Sneezing and Bloat

[RoSni]

Maddox, the new baby boy seems to be a little bloated. Very slight. I wasn't able to get baby soy milk [it was almost $30 for a GIANT amount], so I'd got kitten milk.

I DID dilute it the reccommended amount -for rats, I mean, so twice the amount that they tell you-, so I'm not sure why he's bloated. Is it just the milk? Should I dilute it even more?

His belly isn't rock hard, and it's still smooshy, but not as much as I'd like it to be. It's a bit round, but it doesn't protrude, and probably wouldn't be noticeable to the untrained eye. I gave him a little belly massage if that's worth anything.

He had a runny stool but is keeping hydrated. I don't want to keep giving him the milk, which he loves, if it's hurting his belly.

He's still very active and playful.


Another issue though, is his sneezing. It's not going away, while it's less frequent. What's scaring me is he makes strange noises when he first wakes up.

Not like a coffee perculator, and no clicking, no grunting, wheezing or gasping, but .. I don't know how to describe it.
Like a "chuu, chuu!" I suppose a kind of wet sneeze. But he stops quickly and goes back to the occasional sneeze. When he fully wakes, he barely sneezes at all.

He also looked as if he were hiccuping when I'd woken him up earlier, but made very slight, short, whistling noises each time he'd 'hiccup'. That lasted about 20 second and he looked just fine while doing it.

In the event that he does have a URI or is just having a flare up, can I even treat him at this age?

:gaah: Pet store rats- never again!

 

[victoria]

This is the boy you bought from a feeder bin? Are you syringe feeding him? Stimulating him to go to the bathroom? What markings does he have?

Edit: Just checked the previous thread and he looks Siamese to me. I don't think that can be a high white marking, so it's unlikely to be Megacolon. I would get a warm, moist facecloth or cotton ball and gently massage his urethrae and anus to stimulate him to use the washroom.

Edit 2: What kind of kitten milk are you using?

At this point, given the respiratory symptoms alone, I would go to the vet. You can try steaming him to see if that helps him clear out his nasal passages a little bit but I think he needs help getting better. Do you have a good vet?

 

[RoSni]

I'm using KMR.

And I do have a good vet. He's treated all of my sick rats so far, and while I can't say he's the best vet out there, he hasn't failed me yet.

Truthfully I know of no vets that are really educated about rat treatment, in my area. Even though they are an 'exotics vet', I know that doesn't mean much.
But he treated Posie for a nasty URI and he's, he treated Rowf for his pituitary tumor.

With Maddox being around four weeks I didn't think I had to syringe feed him or stimulate him to go to the washroom? :? He drinks and eats fine but I'll try stimulating.

I also don't think siamese are at risk for megacolon, and I've been trying to find a case of a siamese having it, but I haven't found anything. I'm really not worried about it being that.
I'm fairly certain it's the milk. He hasn't eaten anything other than that, and lab blocks. And the bloat started when he started on the milk.

I've been told that rats shouldn't be given any medications at this age, but then again I've been told a lot of things.

Is it okay?

 

[victoria]

There are some antibiotics that can be given at this age but if it's life or death, even the other ones are given sometimes. (Azithromycin and Clavamox/Amoxicillin are both safe for infant rats.)

Dr. Munn is an excellent rat vet in Toronto (he's in the Riverdale/Leslieville area), I used to see him when I lived there and there are many people on the forum that see him as well, he sees exotic mammals (specializes in them actually) and cats and dogs but his passion clearly is small mammals. His prices are much more reasonable than the "exotics" hospitals and a lot of the other vets in the area that see rats. There's a thread about him in the Canadian Vets section as well as tons of other reviews if you google him. There's another vet working at the clinic that sees rat (Dr. Hammond) if you can't get in to see Dr. Munn right away.

Edit: If it's the KMR that's making him bloated, stop it and get some baby cereal instead. That usually runs $4-5 and will supplement his diet somewhat.

 

[xxchelle]

Just thought I'd throw in that Siamese rats can be high white. My Littlefoot was Siamese, but you could see the head spot when he was a baby (like 2 weeks - he lost it after that, then developed MC and had to be put to sleep ).

 

[jorats]

Siamese can definitely have MC, they do have a marking but it's covered up by the siamese marking. Don't ask me how that works. lol
Dr Munn is the absolute best rat vet in TO.
I hope your little guy gets better... if it is a URI, I'd treat with Baytril anyways... anything is better than nothing.

 

[RoSni]

It's scary to hear they can be high white, and you can barely tell!

What freaked me out is last night I realized his underside was white. Not like a 'mark' or white, but the whole underside slowly fades to white. <:/ But he's very 'mismarked', if I can say that. The shading is all over the place, very faded and he has no points on his feet. Plus the pink tail tip and all of that. I know he'll darken up when he gets his adult coat, and in winter, but you can just tell it's light.

LUCKILY, his bloat is gone and he's back to being a smushy bellied boy and going to the washroom normally. And isn't MC usually seen before they're this age? [five weeks]

But about Doctor Munn! I've heard so much about him [after I was told about him, I looked over this site and he seems amazing!], but sadly, while the car ride to the animal hospital he works at is only 15 minutes from my house, I don't have a car.

The bus ride takes anywhere from 40 mins to an hour. I feel like that's a very long time to travel with a sick animal, and even more so if they're having respiratory issues.


But Maddox is confusing me quite a bit with the sneezing. He'll go without sneezing most of the day, but has wet sneezes when he wakes up from a nap. I agree that that warrants a vet trip though.

 

[victoria]

This is the perfect time for early onset MC, late onset can come at about four months or so. Keep a close eye on him and see what happens, the bloating can come and go with MC at the beginning.

The white belly is not indicative of high-white (most rats have lighter bellies) but it's when there is white higher than expected. There's some great info on MC here.

As for being so far from Dr. Munn's.... an hour isn't so much time to travel with a sick rat, especially is they are in a comfy carrier (and not a box from the pet store) and in an air conditioned transit system. (Seriously took that for granted when I lived there.) It's accessible via the 83 Jones bus (leaving from Donlands subway station) and the 506 Gerrard streetcar (leaves Main and College stations) as well as the 72 Pape bus (Pape station) - the latter comes really frequently but drops you farther.

I would get him to a vet soon, whether it's Dr. Munn or the vet you've seen before. Being so young he can deteriorate very quickly.

 

[user 1946]

Babies can get 'milk bellies'. Basically they get full of milk and because they are still so small, the belly expands and you notice a difference.

I bottle raise kittens, pups and bunnies, and they all do this. I'm think the same thing happens in rats, though I'm no expert on them.

So, it could be this or MC... so hopefully its just a milk belly thing that will go away with time.