Alice, gasping, discharge through nose? --Back from the vet!

[KatTheHippie]

The past few nights Alice has been kinda sneezy, but I didn't think much of it, the air in the room's been kinda dry with the AC on, so I figured that's what caused it.. but today, after I came home from work around eight, I went to let the girls out for playtime. I found Alice sitting in the corner gasping for air, her left nostril clogged with gunk. I plucked her up and managed to dislodge the gunk with a small pair of tweezers, but her nose was discharging what looked like porypherin, but also some whitish yellowy gunk? Not a lot, equivalent to the amount of boogers a kid with a bad cold would be, so, enough to concern me. It also had a bit of a foul smell.. kind of fishy? After I wiped up her nose I gave her a piece of dark chocolate to calm her down, but it was really scary.. thank god I got off work when I did.

My question, is this what a URI looks like in rats? If not, does anyone know what this could be, or has anyone had a similar situation? I'm scheduling her a veterinary appointment first thing monday morning.

 

[hopefloats]

That sounds like an infection not typical uri type either. Hopefully someone will come on with a netter answer I would start baytril regrdless if you have any.

 

[KatTheHippie]

Ugh, I don't. I'll see if I can request it at the vet visit.. I only have infant ibuprophin, which I know only helps pain, so I doubt that'd do any good.

 

[jorats]

The way you describe the discharge, it sounds like it could be a pulmonary abscess burst. Some rats can still adapt and get passed. I'd still treat as pneumonia.

 

[KatTheHippie]

Pulmonary abscess burst? that sounds terrifying.

Edit: after researching a bit, this sounds scarily similar to what happened to Alice earlier. I'm going to definitely bring it up to my vet and see if he has anything to say about it..

 

[RattusNorvegicus]

Please keep us updated.

 

[KatTheHippie]

I've got an appointment for her on Tuesday, thank god. If she has another attack, they told me to rush her in though. For right now I'm stocked up on dark chocolate and infant IBU, so hopefully I'll be able to keep everything under control until I find out exactly what's going on.. ugh, my poor baby.

 

[fexpress]

Sorry to hear Alice is sick. Quick question for you...how does her ribcage feel? Does it feel stiff if you give it a little squeeze, or does it feel the same as your other rats?

I just had to pts one of my rats because of pulmonary abscesses, and the vet says that's very often the most obvious external sign, other than the breathing. Their ribs feel stiff and not squishy because their lungs are full of abscesses rather than air.

I'm hoping for the best for your Alice. Hopefully it will be something easy for the vet to treat.

 

[jorats]

Yes, that's true that the chest area is very hard with pulmonary abscesses.

Also, is your dark chocolate over 75%? If not, then it's not dark enough to work. And chocolate, especially if it contains any trace of milk can actually cause mucus build up in the throat.

 

[Joanne]

Any way you can get her started on antibiotics now? Two days can make a significant difference...
Would your vet 'front' you the meds until Tuesday?

 

[KatTheHippie]

Okay, so I've been feeling her rib cage, and all of my other girls rib cages, but their chests all seem to feel the same to me.. maybe I just can't tell. And yes, my dark chocolate is 80% So all is good there. She's doing okay.. there's still some gunk around her nose every so often, and she's sneezy, but she hasn't had a full on attack like she did the other night, and I've been watching her like a hawk. My vat can't front me meds, but atleast my appointment is tomorrow so HOPEFULLY everything's going to go well, and my poor Alice will be okay.. ugh, I hope it isn't something terrible.

 

[mamarat]

Fingers crossed for your sweetie.

 

[Bundyrats]

Let us know how it goes at your appointment...

 

[KatTheHippie]

Alright, so the vet thinks that Alice may have pneumonia. He's given me a bottle of baytril, and told me that he wants her dosed twice a day, and for atleast two weeks, and that I'm to call next week and let him know how she's doing. Hopefully that's what it is, and everything will clear up quickly..

She was so bad at her appointment though LOL, she bit the doctor, jumped away every chance she could, and wouldn't take her first dose of medicine there, no matter how he attempted to give it. He asked if I'd prefer giving her a shot of it now, or just giving it to her when we got home, so I said I'd give it to her at home. She took it from me like an angel LOL, no problems whatsoever.

 

[Joanne]

I'm glad she's getting started on some Baytril!
You will need MUCH longer than two weeks though - bare minimum is four weeks and I would probably go four weeks past any symptomatic stage, ie when she seems all better, keep going for four more weeks.
Pulmonary bugs in rats are extremely nasty, and can become resistant to the antibiotics quite easily if they are not treated long enough.
And if she was acting up at the vet's, that's a good thing - at least she had the energy to do so!