Contamination? Possible URI?

[Ratturtles]

I already have two other rattie girls and I added another to our family on April 13.

I brought the new rat to the vet on April 16 for a suspected ear infection and because she had been sneezing quite a bit. Vet prescribed tresaderm solution for the ear infection and a mix of doxycycline and baytril for the sneezing. All of these medications were given for 10 days. I did my best to keep her away from my resident girls while she was on her meds. After the 10 days she still had some balance issues but she had stopped sneezing.

Once she was finished with her medications, on April 26, I started doing introductions between my new rat and my two residents girls. I was doing playdates daily up until a few days ago, May 3.

I noticed on May 3 that my new rat was breathing rather hard and that she was not being as active as normal. I thought maybe she was just having an off day (she had seemed fine the day before) so I still tried to take her out of her cage to play with my two resident girls. She didn't seem to perk up at all so I put her back in her cage after about five minutes. I started her back up on the doxycycline and baytril that same night. My plan was to keep her on the meds until Monday (today) when I could bring her to the vet (they're not open on the weekends.)

Last night, on Sunday May 5, my new girl started gasping for breath and frantically running around panicking. I rushed her to the emergency vet and they put her on oxygen immediately. After an examination the vet said her lungs sounded very bad and that she would likely need to be on oxygen for an extended period of time. The vet did not give us an actual diagnosis but she guessed my new girl had something else going on internally, like a tumor or an undiagnosed illness and recommended humane euthanize. The vet said if we had brought her home with us that she likely would have died overnight and we could not afford to hospitalize her for an extended period of time so we decided to let her go.

Today I am grieving her loss. But I am starting to worry about my two resident girls. How likely is it that what my new rattie girl had was contagious? She has seemed fine between April 26-May 3 and then took a turn for the worst over the weekend. My girls are not displaying any signs of respiratory distress and are not acting out of the ordinary. If my girls did catch something from her when should I start to see signs? If she had a disease would they already be showing symptoms? I plan on taking both of my resident girls into the vet on Thursday, when I get paid, to have their lungs listened to but I need some peace of mind until then. Just to reiterate my girls first had contact with her on April 26, 10 days ago. My girls then had contact with her when she was showing signs of respiratory distress 3 days ago.

Im sorry this was so long. Thank you to anyone who takes the time to read this.

 

[Dena]

If she was in the same airspace (not a seperate ac unit, and in the same house), then they have been exposed since you brought her home. Rats are all born with mycoplasma (except a few that were lab bred not to have it). It's when they get stressed, or their immune system is not functioning properly that the symptoms of a secondary infection show. The myco runs rampant, and it's usually the secondary infections (usually pneumonia) take hold and kill the rat. I think I got that right (very sleepy). This happens rather quickly, and rats hide symptoms until it's almost too late.

That being said, rats also need antibiotics for a lot more than 10 days. That usually just gets rid of symptoms, but they come back with a vengeance. Rats should be on antibiotics for at least 4 weeks, sometimes longer, to actually clear up the infection.

I'm so sorry for your loss. Make sure you keep an eye on your other girls, and "ratphone" them often (hold their sides up to your ear and listen for crackly noise, or wet sounds). I do this twice a day with all 6 of my rats. I do that, then a good look, and feel all over their body. I even give the ears, and mouth a good sniff. If something smells off, it probably is. Good luck!

 

[Ratturtles]

If she was in the same airspace (not a seperate ac unit, and in the same house), then they have been exposed since you brought her home. Rats are all born with mycoplasma (except a few that were lab bred not to have it). It's when they get stressed, or their immune system is not functioning properly that the symptoms of a secondary infection show. The myco runs rampant, and it's usually the secondary infections (usually pneumonia) take hold and kill the rat. I think I got that right (very sleepy). This happens rather quickly, and rats hide symptoms until it's almost too late.

That being said, rats also need antibiotics for a lot more than 10 days. That usually just gets rid of symptoms, but they come back with a vengeance. Rats should be on antibiotics for at least 4 weeks, sometimes longer, to actually clear up the infection.

I'm so sorry for your loss. Make sure you keep an eye on your other girls, and "ratphone" them often (hold their sides up to your ear and listen for crackly noise, or wet sounds). I do this twice a day with all 6 of my rats. I do that, then a good look, and feel all over their body. I even give the ears, and mouth a good sniff. If something smells off, it probably is. Good luck!

I think you got that right, it sounds consistent with the research I've done so far. After making another post on here I now know that 10 days of antibiotics is not long enough to cure most rattie ailments. I'll make sure to check my girls daily, I don't want to lose another
Vet prescribed her the antibiotics for ten days. She said to start with them and to see what happened. She seemed fine so I didnt even think anything of it until she started acting ill. Do you think I should start bringing my girls somewhere else?

 

[lilspaz68]

The more common contagious viruses like Sendai or SDA would've showed up in your residents a week or so after exposure. Myco is not necessarily contagious it's more an internal attack from within the body and each rats strength of their immune system at the time as to whether they become ill. A different strain of myco though (say from a whole different area) could be transmitted though. It sounds like your own girls are fine in this case.

I'm sorry for the loss of your new girl and yes if these vets won't give you more than 10 days of antibiotics you might want to change. Inner ear infection is best treated with oral antibiotics and is often related to myco. Now IF the vet wanted to give you 10 days of antibiotics, then see if it's helping and then give you more (or change them if they weren't working) that would be okay.