Is She Having Trouble Breathing?

[Slapdash]

Hi,

We recently got a 5 week old rat, she is about 7 weeks now and when we got her she had an upper respitory infection. The vet put her on baytril but after a week with no improvment switched her to another antibiotic which she has been on about a week and we noticed dramatic improvment after only a few days. Not as much sneezing, dishcharge or squeeky breathing noises. Well, since yesterday she has been sleeping a lot and it's making me nervous. About amonth ago we lost an 8 week old rat to pneumnia unexpectedly and she was perfectly normal until it was too late. So now I am on edge all the time I don't want to lost this precious girl. I filmed her today here are a few videos... do you think she is having trouble breathing, you can sort of see her side moving in and out in the first video at about 20seconds. Is that normal or labored breathing? The second one is kind of long but about halfway through it you can see the little spells she goes through where she makes squeeky or wheezy noises and then she's totally fine. You have to turn it up to hear the squeeky noises she makes. Oh and btw she is being treated for lice as well which is why she's so itchy. So, do I continue with the anribiotics and wait for more improvment and not worry about her sleeping more than usual. Or do I ruch her to the emergency vet now? Thanks, I hope she's going to be ok!

Amanda

 

[Maple]

To me is looks like your little girl is showing signs of stress. The first thing I would do is get her a friend. Rats are family animals and do best with at least one of their own kind and now would be the best time to do it.

 

[Slapdash]

She actually has a friend, Ralphie a neutered 3 month old male. Out first female was supposed to be his romate then after she passed we got Rosie. But, now that he is almost 4 months and she isn't feeling well I'm afraid to house them together until she is a little bigger. They have playtime but he jumps on her and tries to play with her and she just goes limp and I'm afraid he's going to hurt her because of the size diffrence? So that's why I'm waiting until she's bigger. Should I not, I can also get a video of them playing if you think I should? So, you think the squeeky noises are actually stress not her having trouble breathing? Thanks

 

[Chevalrose]

That little "spells" she's going through, Tobi does that all the time. They're like hiccups. As I was told...some rats just do that throughout their lives. She seems pretty spunky still and doesn't look or sound like she's having trouble breathing. Is she eating and drinking fine?

As long as theres no blood (as in scratches or bites) when you intro them, you should give them a chance together. They need to establish order. 7 weeks is usually a good age to start putting them together.

 

[SQ]

If she is doing something like "hiccups", it is a symptom of myco. If rats do it infrequently, people ignore it. If they do it a lot then the rat is treated for myco with antibiotics for 6 weeks.
Some people do not believe that it is a symptom of myco, but when it is treated with antibiotics it stops.

If she is responding to the antibiotics, I would her on them for at least 6 weeks.

If you did not get her from a place where she was pretty much quarantined by knowledgeable people, then she needed to be quarantined for at least 4 weeks in a separate airspace. It doesn’t sound like that was done so if she has anything contagious, your boy has likely already been exposed.
I would treat both rats with revolution (for lice, mites and other parasites ... you may not be able to treat her right now depending on what you are giving her for the lice).
I would start intros, putting the cages near one another as her lice are gone.

 

[jorats]

Your little girl is acting very normal. And I would say she looks healthy too. But if she is on meds, continue the med for at least a 4 to 6 weeks to make sure it gets dealt with for good.
Those "hiccups" she made may or may not mean myco. It is still debatable if that indeed indicates myco. I tend to think that no, it does not.
The sounds she was making are actually vocalizations... very very few rats will make these.

She's a pretty little thing... the sleeping more can be boredom, I'd work on intros and get her and Ralphie moved in together asap.