Rat First Aid Kit
While having a good vet for your rats is invaluable, its also a good idea to stock a first aid kit for your rats at home. This first aid kit is not replacement for vet help, but can be very useful in an emergency and can even save you some vet trips on the simpler injuries. Below you will find information on everything you need to stock a basic rat first aid kit, and dosing for the medication mentioned can be found on the medication dosing charts page.
I have broken down my rat first aid kit into the 3 essential parts. First is physical items, next medications, and finally supportive care. Finally you have the optional section, with items that can be helpful, but are not part of a typical rat first aid kit:
Physical Items:
Kitchen Scale (weighs in grams):
In order to keep track of your rats weight, and in order to properly dose them with medication, you will need a scale that can weigh in grams. I recommend a cheap kitchen scale, which can be found in most stores or online here. |
1 mL Syringes
Rats require very small doses of medications, ones which are often well under 1 mL. As such in order to dose them accurately you will need some 1 mL syringes. These can be found at your local pharmacy, or online here. |
Snuggle Safe
When a rat is sick their body temperature can dip, and this is a serious problem and can be life threatening. Because rats are such chewing based animals, corded heating pads can be dangerous, and as such its much safer to use something like the snuggle safe. This reusable heating pad can be microwaved for a few minutes and then stays warm for up to 10 hours at a time. You can find the snuggle safe here. |
Vet Wrap/Sterile Gauze
Vet wrap is used to to wrap up your rat if they injure themselves in a major way. its also used to prevent the rats from picking at surgery sites. Vet wrap can be found for sale here. Sterile gauze is used to prevent the wound from coming into direct contact with the outside wrap. Gauze can be found for sale here. |
Medical Tape
Medical tape is used to keep any wrapped bandage on your rat in place. unlike normal tape it peels off gently and easily. Medical tape can be found for sale here. |
Rat-Proof Carrier
When taking your rat(s) to the vet it is essential to have a rat proof carrier. This carrier should have 1/2 inch bar spacing (preventing escapes and providing airflow), and should be large enough for at least 2-3 rats to travel in temporarily. As a bonus this carrier can be used for collecting new rats, or even doing certain intro methods. The carrier shown here is one of my favorites, and can be found here. |
Small 1-Level Cage
Its a good idea to have a smaller one level cage to keep ill rats in if they have to be separated from the group. While most rat illnesses do not require separation, occasionally something like surgery or a bad sprain will require the rat to not move around much for a few days and during this time it helps to keep them in a small one level cage that prevents accidental re-injury. On top of this you can use this small cage to quarantine new rats, or to assist with certain intro methods. This small cage can be a bin cage your make yourself, or something like the small cage shown here. |
Medications:
Children's Motrin (Berry Flavor)
Children's Motrin is the primary OTC pain management and anti-inflammatory used for rats. It is very effective for treating sprains and general pain management. Motrin should not be used on rats with bleeding disorders or with other blood thinning medications, so keep that in mind. It can be found at most pharmacies along with online here. |
Children's Tylenol (Cherry Flavor)
Children's Tylenol is the alternative to Children's Motrin when it comes to OTC rat pain management and anti-inflammatories. Unlike Motrin it can be used on rats with bleeding disorders, along with medicines that act as blood thinners. As such its a good idea to have some in your first aid kit, and it can be found in most pharmacies along with online here. |
Enrofloxacin/Baytril 10%
Enrofloxacin or as its more commonly known Baytril is a broad-spectrum antibiotic and the most commonly used antibiotic to treat respiratory infections in rats. It is also used to treat urinary tract infections, along with soft tissue infections, and is often combined with doxycycline or amoxicillin to increase recovery chances. Enrofloxacin can be found for sale here. |
Doxycycline 20% (or Doxyvet)
Doxycycline is a antibiotic commonly used to treat rat respiratory infections, including the associated infections such as ear infections or myco flare-ups. Its most commonly used in combination with Baytril in order to increase the chance of recovery. Doxyvet can be found for sale here. |
Amoxicillin
Amoxicillin is a broad-spectrum antibiotic used to treat many rat infections. These include systematic infections, UTI's (urinary tract infections), skin infections, abscesses, and secondary respiratory infections. it can be combined with other antibiotics such as Baytril in order to increase their effectiveness. You can find amoxicillin for sale in most pet stores as "fish mox", or be found online here. |
Cat/Kitten Revolution
Cat/kitten revolution is the best parasite medicine available for rats. Unlike other parasite medicines it has no harmful side effects, and is extremely hard to overdose. Revolution can be found for sale here. |
Terramycin Ointment
This ointment is great to have around in the case of rat eye infections. its especially helpful if you have hairless or double rex rats, as they tend to be prone to eye issues. You can find it for sale here. |
Vetericyn Spray (better than blue kote)
Vetericyn Spray is a great way to help shallow wounds heal up, and is especially helpful for rats with the notorious foot infection known as bumble-foot (which is caused by a bacteria, NOT wire bars). You can find vet spray for sale here. |
Children's Benadryl (Cherry Flavor)
Children's Benadryl is a good way to treat rats with respiratory irritation due to allergies. Children's Benadryl can be found for sale here. |
Supportive Care:
Beneback
Giving your rat Benebac a few hours after antibiotics is a good way to replenish their gut flora and prevent the stomach upset which can come with antibiotic treatment. Be sure to wait a few hours to administer it, as giving it too soon after antibiotics will lessen their effectiveness. Benebac can be found for sale here. |
Sterile Saline
Sterile saline is useful to have at home in case you need to flush a rats wound or abscess. You can also make this at home yourself, however in a pinch it helps to have a few bottles ready to go. you can find sterile saline for sale here. |
Curved Tip Syringes
Curved tip syringes are useful for flushing out a rats wound or abscess with sterile saline. These allow you to flush the wound in a way that normal syringes do not. You can find curved tip syringes for sale here. |
Ensure (strawberry works best)
Ensure is a human nutrients drink that is often sold for struggling kids or elderly. It also works well at helping struggling rats gain weight, and its yummy taste makes it ideal for covering up the taste of gross medicines. Ensure alone is not enough to support a rat that otherwise isn't eating, however it can be added to mushed lab blocks or soy infant formula to help encourage the rats to eat more while adding some additional calories to the mix. Its also a good way to ensure sick rats stay hydrated, which is a huge worry if they are too ill to eat. You can find ensure in most grocery stores, or online here (my rats preferred flavor is strawberry). As a side note meat baby food is another great way to flavor rat medicine, and can also be added to mashed up lab blocks to encourage ill rats to eat more. Meat baby food comes in a variety of flavors and can be found in most grocery stores, or online here. |
Soy Infant Formula (powdered)
Soy infant formula is made for human babies, however because rat nutrients closely mirrors our own it is also ideal for rats. if you have a sick rat that ether isn't eating or has trouble eating then soy infant formula can encourage them to eat, and if they can't consume food themselves its easy enough to syringe feed to them. It also helps to ensure sick rats stay hydrated, which can be an even bigger worry than food. You can find soy infant formula in most grocery stores, or online here. |
Carnivore Care
Carnivore care is the equivalent to herbivore care for animals that also consume meat (such as rats). Unlike herbivore care which mainly contains grasses (which rats can't derive nutrients from), carnivore care contains mostly egg and chicken, things that rats can easily digest and often enjoy consuming. Carnivore care is great for ill rats or underweight rats, and you can find it for sale here. |
Nail clippers
While cutting your rats nails is usually not necessary, old or ill rats may not move around enough to keep their nails trim and they may start to grow too much and curl over. If this starts to happen you will need to trim their nails, and the easiest way to do so is by using small animal pet clippers, which you can find here. |
Coconut Oil
Coconut oil is a great way to ensure your rats skin doesn't dry out, along with a good way to encourage grooming. You don't want to over-use it, but if your rat seems to have some dry skin applying some coconut oil is a good way to help them. You can find coconut oil for sale here. Dosing charts (best to print these out for emergencies)/Local vet numbers
While medical charts and vet information can be found online, in an emergency it helps to have it all printed out on paper. Dosing charts for common medicines can be found here. |
Clean Towel/Paper Towel
Having clean towels or paper towels in your first aid kit allows you to both clean up any accidental messes right away, and to comfort your sick rat. Sometimes ill rats won't want to eat out in the open, but by letting them snuggle under a towel you can convince them to be more open to eating or taking their medicine. Flavoring Syrup
One thing that's helpful for medicating rats is to have a fairly strong tasting syrup that can be mixed in to make medicating easier. You can use coffee syrup for this, or something like chocolate syrup. My go to when mixing has either been ensure (mentioned above on this page), or nesquik strawberry or chocolate syrup. You can buy this in most grocery stores, or find it online here. |
Optional:
Nebulizer
Nebulizers are a great thing to have for rats with chronic respiratory issues. These allow you to give your rats certain medications via inhalation, getting rid of the stress and struggle of forcing medications on very sick rats. The medicines needed for nebulizers are prescription only though so keep that in mind (saline solution for them can be bought online however)- most rats also don't enjoy being confined while the (fairly loud) nebulizer is nearby, so I've found its only really worth the stress for super ill rats. Do note that you can buy a portable version of a nebulizer for much cheaper than the large version that is much quieter, but may not work as well in some cases. |
Saline Nebulizer Solution
Saline solution is necessary to work a nebulizer and so if you plan on buying one you will want to buy the necessary saline as well. |
Disclosure: Esther (and her site rattrix.weebly.com) is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com