Pet Rat Remedies

Hey Mia!

You would probably use it in the same way you would for a flea bath. You start at the nose and use a cotton ball dipped in a diluted vinegar solution to saturate the fur down to the skin, taking care around the eyes. Once you get the head and ears completely saturate down to the skin and work your way down the neck, you can then dunk the body; if you do this over a sink just fill the sink with a few inches of warm water and vinegar solution. You might find it just as effective to dunk the body in a mild solution of dish soap which will cause the fleas to drown. Rinse well and finish with a diluted vinegar rinse - 1 part of vinegar to 10 parts of water, to help restore the PH of the skin from the dish soap.

Hey Iwanrat,

To dose your rat, add 1/8 tsp to 1 litre of water and then use that solution to fill your rats drinking bottle or water bowl. You may have to experiment - 3 days boosted water then 3 days plain water, on and off to get results.

Borax is poisonous to rats. I would like to see the link you have that says it helps please. all I have read about borax and rats is that it is poison

Freda,

Boric acid is poisonous to rats and many other critters. Borax, when diluted as discussed, is safe.

Thank you for the answer.

Have you ever used that this way for rats? Or maybe you know anybody who had? With what effect?

Dose 1/8 tbp is made for humans.

All of respiratory diseases are dangerous and they need to be cured right way and need to be cured fast with a right dose.

I don't know how much my rat can drink so I do not have any control of amount of borax my rat takes. He can drink more or less.

So this is a reason I think that kind of cure is not enough.

Do you or anybody knows which dose is safe and strong enough to help my rat? How often should he take this?

I can't find safe dose for rats. The only dose I found is the dangerous one LD50. I found about boron but not about borax. Does anybody know?

Thanks in the name of all lovely Rats!!!

Hello Iwanrat,

You seem very uncomfortable with the borax remedy, so my advice for you is to NOT use it. I urge you to consider a veterinarian who has experience in prescribing medications to small rodents. If you are unable to afford a vet, you might consider upping the vitamin C your rattie is consuming. You might also consider manuka honey which for some has worked like dosing with an antibiotic. Another remedy that has antimicrobial properties is colloidal silver. It is important to keep your rattie warm and in a clean, dust free environment. If your air is very dry you might also consider a humidifier in the room where the rat is kept. Good luck and please report back!

Studies on rats have shown the cordyceps mushroom to be effective against mycoplasma.

Castor oil is pretty gentle. I don't think it needs to be diluted.

Your advice about goldenrod tea sounds helpful. My 2 year old boy has had respiratory infection his whole life and it's worsening by the day. I have tried many medications with no success. How much water do you steep the tbsp of tea in? Could I just drop it straight onto bread for him to eat? - Thank you :)

Hi, I have 2 rats I got them from pets at home at the rescue section because they where born with respiratory they are now 3 and one of them is breathing heavy. I took him back to pets at home because they have a vet there and she gave me baytril and said he has lower respiratory infection he has now been on it for a moth and made a brilliant improvement at the start but now has stopped improving and now breathing heavily again so touch him back to the vets and she said to try a bit longer but if this doesn't work I will have to think about what quality of life he has and might have to put him to sleep. I thought she would give me the option of trying another medication but she did not. He is still happy and giving me lots of lovely cudgels he is still eating and drinking. Have any of you got information or can help thanks? xx

I have never had rats but this is what I would do: a teaspoon of Apple Cider Vinegar with the mother diluted in drinking water and a couple of drops of colloidal silver and syringe gently into throat. Good luck. Please report back. Interested how you get on.

Colloidal silver is very good, grapefruit seed extract-dilute very strong taste, garlic, oregano, all these have antiviral, antibacterial and antifungal properties you should be able to find dosages on a natural remedy for pets/rats site, or if you cant find get back to me. I will check my email. Also mullien(an herb), 2 herbal teas that are good are Breath Easy by Traditional Medicinals or a mexican tea that does have mullien in it- Broncolin Tea imported and distributed by Midway Importing, Inc. in Houston, Texas.I use oregano essential oil internally keeps me from getting sick or sicker with chest congestion/coughs, but I'm not sure about using in internally on such a small animal. I dilute it with olive oil for myself and young grandkid's.You may also try using oil water and steam it.Hope this helps, I love my Ratties too.Oh one more thing probiotics-good for fungal problem's which could be in the lung's.

Hey Brayden,

My PROVEN advice would be to take your rattie to the vet for a proper diagnosis; a vet could listen with a stethoscope and let you know if your rat had a URI and provide the proper antibiotics - and also let you know how contagious it might be for your other rattie.

That said, if your pockets are to let, then you might try several things.

First, make sure your rats quarters are clean, with proper air ventilation; if you have them in an aquarium that is a big part of the problem. If you have them on shavings, get them off and use news paper or fabric as pan liner and bedding and keep it super clean. Make sure your rats are not in any draft, and are warm. A friend if mine uses coffee cans with holes cut out in the lids for beds for her ratties and when the cans get fouled she tosses them out and uses a new one. So get your husbandry on board and make sure your ratties are housed properly in clean, warm, ventilated and draft free quarters.

Next, make sure you are feeding them good stuff! The rat diets out there can be good, pellets are a complete diet although boring. So supplement with good stuff, rat sized portions of fruits and veggies. In addition make sure their water is fresh and clean and available at all times; this means water bottles should be cleaned/disinfected and refilled daily, not just when the bottle is empty. You can help boost your ratties immune system with things like Vitamin C or echinacea - easy to come by and inexpensive. I might dose by grinding up the vitamin C [500mg pill] and mixing it into 1 tablespoon of cream cheese and then rolling that into 5 equal balls and then offering to your rats - they will consume what they wish, and that might be the best way to dose them. Vitamin C is water soluble and excess is gotten rid of in the feces; they may have loose stools from too much vitamin C; if you see runny stools roll 10 balls and try that; you cannot OD on vitamin C. For the echinacea, a 400 mg pill mixed into 1 tablespoon of cream cheese and rolled into 8 small balls and offer 1 ball to each rat and dose am and pm - and if they only eat part of it, that is OK. If you want dosing info on colloidal silver read up on the pages in EC please.

Good luck and please report back!

Hi there, try putting a drop of the 35 % FOOD GRADE HYDROGEN PEROXIDE in PET MILK. ( I am treating my cat this way-she was severely jaundiced to the extent she had turned yellow, skin, eyeballs, inside ears etc. She was just skin and bones, barely eating and very, very sick. Urine was dark brown, ( bilirubin-liver problems) Vet diagnosed either pancreatic tumours or lymphoma- no treatment other than palliative care, then euthanasia!

I wanted to treat her with the hydrogen peroxide therapy, but was unsure how to get her to drink enough water with the peroxide in it to benefit.

I went back to the EBOOK ( THE ONE MINUTE CURE- by MADISON CAVANNAGH) and it said ( for humans) to take the drops in milk , if you found it too unpalatable in just water.

So I put I put one drop FOOD GRADE 35% HYDROGEN PEROXIDE into a bowl of VITAPET , PET MILK ( lactose free). Gave this 3x a day on an empty stomach. ( wait one hour before giving any food) CAT DRANK IT UP NO PROBLEM!

Within 2 days, the urine had started to clear, within 7 days, the urine was completely clear. NB- this therapy seems to cause more than normal urination, which I guess is the body detoxing. So have extra litter boxes on hand. Iam changing litter boxes about 10 times a day.

Cat has a new lease on life, has a spark again in her eyes! Has resumed normal eating and is completely turned around. She continues to improve, I have been treating her for 3 weeks now on this therapy, Iam pretty sure, without this therapy, she would now be dead. I know how ill she was, which is very, very different to how she is now.

(I also put a drop of the hydrogen peroxide in her drinking water. I use PURE DEW water ( N.Z)

The hydrogen peroxide should be put in DISTILLED WATER- not chlorinated tap water, or mineral water or spring water. PURE DEW BRAND is the only water in N. Z that I found to be distilled. Available from WOOLWORTHS and COUNTDOWN - N. Z in 10 litre containers. $6.38 N.Z.

As an adjunct to this therapy, I am also giving her tincture of MILKTHISTLE ( GREENRIDGE) to repair her liver. ( This alcohol content has to be evaporated off , to be safe for cats. Place bottle of tincture-( lid off )in a double boiler and let pot boil for 20 mins. Let cool and replace the amount that has evaporated in bottle with distilled water. Keep now in the fridge. Dosage 5 drops x 3 times a day. ( either mix in food or place under the tongue with the eyedropper. ) under the tongue method does cause some drooling.

I also mix about ONE EIGHTH TEASPOON ORGANIC TURMERIC POWDER into her food ( for liver detox) and also half a 400mg capsule of CAMU CAMU 4:1 EXTRACT - DOCTORS BEST brand , available from iherb. com for VITIMIN C ( vitimin C helps the bodies own production of HYDROGEN PEROXIDE)

I will continue to treat her this way, for at least 60 days- only reference I could find was on rats, whose tumours disappeared after 15-60 days, after the hydrogen peroxide was put in their drinking water.

Further to my original post of treating my cat with 35% food grade hydrogen peroxide - I believe this therapy works, I saw a dramatic turn around in my cat once I implemented a regime of 1 drop x 3 daily in PET MILK. The jaundice cleared up entirely within a week and cat did well. I believe that at the time I started this therapy, my cat had only a very short time left to live, probably only a week at most. I continued this regime for 9 weeks, unfortunately the cat also tried to heal herself by fasting ( animals will instinctively fast to heal themselves)

during these periods of fasting which lasted about a week each time, my cat lost all body fat and was just skin and bones, cat also declined to drink the 3 x petmilk bowls a day with the 1 drop peroxide in each bowl, so did not get enough peroxide in her system to keep the jaundice under control. I was very dismayed to see the jaundice returning. With her dramatic weight loss, it became very evident the size of the tumour inside her, which could be seen as a very large mass in her under carriage. The tumour I estimated to be about the size of a large orange. I changed tactics and started to put 2 drops of the peroxide into her drinking water ( using distilled water), she did not drink a whole bowl of water at any time, so the concentration had to be higher - hence upping to 2 drops instead of one. I refreshed her bowl of water several times during the day, discarding the water left in the bowl and giving fresh distilled water and 2 drops of peroxide, so she was getting active peroxide each time she drank. I also offered the bowl of pet milk with peroxide in it. At this 9 week stage, For some reason she rejected the milk most times, sometimes she would drink the bowl, but more often only a few laps or not at all. I knew she was not getting enough peroxide as the jaundice was returning. So I decided to make up a 3 % diluted solution of the hydrogen peroxide to spray directly onto the tumour. My theory being the skin would absorb the peroxide straight into the tumor( there was no body fat left only skin stretched over a very large tumour. The tumour could be felt as a hard mass. I sprayed the tumour 3 or 4 times a day. ( keeping the solution in a spray bottle in the fridge to keep it active) after 5 days of this regime, the tumour felt softer, had a slightly squishy feel to it and was noticeably smaller in size. DAY 6 - tumour had shrunk to the size of a mandarin. DAY 7 - tumour had shrunk to the size of a smallish button mushroom. DAY 7 - evening, my cat was very hot and floppy and was having trouble breathing, I managed to revive her , but she had a very restless night and again had trouble breathing the next morning and died later that afternoon.

I examined her body after her death ( DAY 8) and could find no tumour what so ever, it had completely gone.

Even though my cat died, I believe the hydrogen peroxide killed the tumour, but her body, in its severely weakened state ( she in effect was starving to death) could not handle the by products of tumour break down and it overwhelmed her organs causing death. Had I known about hydrogen peroxide earlier and begun treatment earlier , I truly believe she would have beaten the cancer and lived.

In hindsight, I think she had been ill for a very long time, I knew something was not right with her, but I did not know what. For want of a better word, she seemed DULL- NO PEP, NO VITALITY, not vibrant and full of life, like the other cats in the household. She was a long haired cat and was always an overgroomer and would literally vomit nearly every day. This I put down to over grooming as she would spit up huge hair logs, but on reflection now, all that vomiting was not normal and I have since read that vomiting in cats is a sign of cancer.

I have photographs of the size of her tumour and photos of its regression and would be happy to share these with anyone interested.

Blessings to all animal lovers. Gail

Thanks so much for all that detail.

My lovely cat has been diagnosed with jaundice and I'm presently trying to get antibiotics into her without much luck. Some are sneaking in but not anywhere near the prescribed dose.

I'm told she has inflammation of the liver, possible infection or worse.

That said she's in good form, eating well, even playing a little although she has lost a lot of weight.

I'm hoping it's quite early so I'll start the hydrogen peroxide and milk thistle as soon as I can get into a health food shop. I can also try the turmeric but she's very sensitive to smell (like all cats) and rejects almost all my attempts to hide the antibiotics in food. I've tried cat food, lactose-free milk and beef.

I really appreciate the time you've taken to give that information. It helps a lot. Sorry you lost your cat - it's not for want of caring.

Daniele

Hi, I'm beginning the peroxide therapy for my ratties. I have fg 12%. I was wondering if anyone knew the proper dosage?

What is EVOO and VCO?

What is GSE?

Have you ever dealt with an inner ear infection, and treated it naturally? btw, thanks for all the great tips, it's so hard to find natural remedies for rats online.

Hi I'm from the uk..I've got boy rats that seem to have encountered some wounds, tail and toe... I've read your blog on hydrogen peroxide...how much should I mix with distilled water? is there anything else that I could use.. thank you, Gloria

Hey Gloria!

You can use 3% hydrogen peroxide as a topical disinfectant - pour on straight or mix 50/50 with water.

You might also consider feeding your boys some vitamin C - either childrens type that tastes good, or in vitamin C rich foods like orange or citrus. Super healthy foods include broccoli, parsley and kale. Also consider turmeric -antiseptic and healing properties - from your spice cabinet; sprinkle a good shake into a teaspoon of peanut butter and mix well and see if they will take that.

Keep them on clean bedding and separate if need be, to give the wounds a chance to heal.

Hi, I have two Rats both suffer from upper respiratory infections. Every couple months one or both get it. My Vet gives them antibiotics but it costs a fortune! Is there a holistic way to treat and prevent. Any help would be appreciated? Brenda

reply to Brenda and her two rats --- read up on EC the Bill Munro Hydrogen Peroxyde inhalation method. You may need a nebulizer or humidifier. Ask at the pharm. I have to do it for my poor cats.

To add to my post, get off the antibiotics. Every time the immune system is beaten down until nothing works. I have seen it again and again. It is a precursor for super bugs and cancer. Be critical and do research under holistic research.

Namaste Om

Hey Brenda!

Chances are likely that your rattikins are suffering from Mycoplasma Chronic Pneumonia - see for more info: http://2ndchance.info/ratlover.htm

Ted has a suggested treatment with Borax and/or hydrogen peroxide:

Borax remedy is 1/8 tsp mixed in 1 liter of drinking water. Hydrogen peroxide uses the 3% solution, one capful is mixed in 1 liter of drinking water.

Read the full scope of remedies on EC:

http://ted.earthclinic.com/cures/mycoplasma_fermentans.html

I have to add, that a clean environment with proper ventilation, with proper bedding - no pine shavings or the like - along with the proper temperature and diet are critical in keeping URI's at bay.

Good luck and please report back!

To the person who said to give your rats oranges. please do not do this. Orange juice is said to cause cancer in males rats. According to the Carcinogen Potency Project in Berkley, it was found that orange juice, specifically the d-limonene in orange juice, causes cancer in male rats.

My rat has multiple tumors. We had one removed a while back for 700.00 but can't do it again. I was wondering if baking g soda or evoo and honey of even Apple cider vinegar would help...anything you can tell me will be appreciated. Thanks

What's GSE stand for?

My rat has an infected and swollen eye. We took her to the vet and they suggested a topical antibiotic that was $70. We tried it for seven days and it made things significantly worse. I took her back and they want me to try two different oral medications that will cost about $80! Is there anything I can do here at home that might clear it up?

PS: They examined her actual eye ball and concluded that there was nothing wrong with it. The problem is in the tissue surrounding the eye.

You could bathe eye in salted warm water but for infection try collodial silver, 3x a day.

Do I apply the colloidal silver directly to her eye or does she take one drop orally?

Whitney, bathe the eye with silver.

Hello,

Try a warm saline compress over your rattie's eye twice a day.

I would also recommend a bit of castor oil on the eye twice daily - castor oil draws out infection. It's also great for abscesses, bumblefoot, mites etc.

Colloidal silver will also help. Grapefruit Seed Extract is something to consider too.

Big story, .... My female rat had a tumor removed five days ago. yesterday I noticed some yellow crust wound on her shaved skin but not on the surgery mark that had healed very well. Than this morning, we noticed that part of her tail started to look dead and black,,,, even look crooked. broken? bad circulation from surgery? reaction from vet's medication?

It's our favorite rat but we feel she is going trough a lot. she lost a lot of weight, so tiny and I was wondering how I could help her. I have images of the tail if it can help.

Hey Catherine,

Feel the black part of the tail - does it feel warm or cold? Warm = blood circulating, cold = that part of the tail is dead and may need to be amputated to prevent gangrene. A recheck at the vet may be in order. Other things that may help; offer super nutritious foods - there is a product in a tube called Nutrical that may help. A mixture of honey, ACV and molasses may be helpful. Rescue remedy given to all of you; lavender essential oil as a fragrance/aromatherapy may help calm everyone. Holding your rattikins on your chest with your hand over to keep her warm, and simply meditating peaceful, loving and healing thoughts may help - or try focusing your energy and visualizing healing can also help.

Coconut oil might help if this ever happens again (I realize my post is VERY late) I put it on my cats eye and it healed whereas the drops my vet gave me also made it worse. I'm a cat rescuer. Years earlier one of my boys was found with a badly infected eye- the vets drops made it so bad we had to get his eye removed- I would never use vet eye drops for my pets again. Coconut oil is anti fungal and doesn't harm eyes at all- I put it in my own when I had eye problems and castor oil - a drop in each eye is good for sight and cataracts- I've read that recently. Hope this helps anyone reading it :)

What is ACV stand for EVO extra virgin olive oil but whats EVOO two O's

Hey Dianna,

I'm a new mouse owner and I think my mouse has mites. Is apple cider vinegar mixed with water a safe solution that will help my mouse with her itchiness.