sneezing but no illness?

[Caitlin]

Hi everyone i’m sure you’re sick of hearing from me by now but i just don’t want to take any chances. as i’ve said many times, my poor baby william was put to sleep last week due to a severe breathing disease which caused him to struggle breathing i’m now left with his brother james whilst i’m searching for another rat to rescue and now i’m extra paranoid for him. for all of james’ life he’s had a sneeze which has not gone away even with antibiotics but he’s never been ill at all. he sneezes i’d say at least once a minute but when he sneezes it’s dry and nothing comes out of his nose. also, he tends to sneeze more frequently when he’s stressed and he rubs his nose a lot. as i say, his health has never deteriorated at all and there’s no rattle in his lungs or any struggle to breathe and he eats (if anything too much) and is extremely active. should i be concerned about him sneezing so much or not? i just don’t want him to suffer the same fate as his brother

 

[ViciousCurse]

I'm sorry for the loss of William. Losing our babies can be very tough. I just had to say goodbye as well. Just a few questions to help answer your question. Sneezing once a minute is a concern for me. Have you tried the rat phone? It's where you hold a rat up to your ear and listen to their lungs.

How old is James? How long have you had William and James? What is your cage set up? How often do you clean?

 

[Caitlin]

thanks for your reply i’m sorry for your loss as well. i have tried listening to his lungs and as far as i can hear there’s no sound coming from them. He’s just recently turned one and i got them when they were 3 months old. my cage is the biggest one from pets at home i’m not sure what it’s called and i clean them out once a week

 

[jorats]

I'm so sorry for your loss.
I've had a few rats with sneezes yet no respiratory disease. We did try an allergy elixir which did help but didn't feel like it was a necessity. They lived good long lives with their daily sneezes. But I do encourage continuing to check/listen to their lungs regularly just to make sure nothing else is brewing.

 

[SQ]

It is possible that James is sneezing because of an irritant - a smell, dust, etc