Medication combos for URI - Help please!

crumbilina · Apr 13, 2012

One of my girls has a persistent URI that is getting a bit out of hand.

Her lungs sound awful
She is acting normal, just tired. Kinda how one would feel if it was hard to breath.
She is eating and drinking and happily taking her baytril and letting me cuddle her, etc.
She is almost 2 years old.

Now, she was at the vet sometime in February for the same thing (sorry, life's been a bit of a blur lately, I couldn't tell you the date or even which half of the month it was in). This has been an on and off thing now for half a year or so and I want to try and get something that is going to fix it. OR if she is a chronic, well I can discuss with my vet what we need to do at that point but lets try first.

In the past few months she has been on full 4-6 week courses of:
Baytril
Baytril + Zithro
Baytril + Clav.

I had doxy, but she stopped being stuffy and congested and I didn't want to start her on it if she didn't need it. And now, my vet doesn't stock it and I live so far away from the vet that even if they ordered it I would not be able to get it. The baytril and zithro literally did NOTHING the last time I gave it to her. The clav and baytril helped last time but it seems as though shortly after I stopped giving it to her she started up again. This makes me think that it was just holding off the infection and not really treating it. She is currently on baytril alone, but i think it is either holding her steady or doing nothing at all.
I have also been nebulizing her about every other day, although now that school and work are slowing down a bit, I'm going to increase that to every day.

I have a vet appointment next week, but when we were talking at my last appointment he said that we are running out of things to give.

SO, Could you RatShackers list what combos besides the ones mentioned here, that you have used so I have a list to give him?

He listens to me when I bring in recommendations and I think we are really going to need them for this appointment. Plus it would be nice to have a list of combos/medications that have been used successfully in the past. Don't worry about dosages, I can find those and if I can't my vet can... I just need medication names.

Thanks in advance!!!

Godmother · Apr 13, 2012

I know that it is common (in treating people) to use a small dose of corticosteroid (eg Prednisolone) to reduce inflammation in the lungs. Another possibility is a bronchodilator.

You could also ask to try Chlorpalm, which Debbie Ducommun's Rat Health Guide says is effective against Mycoplasma. Chlorpalm is not supposed to be taken with Baytril.

Good luck.

jorats · Apr 13, 2012

Pred or metacam might be worth a try.
But... this could be something worse like pulmonary abscesses since you've done all those combos with no good results.
When one of my rats are like that, I stop all meds for a few days and start over again with Baytril, then add Zithro. Sometimes it helps, sometimes it doesn't.

victoria · Apr 13, 2012

Can you not get a prescription for Doxy if it helps? It's a human drug, you should be able to fill it any pharmacy.

hopefloats · Apr 14, 2012

Is it her lungs or her nose? i have two girls that sound horrible and they have clear lungs. It is scaring of some sort in their nasal/sinus area.

crumbilina · Apr 14, 2012

Thanks everyone for the suggestions

I'll put chlorpalm and a broncodilator on the list

jorats said:
this could be something worse like pulmonary abscesses since you've done all those combos with no good results.

This is definitely something that I will be discussing with my vet when I get there. I don't think much can be done if thats the case tho. I do have pred here, he gave it to me last time I was there with her just in case she had a tumour on her spine (she doesn't!! woohoo!). So I'll mention it to the vet and we'll go from there.

victoria said:
Can you not get a prescription for Doxy if it helps? It's a human drug, you should be able to fill it any pharmacy.

Ooo I never thought of that! I mean, I should know that, I work with doxy at work but the thought never occurred to me >.< Thanks! I dunno if the doxy will help. It is just the only combo that I can think of that I have not tried. It's something that I think ill have to try.

hopefloats said:
Is it her lungs or her nose? i have two girls that sound horrible and they have clear lungs. It is scaring of some sort in their nasal/sinus area.

It is both. I think Jo might be right when she says pulm. abscesses. When I was at Shelagh's place a while ago she let me listen to a couple of her plum. ab. lungs. It sounds so similar. Her left lung is awful! It is also nasal because she will sneeze and snort as well.

Ive been keeping her cage as clean as I possibly can, switching out the fleece every other day. Its not improving things, but she is also not getting worse. Poor girl, I would hate to have a perma cold like she seems to have.

I also worry that there is something going on with that cage. She is the 3rd that hasn't responded to these combos. Makes me wonder... I almost don't want to get the "baby" boys in that cage just because I'm paranoid that this is something more then just myco. Maybe I should ask about that too. A culture perhaps?