway Rat): a severe constipation disorder, tied to certain high-white fancy-rat lines.[10] Digestion.
  • Abscess: a walled-off pocket of pus, often mistaken for a tumor; a needle sample tells them apart.[5] Skin.
  • Bumblefoot (ulcerative pododermatitis): an infected pressure sore on the foot, driven in a Norway rat by wire floors, weight and abrasive bedding.[11] Roof rats are not prone to it: their feet are built for climbing, with thick tough pads and less weight on them, and the breeder has never seen one with it. Skin.
  • Mites, lice, ringworm: external parasites and a skin fungus. Skin and parasites.

Treatments and medicines

  • Doxycycline + enrofloxacin (Baytril): the rat-standard antibiotic pair for respiratory disease.[3] Respiratory. Work out doses with the dosing calculator.
  • Cabergoline: shrinks prolactin-driven pituitary tumors.[8] Most rats with a mammary lump also carry a pituitary tumor, so the two are looked at together.[1] Tumors.
  • Meloxicam / gabapentin: pain and nerve-pain relief (used carefully with the kidneys in mind). Aging.
  • Ivermectin / selamectin: for mites and lice, and you treat every rat in the cage at the same time.[12] Skin.
  • Spaying young: the main prevention for mammary and pituitary tumors in females. In one aged-rat series ovariectomy cut mammary tumors from 24 of 49 to 2 of 47, and pituitary adenomas from 27 of 41 to 2 of 46.[13] Removing the ovaries before middle age cut spontaneous mammary tumors by 95 percent.[14] Tumors.
  • Supportive supplements (incl. CBD): what the evidence shows, with caveats. Supplements.
  • Dosing calculator: work out any medicine dose by your rat’s weight. Open the calculator.

This is a navigation aid, not veterinary advice. Every dose and treatment defers to your vet and to the Rat Guide. See the full Roof Rat Health hub for the detail.

References

  • [1] Vergneau-Grosset C, Keel MK, Goldsmith D, et al. “Description of the prevalence, histologic characteristics, concomitant abnormalities, and outcomes of mammary gland tumors in companion rats (Rattus norvegicus): 100 cases (1990-2015).” JAVMA 2016;249(10):1170-1179. PubMed.
  • [2] Berg BN, Wolf A, Simms HS. “Nutrition and Longevity in the Rat. IV. Food Restriction and the Radiculoneuropathy of Aging Rats.” Journal of Nutrition 1962;77:439-442. PubMed.
  • [3] The Rat Guide. “Mycoplasma / Mycoplasmosis.” link.
  • [4] Nakazawa M, Tawaratani T, Uchimoto H, et al. “Spontaneous neoplastic lesions in aged Sprague-Dawley rats.” Experimental Animals 2001;50(2):99-103. PubMed.
  • [5] The Rat Guide. “Abscess.” link.
  • [6] Mason G, Wilson D, Hampton C, Wurbel H. “Non-invasively assessing disturbance and stress in laboratory rats by scoring chromodacryorrhoea.” Alternatives to Laboratory Animals 2004;32 Suppl 1A:153-159. PubMed.
  • [7] Horn CC, Kimball BA, Wang H, et al. “Why can’t rodents vomit? A comparative behavioral, anatomical, and physiological study.” PLoS One 2013;8(4):e60537. PubMed.
  • [8] Mayer J, Sato A, Kiupel M, et al. “Extralabel use of cabergoline in the treatment of a pituitary adenoma in a rat.” JAVMA 2011;239(5):656-660. PubMed.
  • [9] Carretero J, Burks DJ, Vazquez G, et al. “Expression of aromatase P450 is increased in spontaneous prolactinomas of aged rats.” Pituitary 2002;5(1):5-10. PubMed.
  • [10] The Rat Guide. “Megacolon.” link.
  • [11] The Rat Guide. “Ulcerative Pododermatitis (bumblefoot).” link.
  • [12] The Rat Guide. “Ectoparasites (mites and lice).” link.
  • [13] Hotchkiss CE. “Effect of surgical removal of subcutaneous tumors on survival of rats.” JAVMA 1995;206(10):1575-1579. PubMed.
  • [14] Planas-Silva MD, Rutherford TM, Stone MC. “Prevention of age-related spontaneous mammary tumors in outbred rats by late ovariectomy.” Cancer Detection and Prevention 2008;32(1):65-71. PubMed.