Toby - Update 08/29 - RIP :'(

Toby, my 26 month old (one of the two last remaining babies from Momma :heart..scarred lungs?/crappy resp?/heart problems? rat has been on pred and baytril for three weeks. I decided to give it a try since he has heavy breathing and sounds like a piggy. He had multiple resp infections starting at 10 months old, we tried all combos of meds which all worked for the time. My vet thinks scarred lungs, I personaly think heart (but my vet dose not do the whole heart med thing). Toby is a very hapy ratty who still gets excited for food, not lossing weight (just saggying due to age). I figured I'd try the pred just to try ..but it has made no difference. My pred is the low concentration of 1/1 ..so he gets 0.9 once a day. How would I go about weening him?

Since my question got answered, figured Id might as well continue on the Toby topic and get a video of his breathing and activity.

[youtube:27r0rdus]N6WAVBX1UkA[/youtube:27r0rdus]

You can see he needs to take a break after getting the treat because he was so excited..but mind you he is in good shape considering he is 26 months old, and his family history sucks with most of his family going at a young age.

 

[lilspaz68]

ratguide.com suggests talking to your vet about a weaning schedule under Prednisone, but I did find this for Dexamethasone

Early to moderate respiratory illness (where lung involvement is present, especially where pathogen suspected to be mycoplasma)
Dexamethasone at 0.5 mg/lb can be added to the treatment regimen, weaning down as follows:
0.5 mg/lb BID injectable or PO (oral) for 3 days
0.5 mg/lb SID for 3 days
0.25 mg/lb SID for 3 days
0.25 mg/lb orally every other day, three doses
Serious and Advanced Respiratory Illness (or more difficult to treat lower respiratory illness)
dexamethasone 1 mg/lb BID, added to treatment regimen, then weaned down as follows:
1 mg/lb BID injectable or PO (oral) for 3 days
1 mg/lb SID for 3 days
0.5 mg/lb SID for 3 days
0.5 mg/lb orally every other day, three doses

 

So pretty much cut it in half first so 0.45 for 3 days, then 0.45 evey other day for 3 doses then ?

I took the pred amung myself and try it with him, no harm in trying since my vet won't try heart meds. But the pred never mad any difference what so ever.

 

[SQ]

When weaning off pred you cut it in half, and give that dose for 3 days. Then you cut it in half again, and give that dose for three days. You do this until you are at a low dose once a day. Then you give it every 2nd day for 3 times, then every 3rd day for approx 3 times, and then stop giving it.

Has your vet done an xray? That would allow him to see the condition of the lungs and size of the heart.

 

We did an xray, everything showed normal. He has no blue extrimities. Tail and feet are warm.

We have nasal spray and a inhaler ..neither helps.

He pretty much makes the sounds all the time, more so when excited.

His sides move in and out really fast.
I have rat phoned him, but its so loud its hard to tell where its coming from.
No discharge from the eyes or nose.

I have tried:
Baytril
Baytril + Doxy
Baytril + Zithro
Doxy
Zithro

all have worked, but he kept getting it back ..eventually nothing would make a difference.

Never tried Clavamox yet, that one is only new too me, would that be worth trying?

I have tried getting the heart meds to try, but my vet dose not like heart meds!

He is a very happy rat! just sounds horrible! the issues started at 10 months.

 

I also know ..that some peopel on here have rats that make funky sounds, but are otherwise healthy..since this has been going on for 16 months, I'm thinkiong maybe thats what it is. If it were heart or something serious ..I think more would have changed in 16 months ..but nothing has ..he is the same! still a very happy rat!

 

[victoria]

Did the Pred help?

 

Did the Pred help?

No, as stated in my main post, it never ..hence why I want to wean him off it.


I'm not worried about him, since this has been on going for 16 months. His condition is no wosre. I just tried the rped becasue someone suggested it was worth a try. But there has been no change.

ETA: I never posted here because I was worried, just wondering how to wean him off the pred now. But now I'm starting to worry :/

 

I just added a video to the main post for those interested.

 

[rattytat]

This is one of the many sounds that Mike continually makes - unfortunately, he seems to have become worse in the last few weeks. The meds don't seem to be helping at all. :sad3: I was up several times during the night with him - his breathing, particularly when he's sleeping (or trying to sleep) sounds so loud and it's as if he's gasping for air. It just scares me. Tomorow I'll call Dr. D. again -another week is too long to wait. Toby sounds fine compared to Mike - and , considering he age, looks quite alert and active. Go Toby Go!

 

Im so sorry about Mike Evelyn! called Dr. D in the AM, ask for Suzanne (shes the best to get info across to him) ..I think some xrays for mike may be needed. Since his resp issues have gone on so long with only a week baytril here and there, he needs strong stuff ..like baytril + Doxy, or Baytril + Clavamox, or even the Zithro + Baytril ..all for at least 6 weeks.

 

[jorats]

Oh dear, he does sound quite congested.

 

Oh dear, he does sound quite congested.

Yes he dose. He has for the past X months.We have tried all the combos, nothing works, he dose better off meds.

The only thing we have not tried is Clavamox and heart meds(because my vet dose not agree with heart meds)

We tried Baytril, Doxy, Baytril + doxy, Zithro, Zithro + doxy ..all worked wonderful, but then all stopped working, leaving him with these sounds. He never made these sounds, even with resp infections. ..these sounds started after all the meds stopped working. We even tried a decongesting med, we have a inahler and nasal spay ..neither helps. The rat room has a humidfyer. We did xrays, nothing abnormal showed.

We tried pred the last 3 weeks, still with no change,

His resp issues started 16 months ago, these sounds err8 - 9 months. No eating change, no weight change ..so its not affecting him like you think.



But like I said, he sounds horrible, but he is super happy and active for his age :S

Im not sure if Clavamox would be worth trying ..the sound Im hearing is congestion ..

ETA: He has not gotten any worse over the past months, still the same.

 

It just sounds like congestion to me ..no infection ..so the meds he were on all helped ..but after he was done the treatments, about 1 month later, the sounds would start again, and then we would try another combo, which would work, and then a month later the sounds would start again ..and finially we ran out of combos, and retrying them stopped working.

He dose not act sick ..just sounds bad. Maybe I should just leave it ..but god it has to be annooying for him.

 

I am going to give Benedryl a try, I am also going to try to get clavamox ..but if neaither one of those works, then I'm lost haha

 

Alright peeps!

I need some help with Children's Bendryle ..any suggestions on how much to give my lil man? has anyone had any luck with it.

 

[Dazzle87]

You can give between 2 and 10mg/kg.

What's the concentration of the benadryl? Your rats weight?

I was told to use it once with antibiotics but saw no improvement to be honest. I know it helps some rats though.

ETA: I'd personally start with the low dose, because benadryl makes rats and people very drowsy, so lowest effective dose is fairly important.

 

OK so here's an exact dosing from ratguide.com

2 mg/kg , PO or SQ , BID

Interesting...if your benadryl is like mine (6.25 mg/5 ml) which becomes 1.25 mg/ml then his dose would be .84 cc twice a day

This is what lilspaz came up with.

Toby weighes 530 grams.

I'm waiting for the vet to call me back regarding the Clavamox, hopefully I can get that and start him on it.

 

Got the Clavamox

 

[SQ]

Hope Toby is soon doing better