Pickles smells so bad

[Branston+pickles]

Hey,

Not sure whether this is the write section or not. One of my rats absolutely stinks, so much so that I can smell him if he runs in front of me. It's not an overly offensive smell but it's not pleasant. His cage mate Branston, I can only smell if I pick him up and sniff him. Just wondering if theres a reason for this? Or anything I can do to ease his pong ha

[[cub]]

I'd take him to the vet honestly, with a urine sample if you can get one. (Get him out of bed while he's fast asleep and put him in a clean, empty carrier. He will hopefully produce a nice sample for you promptly, which you can suck up into a clean syringe.) The two things that come immediately to mind when an unusual smell is mentioned are infections and diabetes, both of which require veterinary attention particularly given how strong the smell is.

[Branston+pickles]

Thanks for your reply.
I will do and I'll let you know how we get on. He seems totally happy in himself, runs around bonkers, eating and drinking fine so I wouldn't have thought of anything being wrong.

[Branston+pickles]

I have actually noticed he does seem to be peeing a lot lately when hes out having free time.

Another thing I noticed too, which I didnt think anything of, he scratches at his belly quite a lot too

[[cub]]

Itching is apparently another possible sign of diabetes, so definitely try and get a urine sample and take it to a decent rat vet – if he's piddling lots that should hopefully make the process easier.

[Branston+pickles]

So I took him to the vets today, he has totally perked up the past couple of days. She thinks its stress, all his checks were fine. His cage mate has started showing a lot of dominance lately so think it's related to that