Giving Rats A Bath

Most rats, like cats, do not enjoy getting dunked into a tub of water. There are a few good reasons why you may want to consider giving your pet rat a bath. If they get into something sticky that they didn't remove from their fur that you do not want them ingesting at the end of the day. Or maybe it is just the end of the week, and they need a weekly cleaning to make their fur soft and fresh smelling after lying a wet,soaked spot in their bedding. Then again perhaps it is for medical reasons (eg. skin conditions), the animal is aged and cannot groom themselves well, or a buck has too much of the natural oily orange hormonal discharge common on bucks for your taste. Other reasons include getting ready for a rat show, overheating from being in the sun to cool off, or a rare instance that it actually enjoys the experiences. Since all rats have different personalities and individual preference this method may not work best for your rat. But most rats will tolerate it. First you are going to need to fill your sink with very warm water. Clear the area of any clutter and place a towel for drying and shampooing using either a tear-free baby or kitten shampoo. You may wear protective clothing if desired as you will get wet and possibly scratched if you do not handle the rat carefully. Grab the waiting vermin and dunk him or her down into the water up to the neck gently splashing the water onto their face. Lift the rat up with both hands and run the palm firmly over the body of the rat to work out the water. A slight wringing action may be used - just don't squeeze too hard. Apply a small amount of shampoo and lather into their pelt and dunk back into the water and remove as much shampoo from the rat as you can. Next remove rat from the water and wring out in the step explained above and then place on the towel to gently dry off. Talk to them and tell them how much you love them while they glare at you with those big bulging eyes. Allow them to dry naturally in a comfortable room environment. When completed you should offer all washed rats treats such as yogurt drops for being good.

You should try and remember to work quickly so that their is less stress on the rats. When the shampoo clean smell takes over from rat smell after the bath, your alpha may feel the need to reassert himself by rubbing against and urinated on his regular spot. He might also be seen as appearing puffy or hopping madly about for a short time. This is just an adjustment reaction and is not a cause of trouble. As part of their upkeep, you may also want to keep their toenails clipped frequently. Talk calmly to them and expect some squirming while this is going on. Cutting and trimming rat nails is not as hard as it may seem with some practice. It helps to have an assistant until you become good at doing
this yourself. If needed have your assistant hold the rat while you use regular human nail clippers to trim the nails. The person holding the rat should hold each limb out for clipping one at a time while you (doing the cutting of the nails) should only cut the white tip off not going past the "quick" or pink part as you would do with your own nails. This should be done before a bath if possible. Now repeat the first step and trim all of the nails on each hand or foot. Be sure to reward the rat with a treat after the clippings. If you do cut past the quick and the rat is bleeding, take a tissue and apply gentle pressure to the nail until the blood stops. If the blood does not stop after 5 minutes, keep pressure on the wounded nail and take the rat to the nearest emergency vet. Although they
generally do not look forward to these grooming practices, regular nail trimming and bathing may make your pet rat more acceptable to being interactive with other people. It is natural for the rat, like many other kinds of animals, to protract these nails when they feel off-balanced or in danger of falling. Therefore keeping the nails trimmed can eliminate one of the bigger problems of having a pet rat for a child/children since their otherwise make excellent pets.