Oliver. (Another update) Please help me...

[jorats]

It contagious to a point, it depends if the other buddies are susceptible, weaker, stressed then they it could set them off. But all my rats live together and when one gets it, the others don't.

If you can't get Baytril, then I would do Zithro and Cipro for 2 months.

 

[OlliesGirl]

Okay!
Sorry again for all the questions but I have just a few more.... :stickpoke:
Does he need the humidifier?
Is there a cause for it? (So it can be avoided like the plague!)
And what is the more serious thing it could turn into, just in case, so I can watch for symptoms.

I should have gotten the stupid video up sooner! :wallbang: GOSH!

 

[OlliesGirl]

Oh. My. Gosh.

I have no idea what is wrong with me. Why can't I just fix my rat. I JUST sent a request to Eagle for some more Cip TODAY. I just needed one more pill. I was only supposed to need one more pill.

We started Oliver on the 3rd of Feb. We continue to the 31st of March. Today is the 1st of march. We only have 30 more days of our 8 week period of Zithro and Cipro. So. My sister and I took out Oliver and Tristan and proceeded to play with them as USUAL. About 15 minutes in, out of the blue-the noises return. Literally out of nowhere. nowhere. Nothing different happened that doesn't happen usually. Now Oliver is hooting. I laid down and I cried. I am desperate. I have changed my laundry soap. Changed food. He is humidified. We have been giving him meds night and day. Is this how it will be from now on? I can handle that. Just tell me he can't be fixed. What I can't handle is believing he is going to be better when we have finished medicating him and then it starts all over again. For the fifth, sixth, and hundredth time. Why does this keep coming back. What can I do? Some one please help me. This is not how it was supposed to be. I feel like I am doing everything wrong.

 

[Joanne]

It may be heart problems instead of an infection...you may want to cover all your bases.

 

[mamarat]

Maybe he has allergies?

 

[jorats]

I have a little guy like that too. He just starts out of the blue and makes those noises. I've decided to stop treating for it and see what happens. Being medicated all the time is not good either.
What you could do is keep an eye on his energy level, appetite and any other changes while stopping all treatments. The minute he goes downhill, one slight change, then I'd bring him to a vet.
Cipro has never worked on any of my rats but the Zithro should have. So for now, keep an eye on the little guy.

 

[smilez_n_hugs]

How old is Oliver? I'm just curious because when I was having long term resp issues with one of my older manrats I was informed that zithro is most effective on rats under 6 months and doesn't work too well on older rats. From my personal experience with neverending resp issues baytril really is the way to go. Maybe this has already been asked but why can't you get baytril?

 

[OlliesGirl]

I'm not one really sure on his age but on the 16 of this month we were planning on calling it a year for the boys. I just didn't know where to get baytril or who to ask and I thought that cipro and zithro together were a good combination. I guess not tho.

I don't know anything about rat allergies... Is there something I can do to find out what his might be?
I don't know about heart problems either.... From the symptoms that Eagle sent me, he doesn't really match.
The vet has seen him when these noises first started but he didn't really think anything was very wrong. I'm not sure he's ever heard them before. He gave us a week of baytril and soon after that we went back and he gave us suflatrim for it. Each time the meds stopped it, but after he got off them it came right back.
The vet did great on the neuters but sometimes I felt like he didn't really care about the boys. I don't know.

Oliver hasn't made the sounds today. I just got home he is quite. It only lasted for about 20 minutes last night. If we take him of the meds I know the noises will start again. Is that when I take him to the vet? When the noises were constant he seemed totally fine. He was just loud, like in the videos above. That is what's confusing me so much. He never acts sick or funny. You can just hear him coming a mile away. The only thing that seems weird for his behavior is that he wants to chew everything and it really wasn't a problem before. He tries to chew anything plastic or cardboard, and he chewed up the spine of a book.

 

[Joanne]

You may want to spend some time reading on "The Rat Guide". It has a lot of information about every faucet of rat keeping, including health. See what info is there, and see if anything matches what is going on.
http://ratguide.com/

 

[smilez_n_hugs]

Have you tried contacting you vet and telling him that you are still having resp issues and have heard from a reputable rat owner that 2 months of baytril will help him? If not then its always worth a shot...since it is the same issue the vet has already treated him for another check up shouldn't be necessary. Just a little disclaimer :giggle: I don't know that Oliver needs baytril this is just what I would do if I was in your shoes.

 

[ryelle]

I think you need to bite the bullet and go and see a vet. If you arent happy with what your normal vet says, go and get a second opinion somewhere else. Whilst people may try and guess what is wrong with your rat, nobody (that i know of) on here is a qualified veterinarian, and that is somebody that you need to be discussing this with. If the vet suggests trying a combo of meds for a certain amount of time and they dont work, then you go back and they work with you.

 

[OlliesGirl]

I know, I need to see the vet. It just doesn't seem that bad now.
I thought we could just fix it. But now he is not making any noises. He only does it constantly if he is not on the medicine, so I don't know what to tell the vet.
:gaah: I'm just so frustrated.

This is what has happened to him:
Baytril 2 weeks, which helped and then it came back.
The vet gave him 2 injections of ivomectin for mites treatment.
2 weeks on sulfatrim which barely helped until after he stopped taking it, then it came back.
^^^--------------------------------^-Vet's orders-^-------------------------------^^^

Then I asked on here for help:
He was on Cipro and Doxy for 4 weeks. Dec 26 to Jan 23.
Now it's Cipro and Zithro for 8 weeks. Feb 3 to March 31.

But last night (March 1) he had a noise spell (like videos on page 2) for approx. 20 min and I freaked out, but he hasn't done it since then.

Now I don't know if I take him off the meds, go to the vet without any symptoms, or just continue and hope it's not a wasted effort and my rat is immune to any medication.


And Eagle sent me a link to that rat guide and I read the entire reference guide about respiratory and heart disease, viewtopic.php?f=26&t=2470
The noises are the only things that appear to be wrong with him.
UGH!!

 

[victoria]

Could it be that something in his environment irritated his respiratory tract? I have some sick kids over here and they need to have their cage cleaned at least every day and a half or my boy starts making scary sounds

 

[OlliesGirl]

That would be just what I needed. So is it just because he is sick at the moment or do you have to do it every other day forever? Right now I clean Oliver's every week, it is a pretty big cage, and he is living alone so I thought I was doing it enough.

I have him out now and he is having little fits of noise making. I had him out about the same time last night.

 

[victoria]

I'm not sure because they are new to my family... they probably got sick from the stress of the change. I just noticed that their symptoms got better when I cleaned the cage - I used to do it twice a week. Every situation is different though, depending on the cage, number of rats, type of bedding, etc. Even if you don't clean the cage more frequently, I would clean/change his favourite sleeping spot more frequently. I always put fleece strips in my guys nests (their house, hammocks, cubes, igloos, etc.) and I change those every day, and that also helps a lot.

Are you using a humidifier? I only had a bowl beside my vent before but switched to a humidifier and that made a huge difference as well. I turn it on for 8-12 hours a day and it really helps.

Also keep in mind the cage is not the only possible irritant. Dust, perfumes, even fumes from some cleaning products are some of the things that can bother some rats. Try to go back over the last few days and see if you can find anything that may be exacerbating his condition.

 

[OlliesGirl]

I will try to keep his cage as clean as I possibly can and see if that will help. I did change the laundry soap I use as well trying to help. And we do have a coolmist humidifier in the room with him. I'm not sure about dust, but I do try to keep any perfumey things away from him. Gosh, there are just so many things to look out for.

I'm still just confused on what I should do as far as the medications. Do I continue with what I have until the end of the month like the plan was? Do I stop everything now? I don't know which is better or worse for the little guy.

 

[victoria]

Don't stop giving him medication unless you are switching to something else. I would call the vet and let him know that he is showing worsening symptoms and see what he/she thinks. If he's been on meds for a month and now he's worsening, I would be inclined to say you should switch. I would also keep in mind/bring up with your vet the possibility that Oliver may have to be on meds long term/for life. Not necessarily the combo he's on now but maybe Batryl or another broad spectrum ab.