Poor Dante my rat baby - Page 2

racinghamster · 12-31-2011, 10:30 AM

Respiratory infections are very common in rats sadly and bouts of sneezing/coughing/wheezing are usually heard even in rats that seem healthy, but carry the mycoplasma organism. Nearly all conventionally kept rats carry it from birth.

Baytril given at the correct dose (as pet weight of the rat) should be effective, but recovery should be seen within the first week. If the rat is still showing signs after five/seven days, the dosage either needs to be upped, or given for at least three weeks. Baytril can be hit or miss really but it`s broad spectrum. Drugs in the Macrolide and Tetracycline family are more effective against suppressing symptoms, although the myco bacteria can only be suppressed and not entirely killed off, so it`s a matter of getting the rat onto a high dose to hit it hard and keep the drug therapy going for as long as required.

I moved from keeping rats to mice, but both species are carriers of myco, so if the animal has a low immune system, it can be more prone to bouts of respiratoy issues. It can scar the lungs and cause lesions in the airways, which is why rats sound noisy while asleep mainly.

I used to be a member of the fancy_rats forum for years, but the forum has since changed formats and I never re-joined since I don`t keep rats now. They are great pets, but can be a labour of love. x

Nikorusama · 12-31-2011, 11:11 AM

They are lovely and little dante was so cute at the vets. He didn't really like the vet holding him and became perfectly content cuddling me (at least I know he likes me now) and yeah I'm a member of the forum but its pretty slow paced I find. I also knew about the myco and the flare ups but I was still worried and thought a vet needed to look at them. The only problem now being was he doesn't sound that bad it seems just totally random when he has his really bad episodes of sneezing and rattley breathing and squeeking.

I am also worried about having to dose them with the antibiotics as they really don't seem to like it and I'm worried they won't be as comfortable with me after they know I'm the mean lady that gives the
The horrible tasting stuff.

**newham** · 12-31-2011, 01:01 PM

what bedding is he on? I had my rats on a few things and carefresh really helped with the allergies for my girls and Cookie my big dumbo male suffers with Myo and he's been great since I switched *that and the cheap air purifier helped a hell fo alot*
Glad Dantes okay as a fellow rat lover I know how horrible it is each sneeze or loud sniff has me on edge reaching for my stethescope to listen for raspy lungs.

Nikorusama · 12-31-2011, 01:05 PM

Megazorb

I think I want to get a cheap air purifier, lots of people have suggested it. Plus I can put a fragrance in it so that it covers the rat smell. It gets quite bad sometimes. My babies are lazy and poop in their hammocks *yuck* :P

Gamina · 01-01-2012, 09:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nikorusama

Megazorb

I think I want to get a cheap air purifier, lots of people have suggested it. Plus I can put a fragrance in it so that it covers the rat smell. It gets quite bad sometimes. My babies are lazy and poop in their hammocks *yuck* :P

Are you trying to litter train? The ammonia build up from poo and urine won't help his lungs. Its much easier to keep on top of it if they are trained. How long a prescription of Baytril is he on? A lot of vets will try and give 7 days worth but most resp problems will need at least 10 days minimum.

Nikorusama · 01-01-2012, 09:38 AM

Well I think they gave me quite a lot. They said continue for about 5 days but I'll continue for about 10 if you think. They do have a litter tray and they do use it but they sometimes just go in their beds too and sometimes they go on the ground. Have you any times on getting them to use the litter tray only? That would be ideal because I could change that (as I do already) every 2 days. What about urinating? I think they just do this anywhere, I'm not sure how to train them just to go in their tray. I used to have their litter tray on the ground floor but I found they used it more if I had it up on the highest shelf. Also sometimes when I give them a treat they all head to the litter tray to eat it!

racinghamster · 01-01-2012, 10:08 AM

One thing to note is that you should see the sneezing stop or improve over the next few days to a week, depending on how long the breathing noises have been going. If you have been prescribed baytril, I used the `tea biscuit` method with the mice!

Take a rich tea biscuit or digestive. Wet it a little bit (but not soaked/mushy). Lie the biscuit on a saucer to go soft. Only offer a piece about 5mm in size. Dose the Baytril onto the broken edge of the biscuit and let it soak in. Offer the laced biscuit to the rat affected and he should swipe it! make sure the rat eats it all.

If you see an improvement (if your vet has given a high enough dose and duration) Baytril should be continued for at least two to three weeks. If it`s started and stopped, this can just build a resistance and allow the stronger bacteria to re-emerge as they will still linger if the drug is stopped prematurely. So if ratty seems better within four/five days, ring your vet for more Baytril because it proved the drug is having the desired effect. If after one week ratty is still much the same, then the drug may have to be changed to a Tetracycline. These can be given in tablet form and crushed up, but the rat forum people should be able to advise on the correct dosage.

Penicillin drugs will have no effect on mycoplasma as it is resistant. So drugs like Duphamox and Synulox won`t do anything. If you do need to treat with another drug, I would go the Tetracycline route.

Nikorusama · 01-01-2012, 10:19 AM

Well by looks of things he's given me about 20mls of the stuff, it's over half way up a 32ml bottle. They are each getting 0.05mls of 2.5% so I should be able to continue for a long while if there is an improvement. The vet didn't seem that concerned at all and kind of made me feel like I was wasting his time and gave me baytril to humour me though but hopefully that's all they need and I'm overly worrying. I don't think they seem to be hating me for given them the antibiotics so far though as long as they get a little snuggle they start bruxing so hopefully that will carry on. Lucius seems to dislike it the most though.

Gamina · 01-01-2012, 11:20 AM

Has the vet given it to all your boys? I thought only one was having the respy breathing?

Nikorusama · 01-01-2012, 11:40 AM

Yeah but he said it would spread and then I'd be chasing my tail with them so he said to treat them all. I think next time I'll see Sarah brown at Holly house instead of Stuart who is actually the top tortoise vet in the country but apparently he has lots of knowledge about other animals too. It's hard to know what is best when you get lots of conflicting info but I trust the people on here and on fancy rats forum more than I trust just any old vet. Obviously rat specialist vets are the best bet but it's finding them. Next time I'll demand Sarah as suggested by the rat forum.