S
slugmilk
Guest
Hello, about 2 weeks ago I took in two fairly young male rats (Errol and Norbert) from a friend who adopted them at a local pet store. I'd say they're about 2 or 3 months old, but I'm not entirely certain. They've always been quite sneezy, but I figured it was just the new home sneezes. Everything was going absolutely fine up until yesterday morning when I went to check on them. Errol, my hooded baby, didn't come out to greet me, even though he's always been the outgoing one. I didn't think much of it, but a few hours later when going to bring them new toys, I found Errol hunched over himself right outside of his box. He didn't come when I attempted to get him to, and he seemed almost shocked in place. I picked him up and he was unbelievably fragile-- he felt so frail. I got him to drink a little electrolyte water and nibble on a piece of banana while I called my vet, but he still seemed off. The vet listened to his lungs, heart, and just did a general check-up, and said he may have had some abdominal pain but a respiratory infection didn't seem likely as his lungs sounded fine and she wasn't concerned with the levels of porphyrin secreting from his nose. She sent me home with fluid to inject under his skin and some pain meds to inject once this morning (Meloxicam, 1.5mg/ml; Omeprazole, 10mg/ml). After we returned from the vets, however, things took a turn for the worse. He became shaky and wobbly, completely uninterested in food and water, and just seemed miserable and scared. We cuddled for hours, with him resting on a heating pad and then cuddling with his brother during a few breaks in between. He lost all sense of balance, and his head was tilted at an odd angle. He had a few seizing fits, and I didn't think he'd make it through the night. This morning when I went to check on him and give him his medicine, he started fighting back during the injections, but soon after started mouth breathing. I became increasingly worried at this point and called my vet. She said we should perhaps try antibiotics, and she placed both Errol and his brother Norby (as he was beginning to show some of the signs as Errol) on 8cc of Enrofloxacin 2.27% injections every 12 hours. He has been mouth breathing all day, and I'm terribly worried. My older resident rat, Otter, has had contact with both rats over the past few days, as we've been working on bonding them all. He's in a separate room now, however I'm worried he's going to develop these symptoms too. It's been years since I've had rats, and I've never dealt with a sick one, much less two. Any suggestions, advice, or information would be excruciatingly appreciated. I'm so scared.
