Pneumonia - false alarm!

[Cigar]

My poor boy Osiris went from occasional sneezing to wheezing almost over night. He sounds like he's barking and has these ultra scary clicking fits; I suspect his lungs have fluid in them. I was awake all night listening to him and it's breaking my heart. It has to be pneumonia because I've never heard a URI like this.

What type of medication should I expect from the vet? I looked through the drug chart and Azithromycin [zithromax] or Baytril look the most likely. I read that Lasix might dry up the fluid in his lungs, is this true?

Any help is very appreciated; I want to go in prepared.

 

[Moon]

How old is he? Zithromax is apparently very good for acute infections, especially in younger rats. Zithro or baytril combined with doxy are good combos.

If he sounds THAT bad you probably want to try a med combo, single antibiotics aren't often strong enough for bad infections.

 

[Godmother]

And get some lasix into him as soon as possible to ease his distress and to ease the strain on the heart. If you don't have any, are you close to anyone on the Forum who might have some? Or do you have access to an after-hours vet?

It is such a horrible thing to watch helplessly when they are having trouble breathing. Definitely that's been the worst experience for me during my time with ratties.

 

[Joanne]

Wouldn't the Lasix make the pneumonia worse as it would make the mucus thicker and harder to cough up?

 

[Godmother]

Joanne, good question. I don't know for sure, but I don't think so. If the lung tissue is full of fluid it can't function. I guess that a bronchodilator and some Pred would be helpful also. I think that is what they do for people, and I don't know whether they give people Lasix for pneumonia.

ETA: here is what I found in an article about treating kids with pneumonia

In children, pneumonia must be differentiated from bronchiolitis and asthma. Pneumonia is the only one of these three conditions for which antibiotics are indicated. Clinical signs are more useful than radiological or laboratory investigations for differentiating pneumonia from bronchiolitis and asthma. A child has pneumonia if she has tachypnoea or indrawing and is not wheezing.

Aha, Joanne, you are right. Here's a caution on a medical forum about the inappropriate use of Lasix in pneumonia:

Furosemide was considered potentially harmful when the diagnoses included sepsis, dehydration or pneumonia, without a diagnosis of CHF or BNP > 400.

The key is a diagnosis. If the rat is wheezing does that mean it's not pneumonia? That's what the second article says for humans. This is pretty useful info for me. My rats whose breathing suddenly gets faster (tachypnoea) but no wheezing is pneumonia. That's what happened to Maude. I underestimated the seriousness of her condition because there were no lung sounds (vet couldn't hear anything with a stethoscope either).

 

[Cigar]

Osiris is mmmm 16 months old. I agree that a med combination would be wise with the horrible way he sounds. I've used zithro before with success but is he too old now?

Good question, Joanne and excellent detective work, Godmother. I'm sorry about Maude. I wish they could talk to us.. and then I remember why I don't want kids. lol We just had a long playtime and he didn't have any coughing fits. I'm taking him into the bathroom while I shower and it steaming up. I hope it'll help him fall asleep comfortably tonight.

 

[jorats]

I've just switched my old guy Jorge on Zithro because he was reacting badly to Baytril and it has done him a world of good.
I'd try the combo for sure.

 

[Cigar]

The RMCA chart talks about the risk of stroke if using zithro in combination with doxy and baytril. Have any of you experienced this personally or know someone who has?