I'm freaking out.

[Cinderwolf]

I was playing with Roxy and La Jolla just now and I noticed something weird, Roxy was making little squeaky noises every couple of second. I could only hear it when she was right near my face. I remember reading something on here about them making little chirpy noises when they are getting a URI. I tried to listen to her breathing but honestly I have no idea what I'm listening for.. I just hear a bunch of swooshing and breathing and heart beats.

I am freaking out and worried sick right now. I need advice. I'm a first time rat owner and I have no experience with sick rats or URI's or anything. Any help is loved. I will talk to my mom tomorrow about getting to the vet.

As far as I could tell La Jolla wasn't making any noises but I think I want to get them both checked out now.. I'm just too worried about them.

Is there anything I can do in the meantime to help?

Gah, I don't need this stress right now!

 

[lilspaz68]

Did you put her side to your ear? If you hear any roughness, crackling, wheezing or gurgling then you have a URI flaring its ugly head. If its pretty quiet then you likely had an irritant up her nose, but keep an eye on her.

 

[jorats]

Before freaking out, make sure it is whats it is.

I also want to mention some rats do make a very low grunting noise, it used to me I would hear it more when the rat was being dominant but I hear it much more often now. You can only hear this grunting if they are very close to your face.

 

[Cinderwolf]

I tried to hear for anything in her chest but I didn't know what I was looking for, I will check again.

I'm a worry-wart so I will always worry haha.

Its not so much a grunt but a really faint little squeak or chirp noise.
I will be keeping a really close eye on her.

Thanks, you guys made me feel a bit better

 

[Cinderwolf]

Okay so update: I just checked her out again and it appears that the little chirps are gone. :joy:

I also listened to the side of her chest and all i heard with breathing noises, nothing crackly or gurgley.

So maybe it was just something in her nose like a little piece of dust or something. Anyways I will be keeping an eye on them both.

 

[Cinderwolf]

So Now i have a new problem. This time its La jolla.

She is making grunty nasally gurgle noises when she breaths :emb:

She has never done it before and we are worried about her. Trying to get an appointment today otherwise we have one on Monday for a check up. Still looking for a good vet since this is the first time I have had to bring my rats to the vet. It may be premature to be going to the vet but i just want to get them checked that way we aren't taking any chances

 

[ratamataz]

I'm not sure about Richmond, but Arbutis Animal Clinic in Kitsilano has a good rat vet last time I was there. The guy seemed really good. I never got a chance to test him out fully because I found him late in my rats lives. But he really seemed to know his stuff, I went there a few times.

I used to go to Kennedy Heights Animal and Bird Hospital in Surrey as they have a couple rat vets, but they were too conventional with their treatments and refused to go beyond the standard doxy/baytril treatment, and refused to hit it hard and fast, they were too cautious, even though their methods were clearly no longer effective. I stopped going to them.

There's also one called King George Animal Hospital or something, in Surrey (on King George Highway) but I only went there once, so I'm not sure how they rate.

The easiest way to find a rat vet is just phone one nearby, and ask if they have one. If they don't ask them to recommend vets that do. I phoned around a bunch and basically got these ones, although I can't remember how I heard about the one in Kitsilano. OH! I remember now. I found them when I was looking for Oxbow. They sell it, so I thought there was a pretty good chance they had a rat vet too, and it turns out they do!

Good luck with your girls, I know how much it sucks to get your first URI.

ETA: I just wanted to point out another negativity of the Kennedy Heights one, this can really start to matter if you have lots of rats sick at the same time. They charge appointments per rat, and will NOT budge on this. Each office visit is... $55 I think? And that's PER RAT. So if you have to bring in multiple rats at a time, it adds up. They also don't do "group meds", each rat has to be prescribed his own bottle of meds. It averages out to about $80 PER RAT just for a simple checkup and one bottle of doxy. They also won't prescribe you meds without seeing the rat first, no matter how many times you've been there. I went there a ton. They will not budge on this.

Arbutis on the other hand lets you bring in multiple rats for one office visit, and will prescribe you meds without needing to bring the rat in, providing they've seen it before. They'll also prescribe extra meds for extra rats. Much more accommodating.

 

[Cinderwolf]

Yeah, I called all those places and no one has any free spots today so we might have to just go with the Monday appointment at Arbutus. I'm going to call a few vets in Richmond that I know of and see if they treat rats.

 

[jorats]

When mine start sounds, if it's nasally, I wait a couple of days to see if the rat will sort it out on their own. So in a way, it's good that your appointment is only Monday.

 

[Cinderwolf]

When mine start sounds, if it's nasally, I wait a couple of days to see if the rat will sort it out on their own. So in a way, it's good that your appointment is only Monday.

Yeah I figure it wouldn't be too bad to wait a few days but unfortunately we will have to skip out on some previous engagements to make the appointment. But my girls are far more important to me so I don't mind.

I really hope that it will go away. I hate hearing her like this.