Potential respiratory infection?

[Marie Shannon]

Hello everyone!

I have two baby rats, both boys, that I recently purchase from a reptile store where they were meant to be feeder rats. I’ve given them a day or two to adjust but I’ve noticed that one of them seems to be sneezing quite a bit. I’ve heard occasional sneezes from the other but the one seems to sneeze very often when I hold him. I’ve tried to make sure it’s not any lotions or scents on me. He seems to be eating and drinking normally but a bit withdraw and usually hiding on one corner of the cage or in his house. He seems playful and eager to run around when placed in a medium sized clear plastic ball. There’s no discharge around either of their eyes or noses from what I can see

I have a vet that I know will be able to see them but I’m also a poor college student and would prefer not to pay a vet bill unless absolutely necessary. Just wanted to get some opinions
Thanks!

 

[SQ]

Make sure there are no scents in your home that could be irritating them, dusty bedding etc. Do you hear anything when you hold them up to your ear and listen to both sides of their chest?
Keep a close eye on them and if it becomes worse or the sneezes have not stopped within a few days of getting them (ie new home sneezes) then have a vet look at them as they may need antibiotics.

You might also want to make an appointment and then cancel if you do not need it - it will likely be difficult to see a vet for the next couple of weeks. Christmas is next week and vets often are very difficult to get ahold of between then and after New Years

 

[SQ]

Edited above: Do you hear anything when you hold them up to your ear and listen to both sides of their chest?

btw clavamox and azithromycin (10 mg/ml) are both baby friendly antibiotics.
ratguide.com has info

 

[Marie Shannon]

I’ll definitely be sure to keep an eye on them thank you! So far they seem to want to play. At the moment the only bedding is the one that was sold to me which is pine so for the next few days I’m going to use several layers of paper towels and shred up some for nesting purposes and just replace it daily so I can see if the bedding is causing the issue. I also placed a humidifier in my room to see if that could help at all. Generally only one of them seems to be in a worse state to where when he gets worked up or is running around he sneezes more than just sleeping or hanging out.

Edit: I don’t hear anything when I place him near my ear unless he’s running around or trying to climb out of my hand in which case he sounds a little raspy with frequent sneezes

 

[Lookup]

Hi Marie. My daughter is also a poor college student, so I can understand. Your boys are really cute. To help with the cost, let me suggest you litter train them now, while you're out of school, and you'll save money on litter. Just put a couple of litter boxes in the spots where they seem to go, with something like yesterday's news litter and a rock, called a "pee rock," large enough for grown rats to stand on. Pick up all the poops and put them in the boxes, and clean up the wet spots. They should get it pretty quickly and keep their cage much cleaner for you. Merry Christmas!

 

[Marie Shannon]

Thank you so much for the suggestion! I’m planning on buying some different bedding for them the next chance I get anyways but I think this would definitely help!

 

[SQ]

Softwood shaving such as pine and cedar will slowly destroy the lungs of small animals as well as cause liver damage
Pine is said to be ok to use if and only if it has been kiln dried

See: http://ratguide.com/care/environment/cage_bedding_litter.php

 

[Marie Shannon]

As a quick update I’d completely removed pine bedding from the equation so at the moment I’m using the SoPhresh line of odor control paper bedding. Hopefully that will be better for them and I won’t have to change it every day

 

[Bri5324]

Hi I’m a newer owner to rats and I’m not sure if one of my rats has a respiratory infection or it’s how they normally breathe but one of my rats when he’s sniffing the air I hear like almost a whistle noise. I checked to hear there lungs and chest and sounds normal so not sure if that whistle noise means something worse. They both eat and drink fine.

 

[Marie Shannon]

Hi I’m a newer owner to rats and I’m not sure if one of my rats has a respiratory infection or it’s how they normally breathe but one of my rats when he’s sniffing the air I hear like almost a whistle noise. I checked to hear there lungs and chest and sounds normal so not sure if that whistle noise means something worse. They both eat and drink fine.

I would definitely recommend having them be seen by a vet! The whistling noise sounds like a respiratory infection for sure