Pet Forum / Mammals / Rats / October 2003

Mark, I saw the same symptoms when I got my boys home.  They came from a
very loving, clean environment but both had sniffles, sneezes and a little
porphyrin discharge.  This can be brought on by stress -- even when moving
to a new home, no matter how loving or clean!  I took them to the vet, who
gave us Baytril, and this did help.  You might check the bedding, too, in
case it's a bit dusty!

Yana

---
Lucat bene si ergo
Fortibus es inaero
O nobil demis trux
Sum es causen summit dux
                          -- Anon

I'd take them to the vets who will prescribe some anti-biotics - it's best
to catch these sniffles early on.  Baytril can stunt the growth of babies
though so depending on how bad you and your vet thinks the sniffles are, you
will have to weigh up the pros and cons.  Some years ago I did have a young
(about seven weeks) female who had quite bad sniffles/sneezes so the vet did
think anti-biotics were necessary even with the risks, but she was fine -
her breathing cleared up after a course of baytril and her growth wasn't
affected.

Is Alhambra an adult?  How long have you had her?  If you haven't had her
long, could she be pregnant???  If pregnancy is out of the question what are
you feeding her at the moment?  I buy a ready made mix, usually Reggie Rat
or Supa rat and mix in some dried fruit (bananas, raisins, currants,
coconut, dates, apricots, apple), a scant of nuts (but no peanuts), cereal,
dried pasta and a few seeds such as pumpkin and sunflower.  They have a bowl
full of this dried mix everynight and I always make sure it isn't empty so
they always have something to nibble on.  As well as this they have a little
bit of what we eat daily (eg. tidbits of toast at breakfast, salad at lunch
and mixed veggies at dinner).  We are vegetarian so we eat loads of
different fresh veg, pulses, beans, cereals, grains (the rats love rice and
cous cous!), pasta etc which the rats love and as a treat they get a little
bit of veggie sausage/burgers and quorn products.  They also get their
normal treats - nibble sticks, yoghurt drops, small animal biscuits,
occasional bit of chocolate and potato crisps now and again.  If a rat is
overweight the obvious food stuffs would have to go or be cut back on such
as sweet treats and also things such as potaoes, cheese and even baked beans
(the ones in tomato sauce - have hidden sugars).  Instead just feed fresh
food like carrots, peas, broccoli, cauliflower etc.  Nuts can pile on the
pounds too.  There are a few things that you shouldn't feed rats, have a
look at the link below, it lists most of them.

http://www.geocities.com/phoenix_gate_rats/nutrition.html

Tracey