nasal congestion

[jorats]

For the last 2 to 3 weeks, my Isabelle has been making a lot of noise. It sounds like nasal congestion. When it first started, I waited a few days, it persisted so started her on Baytril. That did nothing... finally two days ago, I decided to buy Benedryl allergy for children, no alcohol, no sugar... I gave her 0.5ccs. The sounds stopped immediately. She seems cleared up.
I know it was safe to give it to her because my vet had recommended it a long time ago for my mom's rat Sven. He was always sneezy and we had tried everything. Finally my vet had decided it must be allergies. She told me it was safe to give him up to 1cc twice a day as needed. But I find the 0.5cc is enough.

 

[lilspaz68]

I really really should try that with Brie!! She always has these snufflies that improve on meds to a point but never go away, and it sounds like congestion.
How much does Isabelle weigh so I can get an idea of how much to dose?

 

[jorats]

She's 380 grams... big girl.

 

[lilspaz68]

She's 380 grams... big girl.

Ummm...extremely medium sized with my crew!

I noticed that my older rats that I only changed to strictly supplemented lab blocks later in life are all heavier (chubbier?) rats, but the younger crew are much more of a healthy weight since I started them on the proper diet.

Your 2 Maritimer boys are probably smaller than my NB 2 girls...

 

[jorats]

For some reason, those two boys are really hefty. They have some fat but so muscular and strong.
Unfortunately, those two are very skittish.

Fred 503 grams and Archie 538 grams

 

[lilspaz68]

For some reason, those two boys are really hefty. They have some fat but so muscular and strong.
Unfortunately, those two are very skittish.

Fred 503 grams and Archie 538 grams

Btw all the ratlings look just like Dad and he's a biiiig solid boy. Corrie's looks didn't even factor in. LOL

Kamali is sweet and calm at 448 grams, and Kyrie is big and skittish at 500 grams. She takes focus swaying to a new level, she's not a slow sway but does it fast and uses her whole upper body. :roll:

Both these girls have issues with URI, they keep flaring up. They are on baytril/zithro right now and only improving slowly...sigh.

 

[jorats]

Yep, lots of URI flare ups, my two have them and so does Nic's two girls.

 

[lilspaz68]

Genetic or do you think that the long journey at such a young age traumatized their immune system?

 

[jorats]

It all depends on how the ones in NB are doing. If they are doing great, no URI, then it would have to be the trip to Ontario.

 

[lilspaz68]

PM'g Godmother now. I am very curious.

 

[ratamataz]

How do you tell the difference between congestion noises and respitory noises?

 

[jorats]

It's really hard to tell unless you've got one of those very expensive exotic stethoscopes.
After 3 weeks of Baytril not working, I decided to try the allergy syrup and it worked!
My mom has been using it as well on a few of hers, a couple of her rats need the syrup every 4 days to keep them clear.

 

[ratamataz]

I wonder if maybe my rats have allergies. Once I took four of them to the vet all with porphyrin and sneezing, and paid $250 to be told all but one sounded clear! (And the one who wasn't clear was barely noticeable too) They always seem to have something wrong, sneezing, porphyrin, or both, and meds just don't seem to make that much of a difference. Maybe they are allergic to cats, lol.

 

[SQ]

I assume that part of the problem was such an early trip as I believe most or all became ill tho they were healthy before the trip. Ten of the babies from that litter live with 4 people on this forum. The remaining 2 girls were adopted in Montreal through Jane.

I suspect most of the problem is due to the situation their mother was in ... poor nutrition in the pet store, she had a litter, was sold and fed to a snake, poor nutrition - very very bad situation in every way, lots of stress. The babies were a week old when Teri and I rescued them and I saw no milk bellies for a few days ... they looked like they were starving and 2 of the 14 babies had died before we took them.

Their conditions improved once we took them ... and greatly improved a week later, once I was able to get them into a good foster home (godmothers). I had ill rats at home and one that the vet thought might be resistant to antibiotics so couldn't bring them to my place . (After months of trying diff things, we discovered it was Caleb's heart, not drug resistant respir disease.)

I think a lot of their difficulties stem from their poor pre and post natal nutrition. Also all the stress, etc Corrie was under (remember I posted about the snake owner trying to get the cats to enter the rat cage when I was there). The babies were well handled and loved once they moved in with godmother but Corrie didn't stop attacking people until I had been fostering/caring for her and her next (and last) litter for about 2 or 3 weeks.

The girls from Corries last litter do not have constant respir issues. They are a bit skittish tho they weren't that way as babies, and they look just like their father as well.

I have two of their half brothers ... Byron fathered them as well. Their litter of 14 was born 6 days after their parents, Corrie and babies were rescued from the snake owner. Their mother was very friendly toward people and they are not skittish. They would have had better pre and post natal nutrition than the babies you adopted. They do not have constant respir issues but one of the boys does have some. They also look just like their dad and are big boys ... esp. Jonathan.

Sorry to hear that Corrie and Byron's babies have such problems with respir issues. Thank you for giving them such wonderful homes.

Holly

 

[jorats]

I'm sure the trip had a lot to do with it... the three white guys that came from Clark were especially sick. Moose and Silas have since passed from severe pneumonia despite all the meds. And the third, Bobby, is barely hanging on.

My Fred is doing great respiratory wise, the odd little noise but I don't fuss over that. Archie has more sounds but the Baytril is keeping him happy.

One thing about these boys, they are huge, big, strong, muscle rats. They are absolutely beautiful rats.

 

[lilspaz68]

My girlies are a bit chubbers, but they are active I will tell you that. They both still love to play and initiate play sessions with me when they are out or in their cage.

Kamali's the braver one, she's soo sweet. Kyrie sees ghosts, its not me, its the rest of the world that makes her nervous. LOL But when I get my orange girl in my lap for a body stroking session, she will flatten out and just enjoy it for as long as I will do it

Don't be mistaken SQ, we love our Maritime kids to bits!!! :heart: It was the luck of the draw that our sweeties ended up with URI flareups...terribly sad beginnings that turned out to have a wonderful ending.

 

[SQ]

Jonathan was weighed today ... he is 640 g .. no fat, just a large muscular boy ... takes after his daddy Byron ...