Chronic resp

[Cigar]

Osiris is 29-30 months old. He was diagnosed with chronic pneumonia. He's been on a variety of meds since he was 6 months old, which was when he and his brother both developed hereditary issues. We've done Doxy, Zithro, and Amox., but high doses of Baytril was the ticket.

Within the past couple months I've noticed a decline in the effectiveness. He still does his thing but he can't feel very good.. How often are rats put to sleep solely because of resp issues?

 

[smilez_n_hugs]

I had it happen to one of my first rats....the vet believes he suffered from pulmonary abscesses. Have you tried metacam just to help make him comfortable?

 

[Cigar]

Pulmonary abscesses are something I never even considered. He's never indicated pain so I never tried it. How did your kid act when they had PA's? I was wondering if anyone has used prednisone, like the RCMA drug chart mentions.

"Anti-inflammatory corticosteroid which can be used as supportive therapy in inflammatory conditions such as pneumonia, inner-ear infections (wry neck/head-tilt), injury and cases of pituitary tumors. Use only for short periods in most cases as it depresses the immune system. However, it can be used long-term for chronic or advanced cases of respiratory disease (reduces inflammation of lungs making breathing easier). Available in palatable pediatric oral solution. Can be relatively expensive. Prescription needed."

His immune system is already so messed up though. If it were suppressed further I don't know if he could handle it.

 

[smilez_n_hugs]

The vet was just assuming pulmonary abscesses due to the way his chest was deformed but he showed the same symptoms as a URI. Either way we were like you and had tried every combo if those meds. I did also try pred and it didn't help my boy but I would say there is no harm talking to your vet to see what they think. As for the pain meds my vet prescribed metacam because of its anti-inflammatory properties and because it helped my boy sleep more peacefully and helped him stay comfortable until the end. Also have you tried "steaming" him to see if it helps break up some of the congestion for temporary relief?

 

[jorats]

We've dealt with a great number of pulmonary abscesses. Long term baytril maintained a certain quality of life. We've tried pred but it didn't seem to really do all that much. Metacam helps to keep the rat comfortable but not something you want to use long term.

 

[Cigar]

I steam him a couple times a week but the relief he gets from it is so short, it's almost not worth stressing him for it sometimes. His chest doesn't have any deformities that I've noticed or my vet has during our visits. I'll offer him some infant Advil tonight and see if he appears any more comfortable. I don't think he's in a pain type of discomfort though, more like.. an obese person with bad lungs. He's always dozy. He's a pound and a half; I put him on a diet when he was young without much success and he starved himself on Oxbow.

 

[smilez_n_hugs]

Sorry as Jo pointed out I didn't use metacam long term, just every once and a while when his breathing seemed especially bad. But by the end I was giving it daily

 

[mamarat]

I also gave Metacam to my girl Jani and she had quality fun time for an extra 3 months.

 

[Joanne]

My Lily developed some respiratory issues, so she was started on Baytril and Doxycycline. After a couple of months I noticed that I could actually SEE her breathing all the time, ie respiratory symptoms were worsening. We started her on Enalapril in case there was a heart issue. I saw some improvement for a while, and then things worsened again. My vet suggested adding Prednisone. I was willing to try anything as her brother went downhill very quickly once his breathing became noticable. We had her on the Prednisone for about a week before I noticed an improvement. Now she is looking MUCH better. This week I backed off her Pred to once every other day. I'll monitor her for relapse, but so far, so good. I had a noticable improvement with the Prednisone. She was on 0.25 mL of 1mg/mL daily for a few weeks until I was sure she was stable. So I would recommend trying it if you are at your wits end.

 

[Cigar]

My Lily developed some respiratory issues, so she was started on Baytril and Doxycycline. After a couple of months I noticed that I could actually SEE her breathing all the time, ie respiratory symptoms were worsening. We started her on Enalapril in case there was a heart issue. I saw some improvement for a while, and then things worsened again. My vet suggested adding Prednisone. I was willing to try anything as her brother went downhill very quickly once his breathing became noticable. We had her on the Prednisone for about a week before I noticed an improvement. Now she is looking MUCH better. This week I backed off her Pred to once every other day. I'll monitor her for relapse, but so far, so good. I had a noticable improvement with the Prednisone. She was on 0.25 mL of 1mg/mL daily for a few weeks until I was sure she was stable. So I would recommend trying it if you are at your wits end.

I'm glad to hear you noticed an improvement. I'm DEFINITELY at my wits end after comforting him through gasping fits last night.. I really thought I was going to lose him. :sad3: My fingers are crossed for Lily and I hope Osiris will benefit from it too.

Also going to do the metacam for comfort and see if he feels any better with it.