lilspaz68
Well-Known Member
Dexter was on baytril/doxy for almost a week but it wasn't making a dent into his noisy URI. When he started a scary whine on top of it then this other occasional noise on Thursday, I called the vet and got him an appointment for Friday. When I was waiting in the lobby with him in my lap, one of the assistant Leah said he was the loudest breathing rat they had ever seen. :undecided:
Even Dr Munn came out from the back to see him. They had just gotten in a special tank/chamber for the practice. It would nebulize and provide O2 at the same time, and had controllable temperature and humidity levels as well. They were almost excited and wanted to pop him in there right away. They had only gotten their expensive new "toy" the week prior. :laugh4: Dr Munn said we really should X-ray him,so I agreed.
Dexter was x-rayed, and his lungs are quite consolidated but we expected that. He was given a shot of lasix, left for 2 hours and then x-rays were taken again. This was to rule out cardiac issues as they were looking for the lungs to clear dramatically and there was almost no change, ruling out cardiac (I have an email into Karen Grant of ratguide to ask what the explanation is behind this.) He was kept in the chamber all day as Dr Munn wanted to see how good he could get and poor Dexter would improve then worsen. So we changed up his meds and are going to try something different (this is just a starting point)
Zithromax
Doxycycline
Theophylline
and .05 cc's of dexamethasone in 10 ml's of fluid sub-q every 3 days.
And I am to keep in touch with Dr Munn and let him know how he does on this. I would assume a week will give us a better idea. The good news is that he has good body condition, he's not acting sick, eats and drinks well and there's no porphryin on his eyes or nose.
Here are pics of Dexter's -xrays with my terrible layman descriptions LOL
Right side. Healthy lungs should be black...white shows up for solid things like bone, fluids (which my says looks "puffy" :giggle: ), consolidation like tumours or pulmonary abscesses. The more white in a lung, the worse it is. My vet also says lines in the cloudiness indicates tumours or abscesses. You won't be able to see it in these pics but I did see it on the actual xrays.
X-ray while he's on his back. The white shape going to the left in this pic is his heart...you can see the clouding in the other lung
His very bad left lung...does anyone need an explanation?
Even Dr Munn came out from the back to see him. They had just gotten in a special tank/chamber for the practice. It would nebulize and provide O2 at the same time, and had controllable temperature and humidity levels as well. They were almost excited and wanted to pop him in there right away. They had only gotten their expensive new "toy" the week prior. :laugh4: Dr Munn said we really should X-ray him,so I agreed.
Dexter was x-rayed, and his lungs are quite consolidated but we expected that. He was given a shot of lasix, left for 2 hours and then x-rays were taken again. This was to rule out cardiac issues as they were looking for the lungs to clear dramatically and there was almost no change, ruling out cardiac (I have an email into Karen Grant of ratguide to ask what the explanation is behind this.) He was kept in the chamber all day as Dr Munn wanted to see how good he could get and poor Dexter would improve then worsen. So we changed up his meds and are going to try something different (this is just a starting point)
Zithromax
Doxycycline
Theophylline
and .05 cc's of dexamethasone in 10 ml's of fluid sub-q every 3 days.
And I am to keep in touch with Dr Munn and let him know how he does on this. I would assume a week will give us a better idea. The good news is that he has good body condition, he's not acting sick, eats and drinks well and there's no porphryin on his eyes or nose.
Here are pics of Dexter's -xrays with my terrible layman descriptions LOL
Right side. Healthy lungs should be black...white shows up for solid things like bone, fluids (which my says looks "puffy" :giggle: ), consolidation like tumours or pulmonary abscesses. The more white in a lung, the worse it is. My vet also says lines in the cloudiness indicates tumours or abscesses. You won't be able to see it in these pics but I did see it on the actual xrays.
X-ray while he's on his back. The white shape going to the left in this pic is his heart...you can see the clouding in the other lung
His very bad left lung...does anyone need an explanation?
