911 nasal distress meds not working!

[Jasper2682]

Jasper is aprox 1 year old, He has always had issues with myco in his nose. He has been on a mix of doxy/enro as per his vet for the past several months ever since we noticed he was coughing and started to make nasal chirping like sounds. He was getting better but recently is not responding to meds, The vet sent us home and simply said to change the bedding and watch for alergins. He is worse! He is at this moment gasping for air with labored breathing/sides heaving. His color on his tail,feet,and genitals is still very pink and not showing signs of a lack of oxygen but he is CLEARLY in distress!

What should i tell the vet to do? This vet knows NOTHING about rats and i have to hold his hand and basically fork over large sums of $ for him to ISSUE me medicine!!!! This is a SOS situation, Jasper keeps showing signs of panic and severe discomfort yet it's not in the lungs. Nothing can be heard but clear air passing in his lungs but my god.... His nasal congestion has him so bad he is refusing his medicine/ensure mix that he normally can't wait to drink.


Showers are not working for him,i do have a nebulizer with albuterol since i myself suffer from asthma,which is half the reason seeing him panic is tearing me apart! Im not sure if he would respond to it being its not in his lungs,also he would most likely panic from it even more...HELP!

 

[jorats]

Give him a puff of your albuterol directed at his nose. If you go back to the vet, you should ask for enro and zithromax as well as metacam. Hopefully that combo along with your albuterol might help Jasper recover.

 

[Jasper2682]

Give him a puff of your albuterol directed at his nose. If you go back to the vet, you should ask for enro and zithromax as well as metacam. Hopefully that combo along with your albuterol might help Jasper recover.

Thank you, i will be doing that as soon as my wife arrives from her flight in about 2 hours. For now i am going to neb him like you suggest. Some of the folks in the chatroom have been guiding me along as well. We came to the conclusion it might be pnemonia.

 

[Jasper2682]

Give him a puff of your albuterol directed at his nose. If you go back to the vet, you should ask for enro and zithromax as well as metacam. Hopefully that combo along with your albuterol might help Jasper recover.

The vials i have are 2.5mg in a 3ml solution mixed with saline. How much of that should i administer to this little guy? Im off to get him a plastic storage container as soon as i get back from the vet so i can nebulize him without upsetting him. He does NOT respond well to the nebulizer or the mist in his face.

 

[jorats]

If he panics with the mist near his face, it's best not to do it at all then.
Do you have a puffer? Inhaler, instead of the nebulizer.

 

[Jasper2682]

If he panics with the mist near his face, it's best not to do it at all then.
Do you have a puffer? Inhaler, instead of the nebulizer.

Yes, i have a regular albuterol inhaler. I read that it doesn't deliver enough medicine because it's meant to be held in and nebs allow them to breath it in normally. He keeps hopping on my shoulder which he associates with shower steam treatments so i been doing that and it loosens it for a little bit but not long. How long should i steam? I been doing it for roughly ten minutes.

 

[jorats]

10 minute steams is good.
Do the puff anyway, it will help some. Direct the inhaler close to his nose, he will breath some in and anything will help when he's in a gasping fit.
Also, another thing you can do is coupage which is tapping him on the sides where his lungs are in order to dislodge any thick infection in there. Get things moving and draining.

 

[Aida]

Put his nose in one end of a toilet roll(the tube left over), and puff the stuff into the other end- a lot less stressfull.

 

[Aida]

Also, I found these references to vets that are good with rats in New York:
Dr. Edward Spindel

Animal Ark Veterinary Hospital & Kennel

2996 Route 31

Baldwinsville, New York 13027

(315) 635-2525

http://www.animalarkvetsvce.com/home/ [email protected]

(2004—Ali, [email protected])



Dr. Diana M. Puchalski

Beaver Meadow Veterinary Clinic

8535 Old Poland Rd.

Barneveld, NY

(315) 896-2658

www.beavermeadowvet.com

(2010—Beverly Polgara)



Dr. Laurie Hess

Veterinary Center for Birds & Exotics

709 Bedford Road

Bedford Hills, NY 10507

(914) 864-1414

www.avianexoticsvet.com

(2006—Lynn, 2010—Peter Mozarsky)



Dr. Carolyn Orr

Animal Clinic of East Ave., P.C.

18 East Avenue

Brockport, NY 14420

(585) 637-8700

(2002--Sue Meredith)



Dr. Stachnik (as well as 2 others there)

Sheridan Animal Hospital

2288 Sheridan Dr
Buffalo, NY 14223
(716) 833-2255

(2007—Danielle Caryl)



Elisabeth Simone-Freilicher, DVM, Diplomate ABVP (avian)
Animal Medical Hospital of Centereach

2425 Middle Country Road

Centereach, NY 11720

631-585-5353

(2008)



Dr. Todd Swanson (his wife, Dr. Lori Swanson takes care of dogs, cats, etc.)
Pet Animal Hospital
9 Glidden Avenue WE
Jamestown, NY 14701
716-483-1762

(2004—Hannah Hanson, [email protected])



Dr. Karen Leshkivich

Mattydale Animal Hospital

2703 Brewerton Road

Mattydale, NY 13211

315-455-5915

(2003—D. Banks, [email protected])



Dr. Arthur Haf

Mineola Animal Center

44A Jericho Turnpike

Mineola NY 11501

(516) 873-9207

1996



Dr. Silverman and Dr. Maddock

Prospect Park Animal Clinic

Brooklyn, NY 11215

(718) 768-6125

http://prospectparkanimalclinic.com/intro.html

(2002--Anne Harper)



Dr. Katherine Quesenberry

The Animal Medical Center

510 East 62nd Street

NY, NY

(212) 838-8100

(1999—Raquel Cintron)



Dr. Karen Cantor

Westside Veterinary Center

220 West 83rd Street

New York, NY 10024

(212) 580-1800

(tends to be expensive)



Dr. Alix Wilson

The Center for Avian and Exotics

568 Columbus Ave

New York, NY

(212) 501-8750

(2008—Doug Walker)



Dr. Karen Cantor
Westside Veterinary Center
220 West 83 Street
New York NY 10024
24 hour emergency service
(212)580-1800
http://westsidevetcenter.com/

(2008—Raquel Cintron)

Dr. Sally Haddock
Dr. Amy Kurowski
St. Mark's Veterinary Hospital
348 East 9 Street
New York NY 10003
24 hour emergency pager service
(212)477-2688
http://www.stmarksvet.com/

(2008—Raquel Cintron)



Robert A. Monaco DVM DABVP

Old Country Animal Clinic

669 Old Country Road

Plainview, NY 11803

(516) 938-7218

[email protected]

1999



Dr. Mark Salemi

Northside Animal Hospital

773 Post Ave

Staten Island, NY 10310
(718) 981-4445

Fax: (718) 273-3828
www.nahnyc.com

(2004—Raquel Cintron)



Dr. Adams

International Veterinary Clinic

Rt 94

Warwick, New York 10990

(845) 986-7606

(2002--Morgan Zuckerman)



Michael McCarthy DVM
The Village Animal Clinic
70 School Rd
Voorheesville NY 12186
518-765-0111
www.thevillageanimalclinic.com

(2010)



Dr. Anthony A. Pilny
Veterinary Internal Medicine and Allergy Specialists
207 East 84th Street
(between Second and Third Avenues)

New York, NY
(212) 988-4650
(2008—Raquel Cintron, 2011—S

 

[RattusNorvegicus]

What about Sudafed and Benadryl? My Lu has nasal congestion and those keep her from gasping.