to treat or not to treat?

[coreline]

bah, I am in need of advice!

so, my 8 month old (soon to be 9 months!) boy Mason has had nasal congestion since he was cage introed to Daisy. while the initial stress of change has gone down (and they get along!), his congestion has not gone away about 3 weeks later. he has no excess porphyrin, no lung congestion/noise (was checked at the vet a week ago), he's not lethargic, losing weight, etc. you'd never know anything was off if he didn't have the noisy congestion and sometimes sneezes. it's all nasal.

my vet's advice was to wait on treating him, since he's so young. to avoid building up drug resistance, but left it up to me to decide if I wanted to or not.

I'm not big on using meds at such a young age, his nasal congestion is sometimes so loud it keeps me awake at night.

as far as I can tell it's not allergies (unless it's new) or otherwise environmental (Daisy is not ill).

I've had rats for awhile now and dealt with my share of URIs and the like, but most have been clear cut and needed meds. save for my Aiko who either had allergies or a problem with her nasal passage that made her sneeze a lot, but she didn't have nasal congestion.

so basically, for people with more experience, would you normally treat at this point at such a young age?

 

[handmeafish]

My ron has issues with Myco, and when he gets stressed it flairs a bit, he gets a stuffy nose, sneezes, but it doesn't ever get bad... after a few days of less stress he goes back to normal.
I'd wait, but treat the second he gets worse.

 

[coreline]

I'm picking up the doxy tomorrow, but not convinced I'm going to treat yet.

I think what has me startled is how loud it is and the 3 weeks without getting better (if anything, it's gotten louder). but he hasn't progressed to lung issues or anything.

I'm trying to think of some home remedies (ie a steamy bathroom) to see if I can clear it up.

 

[jorats]

3 weeks with loud nasal congestion? I'd definitely do the Doxy. Sometimes that's all it takes to nip it in the bud.

 

[coreline]

ok, phew. I'm glad the 3 weeks seemed too long to someone else. I wanted to treat him a week ago, but my vet said to wait and see. I don't think I can wait now that it's 3 weeks tomorrow.

(I'm a bit of a hypochondriac with my health and the rats health lol. so sometimes I can jump on things too fast.)

 

[Alicemcmallis]

I would also treat after 3 weeks with no improvement - it's obviously not going to get better on it's own at this point and you don't want to wait until it starts to damage his lungs before starting treatment, it will just make it worse in the long run.

 

[Moon]

If it were a week of sniffling (especially at this time of year when the temp changes and people are likely to turn on the heat, etc) then the situation would be different. But three weeks? Absolutely.

 

[coreline]

yeah, I took him in after about a week and a half of the nasal noises (about my standard for URI symptoms) and we did an observation period. I was a little surprised he didn't want to treat at the 2 1/2 - 3 week point. we both agree on being cautious with drugs at a young age (due to resistances at an older age, etc). but I was surprised at that point.

I'm glad others agree! it really makes me feel better

Mason is on day 2 1/2 of his doxy. with a slightly rock start. poor little guy was scared of the syringe! I had to let him play with an empty one to calm him down.

 

[jorats]

Mason is on day 2 1/2 of his doxy. with a slightly rock start. poor little guy was scared of the syringe! I had to let him play with an empty one to calm him down.

That's such a good idea. I never thought of letting them play with an empty one or perhaps fill it with something really yummy before adding meds.

 

[coreline]

it's rare that any of my rats get as nervous as Mason did (he was nipping at it and backing away. poor guy!), normally feeding them their favorite soft treat is enough to get a good association with syringes.

I've only had one other rat who had a strong reaction like that to syringes and the same thing helped a ton. I associate it as kind of like how I intro them to new smells (putting a shirt in their cage, etc).