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Pet Forum / Mammals / Rats / January 2005Need Help w/Chronic Upper Respiratory Problem
Hi, I have a rat named Hector that's aproximately 2 1/2 years old (I'm not exactly sure as I rescued/confiscated him from a mentally ill neighbor who was severely negelecting him.) He's developed chronic wheezing which I'm assuming is due to mycoplasma. I've tried two different combos of meds (vibramycin syrup/baytril and injectable gentocin/cefa-drops), but they haven't helped any. He's eating well. He has Oxbow Hay's Regal Rat available at all times and I give him a variety of fresh foods (veggies, whole grain breads, occasional dried fruit treat, chicken, etc.) in a separate dish each evening. His bedding is Aspen and I remove the poop each evening and completely change bedding and disinfect the cage (open air, not an aquarium) every 7 days. I used to use Carefresh bedding, but it had a significant amount of dust which concerned me with regards to possibly creating upper respiratory problems and he did have bouts of wheezing when I used it so I switched to Aspen. Hector is healthy in every other respect but I really want to help him get over this wheezing. Any suggestions of what else I can try? Megan  Signature"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." -Edmund Burke Learn The TRUTH About Declawing http://www.stopdeclaw.com Zuzu's Cats Photo Album: http://www.PictureTrail.com/zuzu22 "Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way." - W.H. Murray > Hi, > I have a rat named Hector that's aproximately 2 1/2 years old (I'm not [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > > Megan Hi Megan, it's so good of you to help poor Hector out. At 2 1/2, he's had a full life. You say Hector is not showing any other symptoms? He's healthy in everyway... so he's not lethargic, he's not breathing hard, he's not puffy with his fur, his eyes are not small or squinted all the time? If that's the case, he may have chronic lung damage which a rat will adapt. He can live out the rest of his days with diminished lung capacity, without really affecting him all that much. You did a lot for him. If he does indeed show the symptoms I described, you could ask your vet for Zithromax/Baytril combo. But at his old age, I don't think it would do that much more good. I'm almost positive Hector is nonetheless extremely happy to have been rescued by such a caring person. SignatureJoanne Mom to 10 rats http://community.webshots.com/user/joanneb70 Megan, I have a rat too who also seems to have a chronic upper respiratory issue. We have used every kind of antibiotic treatment/combo that our vet and/or we can find out about. Sometimes one or two will help for a little while, but nothing seems to "cure" it. None of our other ratties have contracted this so I do not feel it is a horrid type of myco. The vet is stumped! So... We have found that giving subcutaneous injections of metronidazole (.12 cc once a day, 500mg/mL) along with a constantly running humidifier are the only things that seem to "help". He still wheezes and has the sniffles some, but he doesn't labor to breathe like he did. Hope this helps. Jamie >>Hi, >>I have a rat named Hector that's aproximately 2 1/2 years old (I'm not [quoted text clipped - 29 lines] > I'm almost positive Hector is nonetheless extremely happy to have been > rescued by such a caring person. >Hi, >I have a rat named Hector that's aproximately 2 1/2 years old (I'm not [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] >Hector is healthy in every other respect but I really want to help him >get over this wheezing. Any suggestions of what else I can try? the only other thing i can think of to try would be steroids. some people swear by this. i haven't had much success. it might be at least worth asking your vet about. -- my best friend is a pit bull. http://shattering.org x-no-archive: yes in headers |
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