New Mommy - Rat was abandoned

[G~Wolf]

Hi everyone, I'm a new member with a couple of questions.
I rescued an abandoned rat today (I work in a pet store and a lady brought it in)
She found the poor little girl under her car - soaking wet from the rain storm we had today.
I have a little experience with rats, so I told the lady I would take care of her.

At first glance, she seemed in okay shape, but upon closer examination, I found that
she's thin, dehydrated, has no top teeth (broken?) and she's filthy with dirt and grease from the car.
She's very tame, young, and was obviously somebody's pet at one time.
I gave her some food and water, and she dove right in, poor thing must have been starving.

Since I plan on keeping her, I'm calling my vet tomorrow to get her checked out.
But until then, I at least wanted to get her cleaned up and give her some yummy treats.
I used the search option and read that Dawn dish soap can be used to bathe her -
which I think would work since she has grease on her.

But my question is 1) Should I wait until tomorrow to give her a bath? She's been quietly 'de-stressing'
in a cardboard carrier since I brought her home. (about 4 hours ago)
I don't want to traumatize her even more.

And 2) I have no fruits or veggies in my fridge right now, is a little bit of peanut butter toast ok?

Thanks for any help... I just want to get her healthy again!

[Ratlovingkippy06]

welcome

 first do not give her peanut butter she can choke on it. Peanut flavor stuff is fine but not peanut butter by its self. Baby food is the first thing i thought of when i saw that she had no teeth along with soften rat pellets.  Cleaning her is a big step and very stressful on any rat. I would just use water with a towel to try and clean her up a bit. A full bath can be way to stressful for even my own rats and some rats have been known to have heart attacks. I would set her up, give her some nice soft food, pasta is a big fav along with chicken. The love meats and pasta and its good for them too

[G~Wolf]

Thank you for your reply!
She seems to be able to eat the softer things in her food, like seeds (no shells) and raisins. But I will buy baby food anyway, I'm sure it has a lot of nutrition in it that she could use right now.

Will a wet towel clean the grease off of her? She has a lot of dusty grime down through her coat, too. I don't want to rub too hard and freak her out.

[Ratlovingkippy06]

i really would wait to see what the vet will say, i know it can come out but you don't want to put too much stress on her.


Basic care on rats; ( my personal experience and opinion)

 Food: avoid seed formulas at all cost a few seed here and there as treats is okay but for a main diet they are very bad for them. What pet store do you work at? Mazuri pellets are the best in stores and Kim's ark sells the best brand on the market.  Meats, pasta, oatmeal ( dry or cooked) are loved by my rats.

bedding: depending on where you are  my top beddings are  Sunseed's new bedding;  Aspen, Yesterdays news. Carefresh is okay but not on my list of things to get in less i am at petco.

 Cage: Martin cages are very good and some Super pet cages like the my first home for exotics i do like as well but if your going for something small the Rat manor at petco or a martin cage would be my first choice.

 www.Martincages.com
WWW.Petco.com

 A friend?
All rats are very social and should never live alone. There are some cases that an owner has no choice due to aggression/ health problems but for almost every rat they should be in pairs or small groups. ( 2-3)


 I hope this helps, i know its a little stressful right now but i work at a pet store and vet office so i do many animals left on the door step and i am happy you found a new friend.

Good luck and if you have any questions  just ask

[G~Wolf]

Thanks for the info, and yes, you are right about the seed mix. I just grabbed a handful of what we had at the store (Petsmart) to get her through the night. When I had rats before, I fed them Mazuri with some Reggie Rat and Nutro lamb and rice mixed in. (plus anything else off my plate they felt like grabbing, lol)
I just didn't want to give my new little one anything she wouldn't be able to chew...

I have Carefresh in with her now (again, grabbed what we had open) but I want to put aspen in her cage - I get that tomorrow... And as soon as she has a clean bill of health, I'd like very much to give her a playmate. Kinda like potato chips, can never have just one, lol.
I know I'm not very prepared, but she basically got dropped into my lap and it's been 5 years since I kept rats.

I'm hoping with the help of my vet and the experienced members of this board, she will be right as rain in no time. Thanks, everyone.

[Ratlovingkippy06]

im sure she will be fine with some TLC. I also work at petsmart ( Chicago) and have seen many animals come trhough the door or drop in front of it 

 carefresh is fine i just like sunseeds bedding so much more because of the amount of animals i have.

good luck with your girl and i hope to see some pictures soon

[lilspaz68]

I wouldn't give your little girl a bath at this point (people only use dawn for severe buck grease in males) but the norm is tear free formulas of baby shampoo, puppy/kitten shampoo, etc.  But since she was exposed to the elements and obviously some horrible trauma the bath might stress her immune system and she could develop a URI (upper respiratory infection).  Rats will clean themselves up over time especially if they are in a clean environment.  I have taken in plenty of neglected rats and you normally do not need to bathe them.

For foods for her poor mouth and to build her strength back up, you could use baby cereal, baby food, and Ensure (lots of nutrients and very tasty...my crew insist on strawberry), softer veggies, pasta, etc.  You could get Mazuri blocks and soften them with water and Ensure and make a nice nutritious mush.  Reggie rat is considered crap in the rat world so I wouldn't use it or a seed mix in your staple diet.

The baby food (veggie) will be fine for her veggies for awhile.

I would advise a trip to a rat vet soon to look at those teeth or non-teeth.  If they are broken she might need pain meds/anti-inflammatories and an antibiotic.  She also will probably need her existing incisors trimmed until the missing ones have grown right back in, as rat's teeth aligned properly keep the others ground down, but if there are no teeth to grind against then the others will just grow fast and need trims.

I use aspen or fleece bedding myself, harlan teklad (you can order it online and its considered the best of the lab blocks).
Make sure your wee girl has a hammock as well, so she can lounge in comfort after her ordeals

I am glad she made it into your hands. 

[hairless_love]

I also wanted to suggest that you grab some Ensure when you go get baby food. She can lap that up easily and it will help put some weight on her.

Good luck...let us know how the vet trip goes!