My jumbo rat lost allot Of weight , very quickly, WHY?

Question

Hi, I have had 24 rats at one time, so am very expierienced with them! This is boggling me though! The 2 That shar 1 cage Are Ricky and Shibby. Shibby Being Ricky's father. About 3 months ago Ricky died suddenly, he was about 1 year old. We never replaced him with a new ffriend and ever since that 3 month period my very FAT rat has lost all his weight. I can feel his spine , ribs , ect..... My cousin's husband is a veternarian so I have been thru the process of all that ... Basicallly we are aware that it could be cancer, respitory stuff but is it possible that he could be dieing from a broken heart because he has no cage friend? He is eating the same if not more b/c no one lives with him now....The vet can do nothing!!!! Any Reasons Or Thoughts on why or what could be going on...

Answer 1

I had a very bonded pair of Hairless rats. When Delilah passed away suddenly due to an unknown illness, her cagemate Samson went downhill. I tried introducing a new cagemate, but he wanted nothing to do with them. He passed away only a few months later.

So, from experience, I do believe they can die from ''a broken heart''/depression due to loss of a bonded cage mate.

Socialize with him a lot, try to have him with you whenever you can to make up for the lack of a cagemate. Try to introduce him to your other male rats (if you have any at the moment) to see if it'll bring him out of his depression.

Do what you can, and I hope it works.

Answer 2

why rats? theyre disgusting little gross rodents. and why on earth do you have a jumbo rat?

Answer 3

if a vet doesn't know what it is then i guess u can't really do any thing

24 RATS! :0

Answer 4

He could be just very stressed out because his son died. But as you said it could be cancer.... Hope he gets better!

Answer 5

its lonely- it misses Ricky =( maybe you should get a friendly rat