Rat has respitory distress, thin and flaky coat

[ratsr4life]

Well my trip on the train was perfect, the rats got pampered by the crew of Via Rail (i recommend this type of transportation for rats!) and i made it home safely.

My young brother has a rat as a pet, the rats playmate passed away due to cancer and is alone (young brother isnt that interested anymore and my mum said we shouldnt get another rat.)

Now, i cant change the living situation and i cant adopt the rat myself (brother would be too upset), but i have moved the cage to a point where she can hear the other rats (mine) and hope she will feel better and start eating more.

Her respitory is awful, brother has no money to take it to the vets.

The only thing i can do is get her as comfortable as possible while iam here (three months) I want to show my brother that with a little TLC, she can be much more happier.

So, i need your guys opinions on what drugs to put her on. Iam willing to pay myself, just to show my brother she can be heaps better BUT, iam on a budget and i do have 4 rats of my own to care for. So that being said, should i just get as much Baytril as possible and put her on that for life?

Another problem is that this is a very small town and not one vet is rat friendly, so not many meds are here (such as amoxil, cefa drops, steroids)

Right now i gave her some decongestant and antihistamine (human meds for colds) 50mg altogether, just to make her comfortable now, and it worked, she has perked up. Iam going to put her on a good diet, with a drop of olive oil once a day.

So any suggestions?

 

[ratsr4life]

Any medication you found help ease symptoms? (menthol? food? daily routine such as steam?)

 

[jorats]

I'd do the Baytril and if you could get prednisone, that might ease a bit of pain for her too. Pred should be available in all vet offices no matter how small they are.
I'm glad you are showing your brother how to properly care for this little one... You came at the right time.
Also, if you can't get meds for her, then the kindest thing you can do is have her put to sleep if she's suffering too much or when it becomes too much.

 

[SQ]

baytril plus either doxy, or azithromycin would likely help. If they help she needs to be on them for at least 6 weeks. (My vet writes me a prescription for azithromycin to the drug store as their vet clinic does not have it.)
plus lasix if she has fluid in her lungs.
A bronchodialator such as albuterol may also help her to breath easier.

Sounds like her diet is very poor too ... finger feeding baby cereal mixed up with water, soy baby formula or ensure should help ... add a couple of drops of olive oil to it. Give her as much of the baby cereal as she is willing to lick off your finger ... do this at least 4 times a day ... also peas and of course a good quality lab block in her dish. Ill rats will also often be more likely to eat lab blocks made into a mush with a few drops of olive oil added.

She needs friends and that may be contributing to her illness.
Hopefully your ratties can provide her with the companionship she needs (assuming you have friendly girls or neutered boys)

 

[ratsr4life]

I think all of this has to do with the fact she doesnt have a playmate. The best i can do for her is just put her in the same room as my rats so she can hear and possibly smell them. Unfortunatly one of my rats is a little on the aggressive side and it took me many months for her to accept my two young adopted rats, so for her to actually get to know them is slim.

With what i have done for her, seems to be working, she loves the taste of olive oil and i put a few drops on her veggies and she ate the whole bowl! I also made up a complete rat diet: chromium, calcium, B12, and traces of other minerals/vitamins, with oats, pearled barley, flax seed (crushed), wheat germ, brown rice, shelled SF seeds, millet, tofu (packaged) plus some lab blocks. She loves the homemade diet and eats that.

Ill be phoning the vets, but as i said, they dont have many meds and are not rat friendly. Ill keep this thread updated as the weeks go by.

 

[jorats]

One thing you should keep in mind is that rats that can smell but not interact with other rats can actually cause more stress than good. I don't think I would have her in the same room, especially if she's sick, you don't want yours getting it either.
That sounds like a great booster of a diet for her.

 

[ratsr4life]

i spoke to the vet and she says myco isnt contagious, only viruses like strep and pink eye. I thought that too, about her getting more stressed when she can smell them, so i kept a good eye on her and i have not seen any negatives from her, only positive so far, it seemed to give her a boost and she seems more bright eyed and will eat anything you give her (she used to sniff the food, and look away

 

[jorats]

What? Myco is not contagious. :doh:
All rats have myco, they flare up from time to time and some get worse especially with secondary infections. These are all contagious. If you have rat A with her strain of myco and you put her next to rat B with her strain of myco, having the two combine can be detrimental.

 

[ratsr4life]

yes, all rats have myco. Its like putting two people together with a cold, niether person is going to get worse or better, same with the rats, thats what the vet said.

 

[jorats]

That's not true... each time you add a new rat from a different source near your colony you are exposing them to much more. One rat's myco could be dormant but add it to another rat and add some stress and you can have pneumonia.
This is the main reaon why rat shows are not encouraged and those that do rat shows, their rats must be in top health and in quarantine before attending the show.

 

[SQ]

That's not true... each time you add a new rat from a different source near your colony you are exposing them to much more. One rat's myco could be dormant but add it to another rat and add some stress and you can have pneumonia.
This is the main reaon why rat shows are not encouraged and those that do rat shows, their rats must be in top health and in quarantine before attending the show.

True .... but I thought it was mainly because of all the fatal rat diseases such as SDA

All of us that take in rescues are always adding rats from different sources with possibly different stains of myco
.... wonder how much that is contiributing to the lower life span of rats

 

[Moon]

That's not true... each time you add a new rat from a different source near your colony you are exposing them to much more. One rat's myco could be dormant but add it to another rat and add some stress and you can have pneumonia.
This is the main reaon why rat shows are not encouraged and those that do rat shows, their rats must be in top health and in quarantine before attending the show.

True .... but I thought it was mainly because of all the fatal rat diseases such as SDA

All of us that take in rescues are always adding rats from different sources with possibly different stains of myco
.... wonder how much that is contiributing to the lower life span of rats

I would put it down to milling and poor breeding practices.

 

[jorats]

SQ... I had a long talk with my vet about this and adding rats from different sources is definitely a contributor to unhealthy rats.