Never owned a male rat before...

[JD Cole]

Hello, I'm hoping to find some answers here before I take my buddy Marron to the vet. (The vets in my area don't know anything about rats).

I picked him up on a whim this weekend at a PetSmart while I was getting supplies for my two girls. Marron's fairly young, about 3 inches long. I've owned female rats before, and never seen a serious rat illness (luckily). But Marron just had a pitiful look on his face, and I made the mistake of asking to hold him. Next thing I knew he was in the front seat on the way home with me, and I set up a separate cage for him until I can get him neutered. He gets equal play time as the girls, he just has to spend it with me since he has no cagemate.

I didn't take notice of his lack of movement the first day, I figured he was pretty nervous about his new home. But now I see that he just plain moves slowly. He behaves healthy outside of that, he enjoys exploring and he grooms, eats and drinks regularly. He just pads around much slower than the girls. Is that because he's young? He also seems to run out of energy quicker than they do, but that's related to the next symptom.

I noticed yesterday that he was chittering an awful lot, which the girls do only occasionally. When I held him closer to my ear, I realized it sounded more like congestion than teeth grinding. So his slowness combined with his heavy breathing has me concerned. I plan to take him to the vet, but could anyone here give me a clearer picture if there's something seriously wrong with him? I don't plan to take him back to the store, but my only experience with rat sickness was coming home to find one dead one day (but she was about three years old, the same with her sister).

 

[Rachael]

It might be a respiratory but he might just be nervous..... the slower he is probably more wary and getting used to it. The grinding teeth may just be him bruxing, they also do this to comfort themselves. If you wanted to get a vet to listen to his chest, good diea, and see how you go.

Just read he has heavy breathing which is a bit concerning.

(Sorry this is jumbled up)

 

[mamarat]

If you hear congestion it would be better if you could see a vet for meds.

 

[JD Cole]

Thanks for the replies. Is congestion in rats very serious, or is it like with people where we're less worried about a stuffy nose than having an asthma attack? I ask because I can either take him to the local vet who mainly just deals with cats and dogs, or I can wait and try to find someone with more rodent experience in the city this weekend.

 

[SQ]

He likely needs antibiotics such as clavamox (10 mg/Ib twice a day for 2-3 weeks), baytril (10 mg/Ib twice a day for 6 weeks), or azithromycin (5 - 15 mg/Ib twice a day for at least 3 or 4 weeks).
If he has fluid in his lungs, he likely needs a diuretic such as lasix (1-2 mg/Ib twice a day) for awhile until the antibiotics are working. (info from Rat Health Care book and personal experience)

You may want to print out and take the RMCA drug chart with you. http://www.rmca.org/Articles/dchart.htm

Rats get sick and die very fast so you need to see a vet that will treat rats asap.

 

Is congestion in rats very serious

Yes, it is ..rat's get sick very easily and can die quickly if not treated.

 

[Rachael]

Thanks for the replies. Is congestion in rats very serious, or is it like with people where we're less worried about a stuffy nose than having an asthma attack? I ask because I can either take him to the local vet who mainly just deals with cats and dogs, or I can wait and try to find someone with more rodent experience in the city this weekend.

It will need treatment. It would be worse if he was side sucking and making noises... but he still needs a vet.

 

[maria-mar]

It doesn't seem to have nothing to do with him being male... it's just a rat who's sick.
Usually when rats are sick they try to hide it, so if you can see clearly that he's sick, it means he needs to go to the vet as soon as possible!..

 

[JD Cole]

I was able to get off a bit early from work to see the vet today. He was very pleasant, though he said he's treated guinea pigs and hamsters, but no rats. Marron (or Mac for short--don't ask) seemed happy to explore the vets office and the examination table, but still moved around really slow and he's visibly scrawnier than he was a few days ago. The vet looked him over, checked his fur, asked alot of questions about Mac's recent behavior, and gave him a shot of convenia which he said was a AB for cats. Hopefully this wasn't a big no-no. Mac's eating a dried banana chip right now, but looks really sleepy.

I'm hoping to see improvement over the next couple days. Aside from his breathing and lack of energy, he's every bit the curious explorer that the girls (Mocha and Cheez-its) are. Any other advice anyone can offer?

 

[jorats]

Ugh, Convenia is no good on rats. Go back and beg for Baytril. If he's treated guinea pigs and hamsters he'll know exactly how much to give but it wouldn't hurt to print out the med guide on RMCA, I believe someone has already posted the link in this thread.
He really is a cutie... he'll outgrow that cage in a couple of months. Also, the slowness could be due to being all alone. Babies need other babies to play and cuddle and learn on how to be rats. He really needs a same sex buddy unless you plan on getting him neutered and adding to your girls.

 

[xxchelle]

Is that his permanent cage, or just a travel cage? It's much too small to be a permanent cage...

I agree that the slowness might be due to depression from being alone. If his breathing is off, if he's got a URI, he'll need Baytril for at least 2-3 weeks.

 

[JD Cole]

I got it as a temporary cage until he recovered from neutering, but obviously that hasn't happened yet. The girls are in the bigger multi-level cage.

I'll ask the vet about this Baytril. Would most vets have this on hand, or is it a rat-specific medicine?

 

[xxchelle]

It's not rat-specific. In fact, for rats I believe it's off-label use. It's a basic antibiotic that most vets should have on hand.

As far as I know, convenia is really only good for skin infections/abscesses? But I'm not sure, my vet does not prescribe it, he doesn't like to use it on rats.

 

[JD Cole]

Well, a hopeful sign- the little guy woke me up at 1am making quite a racket. I thought it was the girls horsing around in their cage, but it was Mac climbing around like a monkey trying to chew his way out of his cage. So I let him out to run around while I went back to bed, but his running around woke me up all morning. I don't think he napped at all, he just wandered around for several hours. I don't mind missing a night's sleep if it means he's feeling better, but his congestion is still pretty bad.

 

[jorats]

Just to clarify, Baytril is labelled for rats, all small animals in fact. Be specific and say you want Enrofloxacin for your little guy.
Is that the same vet that will neuter him? If your vet does rat neuters, he'll know Baytril.

 

[JD Cole]

Well, I was planning to take Mac in later today to ask about getting the new medicine, but when I woke up I saw he hadn't eaten the food I put in last night. So I took him in first this thing this morning but he was too weak for all the stress and he died at the vet's office. The doc tried reviving him with oxygen and light chest pumps (never seen CPR on a rat before), but the little guy was gone. Sad to watch, but hopefully I'm learning a bit more for if this happens in the future. I feel bad about not getting him back to the vet sooner, but I can't afford to keep taking off early for vet visits and I work an hour outside of town, so using the lunchbreak is no good, either. Thanks everyone for your help and advice.

 

[maria-mar]

I'm really sorry, poor boy

 

[mamarat]

I'm so sorry. RIP little one.

 

[jorats]

I'm so sorry...

 

I'm sorry