Might have made a horrible decision

[Pixie]

Ok so I really hate to post this, because I know I will probably get alot of flack. But here goes...

So some of you may know that my neutered boy Norman has a lump and is in between 18-24 month. Then I have Fiona who we figure is between 6-12 months. While when i found out Norman has cancer, I started to think about what I would do when he passes and Fiona needs a cage mate. Well I came across a kijiji add for a single 4 month old blue rat. I immediately fell in love with this little guys picture and even more so when I meet him in real life.

Here is what the ad said "I have this cute fat male blue rat haha named Ratatooee! And he needs a forever home. I had got him to get my girls pregnant, for snake food.. :'( but the snake is gone now, and he is still wanting to breed. He is totally free, if you need shaving or food ill hook for up for a couple bucks Please call me at 705 928 4585 my name is Jaymee

No cage avalable..."

So I decided the best thing for Fiona and Norman would be to get a young male and have him neutered. I have an extra cage, so it wasn't an issue about keeping them separated. And I have the $150 plus to spend on getting him neutered. But what I didn't plan for was quarentine and now I am kicking myself in the a$$ for being so irresponsible.

So I get to this persons house and she has (Logan-I renamed him) in a small aquarium with another girl. And she also has a small cage (the size of the my first home rat cage) and she has 3-4 other rats of mixed gender in it. You can tell the girl loves her rats because she is visably sad to see Logan leave and is not shy with humans. And the rats have quite a few toys. They were on pine shaving which I explain is not good for their respiratory system as it has chemicals that can be very harmful to their lungs. She said she just bought a bag of carefresh so thats good. I told her that if she has them mixed in together then she is garenteed to have babies because rats go into heat every 5 days or so and that they can breed as early as 5 weeks old. I also told her about this forum. She seemed a bit overwhelmed but was eager to learn more.

So here is where I probably should have walked away. I noticed Logan was having sneezing fits, which she asked me about. And I told her about how rats are really prone to URI and that I would take him to the vets and get him antibiotics. Now I should have immediately phoned my friend Nikki to see if she could take Logan for at least the week or two that he would be on antibiotics, but she has 3 kids and I knew she would do it but I didn't want to burden her. Anyways as I was leaving LIndsay I started phoning vets and made an appointment for 2 hours time at a the same vet clinic henrys_mum uses. So I drove around and killed some time by getting some supplies I needed from the pet store. Logan didn't seem to be weezing or huffing but his eyes were half closed and he had a few sneezing fits.

The vet sees him and says his infection isn't in his lungs yet and gives me baytril 1/4 tablet every 12 hours for 7 days. They were really awesome and nice and we discussed a neuter for Logan once his URI is better/gone. She said he shouldn't be in the same air space as my rats and that it is really contagious and to be careful about washing my hands. Needless to say my free rat quickly became a $95 rat. But I already knew he would be at least $150 rat with his neuter.

So being the idiot that I am I brought Logan home and immediately set him up in the basement, my other two are in the spare bedroom upstairs, and gave him his first antibiotic treatment. Which quartering a pill that small is ridiculous, but he gladly ate some mixed in with baby cereal off the end of a spoon. Then i took a shower and changed clothes before going near my guys.

So he has been in the house since yesterday at 3:00 and my guys are fine so far. My question to everyone is... is it too late to send him to my friends house while he is being treated or have I already missed that window by infecting the air in my house. Please note that if my other babies start showing any sign of infection I have no problem taking them into the vets for an exam and antibiotics, and spending another couple hundred of dollars on them, but I would rather them not get sick at all, but I guess i should have thought of that before bringing Logan into the house. :emb:

Please let me know if you think it is worth sending Logan to a friends, or if I should just keep treating him here and be prepared to take my other two babies into the vets if they start showing symptoms too.

 

[Moon]

Don't beat yourself up too badly, although QT is important a LOT of people aren't able to do proper QT and you've gone farther than a lot of people can.

Technically, your QT is already broken with Logan being in the house, especially if you've not showered/changed/etc between visits to groups of rats.

 

[Pixie]

Thanks moon. Thats what I figured. I guess I will just have to keep my fingers crossed and be prepared to take my other babies into the vets at the first sign that they might be getting sick too. On the plus side Logan now has a mommy who can afford to take him to the vets and get him the medical attention he required before his infection got worse.

Just wanted to say Cavan Hills Vet Clinic was amazing and the ladies that work there were very friendly and supportive of me and Logan.

 

[jorats]

I would say that your quarantine is better than 80% of us here. We should be so lucky to have a basement to use for quarantine.
Plus the fact that Logan is on meds already is a plus. I wouldn't fret so much about it.
CongRATS on the new little guy!!

 

[lilspaz68]

Lets talk about medicating Logan.

1) 7 days is NOT long enough...ever. I would only medicate 7 days if I was trying to prevent an infection after a surgery but not with an active RI. It should be a minimum of 2 weeks or 1 week past when all symptoms disappear (whichever is longer)

2) What are the pills you have? Baytril yes, but what mg are they? 22.7 mg pills? How many were you given (only 4 pills)? How much approx does Logan weigh?

With all this information I can figure out if you have MORE than a 7 day supply of meds and I can teach you how to mix up an oral solution which will be easier for everyone.

 

[Pixie]

Lilspaz68:

It is baytril and the bottle says 15mg. Im assuming that is 15mg/pill. I was given 4 pills. Logan weighed 275g.
Instructions say give 1/4 pill every 12 hours until finished, with food.

So far his first two doses went smoothly. I sprinkled it onto baby cereal on the tip of a butter knife and he gladly licked it all off.

I thought 7 days was too short, but I took for granted that the vet knew what she was talking about.

Here are a couple of pics of my new little man.

 

[jorats]

Some vets still don't realize that 7 days can do more harm than not medicating at all... when it comes to rats. Once you are almost done, go back for a recheck which should be a lot cheaper than an exam and ask for more.

 

[Pixie]

Thanks Jorats. I figured we will have to go for a check up after 6-7 days and get more antibiotics. Need to make sure his RI is gone before he goes in for surgery for the big snip.

 

[SQ]

Many of us take calculated risks as few can do a proper quarantine.
As others said, too late to change anything now.
I would suggest you check to make sure your boy is getting the right amount of baytril and it if is helping, you will need to get more baytril.
If it doesn't start to help within a few days, you will want to try another antibiotic, likely in combination with the baytril.
I would never medicate less then 6 weeks for a respir infection, otherwise they usually are not completely treated and return.

 

[Pixie]

SQ: Thanks for your advice. Several years ago now I had a little girl rat who had chronic URI and she did well on Zithromax.

Has anyone else used zithromax for URI's?

I guess I will make a check up appointment for late next week, and I will just have to wait and see how Logan responds to the antibiotics before he can get neutered. Hopefully the vet can help make that decision as well.

lilspaz68: I look forward to hearing any advice you have on giving Logan his medication in a better and more accurate form.

I really appreciate everyones advice and support.

 

[mamarat]

Congrats!! He's gorgeous.

 

[Dazzle87]

SQ: Thanks for your advice. Several years ago now I had a little girl rat who had chronic URI and she did well on Zithromax.

Has anyone else used zithromax for URI's?

I guess I will make a check up appointment for late next week, and I will just have to wait and see how Logan responds to the antibiotics before he can get neutered. Hopefully the vet can help make that decision as well.

lilspaz68: I look forward to hearing any advice you have on giving Logan his medication in a better and more accurate form.

I really appreciate everyones advice and support.

Zithromax is great when used with baytril or doxy, it has shown results in rats that nothing else worked for. Zithromax by it's self is not as effective though.

 

[jorats]

We've had great results with Zithro by itself but on young rats, under 12 to 14 months. No idea why younger is better?

 

[Pixie]

This little guy is suppose to be around 4 months. I will phone tomorrow to book a check up for later this week. I will suggest more baytril and maybe zithromax. If my memory is right, I remember zithromax being pretty expensive, not that cost is a concern at this stage.

 

[jorats]

It is a little more expensive. If you do get Zithro, don't get them to mix it for you. Ask that you mix in the water. And ask for them to separate it into 3 bottles.

 

[Joanne]

Good luck with your new man - he's handsome! Hopefully he's just sneezing because of the bedding he was kept on and he'll respond quickly.

 

[Pixie]

He seems a bit better this morning. Only a few sneezing fits here and there, and still cleaning his little face a lot. I will definitely be phoning the vet today to get more antibiotic, because the little whipper snapper has figured out how to spit his pills out. I was hiding them in baby food and the first two times he gobbles it down, but the third time he ate it and an literally spit the pill part out. Last night I used some peanut butter and honey and that hide it well but this morning nothing seems to be working. So I will go through the 4 pills they gave me pretty fast without him even getting the whole 7 day treatment. Which is another reason why I need more antibiotics, because I and everyone else on here seems to agree that he needs to be on them for at least 14 days if not longer. I also want to ask about getting a liquid form.

I am sure being in an aquarium and on pine shavings, has taken a toll on the little guys lungs. He is only 4 months so I am hoping he bounces back quickly. He is so adorable and just the sweetest and most handsome little guy :heart:

 

[lilspaz68]

you aren't crushing the pills first? I actually soak Issa's bromo in a teeny bit of water, then put baby cereal on top and mix it together. Every bite is medicine-y goodness

 

[Pixie]

Initally I didn't crush the pill but this morning I did and he still wouldn't eat any of the things I tried to ie him. I tried pb and honey and then when he wouldn't take that I heated it up with a bit of baby cereal and mixed it in. He licked a bit off my fingers but didn't gobble it up like the other day. I left the small bowl
In his cage so hopefully he will eat it on his own when he doesn't feel so pressured.

 

[lilspaz68]

pick up strawberry Nesquik syrup and see if you cannot use a little of that to mask the taste. Its what I use when I make up meds and most rats love it.