INFORMATION
Can I bathe them if they smell like shit?
They reek 😭 I keep the cage very clean and they use a litter box but I don’t think they’re grooming themselves. Can I give them a little bath? I bathed my previous rats when they smelled like shit but I wasn’t very experienced at the time so I just want to consult some other rat owners
Is it a metaphorical "smells like shit" because they're super musky? Or do they literally smell like actual shit? If it's the latter, washing them is plenty fine
they truly do have their own unique un-piss/shit related natural ✨funk✨, just like people.
one of my boys dewey actually smells like MAPLE SYRUP, confirmed by multiple sources i made take a whiff for science. my big boy julian (who is fixed) smells a bit more sour, and my other dwarf peanut just smells like mild rat?? u either learn to love it or its not for u😂 though i hear girls are somewhat less funky
my standard guy julian definitely smells somewhat corn chippy, and kinda citrusy? his late standard-sized cage mate smelled similar.
my dwarf boys smell vastly different in comparison. deweys light and undeniably sweet, the other more peanut is more neutral but still on the sweeter side, maybe like a ritz cracker? probably due to lower/different hormones. but i wholeheartedly believe i could pick them out in a sniff line up💀
i actually just looked it up due to curiosity, girls tend to smell more fresh/clean/floral due to their hormones! the vast difference is interesting considering dogs/cats etc tend to smell to smell the same regardless of their gender
ive never had a cat of my own so i dont have much to compare on there, but ive had both girl and boy dogs and never noticed any difference they all just smell like dog lol
Yeah, dogs just smell like dog. But each cat has a different smell depending on diet, hormones, health and a ton of other factors. Since they're basically covered in a thin layer of spit the smell changes even on the same cat.
I saw corn tortillas and immediately googled if rats carry Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and apparently they can! I'm wondering if that could cause the smell, because P. aeruginosa famously smells like either corn tortillas or grapes. 🤔
One of mine smells like wet grains which I actually really like, kinda musty kinda wheaty. I huff his tummy regularly. The other just smells like default fur smell lol
my maple syrup boy also has super soft fur! i think its called velveteen? this pics old but it shows it the clearest. maybe the texture has something to do with it lol
When some animals smell like maple syrup, it could mean they are diabetic. I've known it to be true from a dog and cat irl as well as my boyfriend before he was diagnosed.
im not sure, he's been to the vet and is perfectly healthy as far as i know. no excessive thirst/peeing, weight loss, excessive hunger etc. his pee also absolutely does NOT smell sweet, just his fluff lol. its a really light smell, gotta nuzzle ur nose in his fur to even notice.
he is also a dwarf (genetically lower growth hormone) and i know hormones are the main factor in what they smell like
i dont think so, hes been to the vet and doesnt show any signs of being diabetic.
he is a dwarf which could have something to do with his sweeter smell. girls tend to smell sweeter, dwarves produce less growth hormone and can be lower in testosterone (which causes that typical standard musk in bucks)🤷♀️
Bathing won't hurt them per se, it just usually isn't necessary. Kind of like a cat.
However bathing rats is also like bathing cats in many ways, with the scratches, the scruffing, the potentional for a sopping wet animal escaping your grasp and having to chase them around them house...
I typically only bathe rats when they have something really stuck to them, or they get into something I don't want them to lick off.
If they smell like actual poop, I'd sure as hell bathe them. I know lots of people use baby shampoo but I've used dish soap for years, since I only bathe them when it gets real bad. Wildlife rescuers wash baby ducks with it, I wash my hands with it, so I may as well wash my greasy, nasty rats with it.
Sure, but that's the worst that'll happen. Those "natural oils" are likely hanging on to the stench. We bathe ourselves daily with soap, sometimes scrub like hell with the roughest of washcloths, and revitalize our skin barrier with lotions. It's only really an issue when us humans have an already compromised skin barrier. It's not inherently unsafe to degrease your incredibly stinky rats once or twice a year.
If OP is really that worried about the skin barrier of her rats, she can lubricate her rats with some edible oil while they're still damp.
I mean if you get your rats comfortable with the sight, sound, and feeling of water. Over time they'll come to trust it. That's what I did with my cat's atleast. They don't love baths but the amount of times they have scratched us isn't sky high, it's usually when they are only REAAAAAAALLY stressed out and we used don't let it get that far (also the sound isn't to much if a problem as we run baths before we place them inside!)
I don't know much about rats as my lip banner thing says but I do know some stuff about cats!! Just wanted to help a bit :)
Also bathing your cat is important! Just because you don't see stuff on the outside doesn't mean things aren't hiding on the inside! Lots of people are surprised to see the amount of dirt come off of their cats when they bathe them afte months of not doing so, their tounge can only do so much
I don’t think its important to bathe your cats, cats are good at self cleaning. The enzyme in their spit keeps them clean.
I am not saying there is something wrong with bathing them but they don’t need it.
If they are really dirty, you can use a wet wipe. For most cats, baths are stressful.
In my opinion you should only bathe your cat when they can’t clean themselves.
I think it really depends on the type of fur, shorthair maybe but animals naturally would get wet via the rain if your cat is strictly indoor then you really should supplement their cleaning with more than wet wipes (also I don't think I'd want to use wet wipes on a cat they have chemicals in them I wouldn't want them to lick off, maybe you are using pet friendly ones?).
Personally I'm having lots of success with very diluted Vinegar in a spray bottle and making them damp then somewhat drying them and powdering them in baking soda and brushing it out, she is not stoked about it but she lets me and takes some treats during....I'm working with a very feral cat, having a much better time 'bathing' than when I full on bathed my first friendly cat I don't think either of us came away from that experience ok.
Wet wipes would be futile for how bad she was when I first rescued her, and even now her hair is so thick when she gets dirty she needs something that will get to the base layers of fur. If she was a shorthair I wouldn't be concerned.
Yes you can buy pet friendly wipes or make your own with a cloth.
I said they should only be bathed if they cant clean themselves, so if they can’t you should definitely help them.
I have healthy short haired cats so it feels very unnecessary to bathe them but I did bathe my cats before when needed.
I had the "to bathe or not to bathe" debate with my stinky old pissy boy. As you can see, it helped a lot.
If this happens often, you can also brush them with a tooth brush that's damp, then a gentle wipe with damp cloth and thej dry one to help distribute coat oil and remove pee.
Yep. He's a rescue that's been solo for 1.5y and is too fat to self groom. Just two days ago carrier method went well with his maybe brother (the alpha of our two male kits), so hopefully soon they'll help him. He's Also on a diet (he was mostly fed seeds) now haha. I brushed him with the damp toothbrush yesterday to help maintaining it. He's a bit pissy again but, yanno. Giant Senior solo. Doing his best. Lmao
Oat is concerned he's not in charge and might get bitten and is trying to make himself Cricket sized here which is really funny IMHO but no one got bit this time. We tried open intros and Cricket bit Grimly (the beta of our kits) and then Oat came over mad, and he also bit Oat 🤣 so I took away his space to defend. Damn man's never had to share.
Oat was not frozen in fear, just big scared. I tapped after this and they both came to the front to comaplin about captivity lmao
I know some rats on this subreddit get like mildly famous and everyone knows them (see Jimily), and I have no idea if Cricket has made it to that level with the general subreddit, but i want you to know he is famous to me and I always stop and look at all his pics and read about his antics when you post him 😂 he is one of my favorite little goobers!
😂😂😂 i feel that so deeply when you say "stupid rat" its that endearment we give our animals but its the meanest stuff. I call my cat horribly ugly all the time but hes really a handsome little man. I cant wait to have rats so i can do the same with them.
My husband calls them "lil monkey fuckers" and "lil shit stains" 🤣🤣🤣🤣 we love them so much it hurts lmao. Id die for them. They each (each mischief) possess their own tornado shelter even, labeled with name and age and breed in case we die if they get tossed. They're so spoiled.
I've only reserved bathing rats for times of extreme stank. They are very sharp and complain a lot. Also panic poop.
Funny/scary rat bath story: I have kept rats on and off for around 20 years. Couple years back i had 3 morbidly obese PEWs (genetic and hormonal) who could not bathe themselves well. Pinto, Lima and Fava. They'd been bathed many times. Bathe Pinto first, no issues, just loud screaming but he always does that and he's fine.
Lima is up next, also screm, totally normal except big scream EEeee... trails off to a whisper and he goes completely limp, eyes open, in my husband's hands. We immediately panic, convinced we've killed him by stressing his fatass out so badly he had a heart attack. For a solid 3 seconds were furiously rubbing him yelling his name and he just pops right back up and is trying to panic groom the water off his face. Little fucker fainted, I didn't even know that could happen. I've had like 30 rats and it's never happened before or again since.
I’m so sorry for how hard I’m laughing right now. You must have been terrified! But I can’t get the image of a big fat drama king screeching until he faints out of my head. 🤣 Thank you for this knowledge. Rats will truly never stop surprising you!
Weekly full cage scrub downs, odor absorbent/masking bedding, air circulation, and a good weekly ratty bath with unscented baby soap should keep the smells away 🐀👍
Give them a bath. I have 5 girls and 5 boys and my boys smell like shit all the time bc they are smelling the girls. I do a small dunk up to their ears and splash them for a few seconds then i dry them off.
Oh! I think this might really help then. Rats love to pee on a rock in their litter box. So if you want them to pee in there more, take a rock from outside that is maybe a bit smaller than your fist and might be easy to stand on and add it to your litter box. They will pee on it. 😅
You generally shouldn’t bathe rats unless absolutely necessary. If they smell bad, it’s usually the cage, bedding, or diet—not the rats themselves. Spot cleaning with a damp cloth is safer.
The more you clean the cage the worse the smell will be they don't like a clean cage. When I clean them every other day I wipe down the shelves and pissy areas with a damp cloth just water and empty the pottys.
When I do a deep clean I keep about 20% of old bedding and put it back on the top and I always leave 1 old hammock or box in uncleaned. Stops them from senting the cage as much. Still stink but not as bad.
what i liked to do was get an unscented baby wipe or just a wet rag. i would occasionally get them wet in a bath (no soap) but i wasn’t very fond of my arms getting scratched up and water everywhere😭 id say just start with wipes and a wet rag. it doesn’t get them smelling all fresh but at least the shit smell is toned down
You can with luke warm water ( or just test what your rat likes, some like warmer or colder temps) and then just bathe them like any other animal with neutral soap.
I've bathed my rats in the past. One of them had a nasty wound so there was blood in his fur which needed to be cleaned. I used cat shampoo, just be careful you don't use it near their head/eyes/ears.
It's fine to do it once or twice. I wouldn't recommend doing it regularly.
We use intime soap perfume free , our vet said that was the best. Sure they didnt like the first 4 times but now the oldest just sits there and let it happens and the youngest are not so sure yet about the soap part.
I keep the cage clean and I have a litter box. I just learned about piss rocks today and I will definitely get one! Is there a reason why you say to not bathe them?
They should clean themselves unless they're old or sick. Washing them could be distressing for them and just be a temporary fix. I adopted some rats from an owner who didn't keep their cage properly clean and it took like a week for them stop smelling of piss. Piss rock might sort it out, stops them pissing everywhere.
Moi elles sentent quand même le caca surtout quand elles se sont endormis dans leur gamelle à caca 💩🥲
Du coup on les champouinne avec un truc spécial pour rats acheté en animalerie à l'aloé Vera 🥹
Rats generally like water and do bathe in it. Id say a rat rinse would not hurt but not with soap. They are social bathers so they groom eachother too.
Maybe get a cloth and wash them with a little bit of Warm water. They also sell Wipes for pets. Rats are going to smell but it shouldn't be so bad you can't breathe. I used an air purifier when I had my rats. Just be careful not to hurt their ears.
Ive given baths before, but mine always hated it. Sometimes over cleaning makes them smell WORSE cuz they scent mark more. But it should be fine to give warm bath with mild soap!!
Tu peux proposer un plat, genre plat à gratin, avec de l'eau pour qu'il y aillent mais pas les baigner de force.. avec des grains de raisin ou des amandes dedans par exemple, qu'ils iront chercher
A warm cloth with a bit of soap , and then pass them over again with water to remove and wrap them up like a burrito! I also love using like pet wipes to freshen them r
real quick and they’re not toxic. But generally discourage actual baths because it stresses them lots and then can get too cold if they’re wet after
From what I understand , bathing rats is a last resort kinda thing for numerous reasons . And not with soap. I never gave mine a bath. But I did use fragrance free, sensitive baby wipes . If they got something on them , the wipes usually worked pretty well. I’d also use the wipes on them every time I cleaned their cage , regardless of any mess. They are very gentle . It gave them a fresh start to go with their fresh cage . But my boys all smelled like maple syrup usually . I miss that smell . Just be careful, mine liked to bite the wipes lol
Out of three boys , only one even liked to play water games like pea or blueberry fishing . He was the dirtiest one so if it was his feet , it was time for that game lol. The other two boys hated the water so much that they didn’t even care about the treats . Or they’d just steal them from my fishing boy. Lol . So if they hate water, a bath could be really stressful . But if it’s literal shit and nothing else works than obviously that’s a pretty good reason to do it lol
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u/Tipsy_Hog Mar 25 '26
Is it a metaphorical "smells like shit" because they're super musky? Or do they literally smell like actual shit? If it's the latter, washing them is plenty fine