Very Sick Rat--Need Help

[Bellabob]

I have a breeder female rat that isn't doing too good. I noticed she wasn't moving much, has a bunch of red goop around her eyes (porphyrin) and is not active at all. She also has some yellowish gunk around her anus (I'm thinking diarrhea). She is also is dehydrated (I pinched her skin, let it go, and it doesn't snap back into place). Since she is dehydrated I've been giving her warm water mixed with a bit of sugar and salt through a syringe. She's been lapping it up like crazy. She ate a bit of solid food (not much). But I also been hearing very loud clicking noises from her (it sounds like when you put your finger nail under another finger nail and moving them up and down, making the "click click" noise). She also seems off balance. She continues to clean herself like a normal rat does, and lays in awkward positions.

What's wrong with her? She's getting hydrated (when I pull back her skin it pops back into place pretty quickly, but not as quickly as I would like). Does she need a vet? Is there anything else I can do for her? I've QT'd her away from the other rats, and I've done an inspection on the other rats as well. They are all fine and acting like normal rats; eating, drinking, etc.

I'm very concerned, and if she needs to be euthanized I will, but I would like to know how and if I can treat her.

Thanks.

[aldebono]

Sounds like a pretty bad infection. If it was a feeder/breeder, I personally would humanely euthanize.
Antibiotics take about 3 days to really see an improvement, I would be afraid that she would die before the antibiotics take effect.

I'm sorry. I have pet rats too and it's hard.

[snakesRkewl]

Once they click they are ready to be euthanized, there's not much at that point that can be done.
Sorry, I've lost more than a few over the years to myco/URI, their poor immune systems are just not the strongest

[Bellabob]

Once they click they are ready to be euthanized, there's not much at that point that can be done.
Sorry, I've lost more than a few over the years to myco/URI, their poor immune systems are just not the strongest

Okay I'll pick up some dry ice tomorrow. Thank you.

[Bellabob]

I couldn't stand to see her suffer any longer so I ran to wal-mart and bought some CO2. I just euthanized her maybe 30 minutes ago. But I have a quesiton. Is what she had contagious to other rats? The last thing I need is a crap ton of rats getting what she had.

[aldebono]

Usually it is not contagious unless it is a virus or outside bacteria. If you haven't added any new stock recently, that shouldn't be an issue.

Normally if one is sick, something has happened with them to cause stress and a compromised immune system to start. The others will probably be fine, but if you hear sneezing, go ahead and medicate.

[Gene Collins]

This is exactly what one of my feeders was doing. I just euthanized him this afternoon. Luckily mine was not a breeder though, just a feeder. I still felt horrible having to kill it but I could tell it was suffering.