Diarrhea AND respiratory...

[Salem The Rat]

One of my female rats, almost 2 years old, last week developed a respiratory problem and she sounds congested (right now not so much). However, these last two days I noticed she is having diarhhea. Twice I saw that her butt was dirty. I checked the cage and there was poo that was soft, a bit liquid. A rat I had, that eventually died, started with respiratory problems, then also had diarrhea, porhyrin, then couldn't move anymore. However, my rat now doesn't have any porhyrin around her eyes and nose, and apart from the breathing sounds she still has a lot of appetite for food and cleans herself. Could it be that the medications affected her? I give her Baytril 0.5% (nothing else where I live) and tried to give her Doxycycline a few times (she absolutely refuses it, so she must have only swallowed a few drops here and there). Apparently, this medicine is not very strong. I am worried that this diarrhea has to do with whatever illness she has. Is it Myco? She has a head tilt (she developed this when young). Any ideas/suggestions?

 

[lilspaz68]

One of my female rats, almost 2 years old, last week developed a respiratory problem and she sounds congested (right now not so much). However, these last two days I noticed she is having diarhhea. Twice I saw that her butt was dirty. I checked the cage and there was poo that was soft, a bit liquid. A rat I had, that eventually died, started with respiratory problems, then also had diarrhea, porhyrin, then couldn't move anymore. However, my rat now doesn't have any porhyrin around her eyes and nose, and apart from the breathing sounds she still has a lot of appetite for food and cleans herself. Could it be that the medications affected her? I give her Baytril 0.5% (nothing else where I live) and tried to give her Doxycycline a few times (she absolutely refuses it, so she must have only swallowed a few drops here and there). Apparently, this medicine is not very strong. I am worried that this diarrhea has to do with whatever illness she has. Is it Myco? She has a head tilt (she developed this when young). Any ideas/suggestions?

Antibiotics can cause this issue...your best bet is to get her on probiotics, like live culture yogurt, to help her gut flora regenerate (the abs can kill off all bacteria not just bad, but the good bacteria in the gut).

Remember not to give probiotics within 2 hours of the antibiotics as it can render your treatment ineffective.

You could also give her unsalted soda crackers, put her on the BRAT diet (banana, rice, applesauce and toast), to help with her diarrhea until the probiotics start working...just make sure she doesn't dehydrate.

 

[jennifervb]

One of my female rats, almost 2 years old, last week developed a respiratory problem and she sounds congested (right now not so much). However, these last two days I noticed she is having diarhhea. Twice I saw that her butt was dirty. I checked the cage and there was poo that was soft, a bit liquid. A rat I had, that eventually died, started with respiratory problems, then also had diarrhea, porhyrin, then couldn't move anymore. However, my rat now doesn't have any porhyrin around her eyes and nose, and apart from the breathing sounds she still has a lot of appetite for food and cleans herself. Could it be that the medications affected her? I give her Baytril 0.5% (nothing else where I live) and tried to give her Doxycycline a few times (she absolutely refuses it, so she must have only swallowed a few drops here and there). Apparently, this medicine is not very strong. I am worried that this diarrhea has to do with whatever illness she has. Is it Myco? She has a head tilt (she developed this when young). Any ideas/suggestions?

Antibiotics can cause this issue...your best bet is to get her on probiotics, like live culture yogurt, to help her gut flora regenerate (the abs can kill off all bacteria not just bad, but the good bacteria in the gut).

Remember not to give probiotics within 2 hours of the antibiotics as it can render your treatment ineffective.

You could also give her unsalted soda crackers, put her on the BRAT diet (banana, rice, applesauce and toast), to help with her diarrhea until the probiotics start working...just make sure she doesn't dehydrate.

will note the BRAT diet for any future needs. Awesome, thank you Shel!!!! :flowers:

 

[Aida]

Yup, as lilspaz68 said- make sure she has enough to drink and enough water in her system. You can do the "pinch" test to check- pinch some skin on her scruff(back of the neck), pull it up, and let go. It should snap back quickly. If it doesn't, she needs more water. Syringe it into her if you have to, or give her some watery applesauce(so you can still follow BRAT ;3). Even people who aren't that sick but have diarrhea constantly end up in the hospital cause they forget to drink.

 

[Salem The Rat]

Thank you all very much for your replies. I will try it out as soon as I can