Questions about Rats and Porphyrin.

Question

I recently bought two rats from a breeder, and when I bathed them yesterday, the older came out fine, a little annoyed of course, but dry and clean. The younger had a little Porphyrin stained around his nose, which I hadn't seen before then, and just a tiny bit today as well. They also had been doing a bit of dominance wrestling last night and he was loosing, so I'm wondering if all of that is just attributed to stress? He doesn't sneeze or exhibit any other signs of illness, he eats, run around, begs to be held, and kisses everyone and is normal other than these occurances.

Answer 1

Sounds like stress, to me.

Bathing can certainly be a stressful experience, so I'd almost definitely attribute it to that. Different rats will react differently. Your younger fellow might just be a bit more high strung than the older.

I would just keep an eye on him and if anything else should crop up bring him to the vet for a check. And I'd also watch to make sure the wrestling isn't getting too out of hand. But at this point, it just sounds like he's a bit stressed, especially since it's just little bits of it. That will happen from time to time.