# Heavy Breathing



## crackerkorean (Jul 4, 2007)

Well I took both little ones to the vet today and the little boy got neutered.

The vet said the little girl was ok this morning after I mentioned that she was sneezing.

Well now she seems a little lathargic, breathing heavly and in general just out of it. Am I over reacting? She was just fine this morning.


----------



## melodybirdsong (May 19, 2007)

that's how Petunia was before i took her to the vet for a respiratory infection. watch her nostrils and tearducts on her eyes and look for a red substance coming from either. looks kind of like pink snot. this is called mycoplasma. 
this is a good link for mycoplasma. 

if you start to see that, then i would probably go back to the vet.
it's not hard to treat with prescription vet medicine. (albuterol and baytril are what i was given).


----------



## crackerkorean (Jul 4, 2007)

Yep just wiped her nose with the red snot and you mentioned.

I will have to see if the vet is open tomorrow.


----------



## Stephanie (Mar 25, 2007)

melodybirdsong said:


> that's how Petunia was before i took her to the vet for a respiratory infection. watch her nostrils and tearducts on her eyes and look for a red substance coming from either. looks kind of like pink snot. this is called mycoplasma.
> this is a good link for mycoplasma.
> 
> if you start to see that, then i would probably go back to the vet.
> it's not hard to treat with prescription vet medicine. (albuterol and baytril are what i was given).


Atually it is called porphiryn and mycoplasma is the cause of prophiryn if your rattie is lethargic i would get her back to the vets asap. My girl Sapphyre was lethargic one day and dead the next. I know that is a bit extreme but that is how quick it can happen.


----------



## crackerkorean (Jul 4, 2007)

I hope they are open tomorrow there is nothing I can do now unfortunetly.


----------



## Stephanie (Mar 25, 2007)

Well if they are not open tomorrow my best advice is make sure she is eating and drinking force feed her if you have to, do steams three times in 8 hours fifteen minutes a piece NO MORE than that. just take her in the bathroom with you and run the hot water as much as possible. My other rat Mrs. Sniffles had the same thing Sapphyre did and pulled through it just fine. Do you have any amoxicillin? If not you can get it from any where that sells fish meds? This is what you need to get AMOXICILLIN dilute one capsule in 7.5 mL of liquid preferably ensure then give it to her twice a day for two weeks at .1 ml per pound of rat.


----------



## Stephanie (Mar 25, 2007)

I hope that helps sorry if I came off harsh LoL i didn't mean to honest LOL


----------



## crackerkorean (Jul 4, 2007)

no amoxcillin

She was eating not too long ago, not a whole lot though.

I do not know of any place that sells fish meds. I think they are open tomorrow. I hope she will be ok.


----------



## Stephanie (Mar 25, 2007)

I am sure she will I think Sapphyre just passed because she didn't have the will to fight it. Plus I rescued Sapphyre from a place that had her on pine in a tank too small for four rats. I would just do the stemas and see if you can't find a place for the amoxicillin I know you can order it online a bunch of places and it comes in really handy in cases such as this. I always have a stocked medicine cabinet for my rats. Just keep a close eye on her though be careful not to stress her out.


----------



## crackerkorean (Jul 4, 2007)

should we do the steams through out the whole night?
I was really upset at the fact that we might have to take her back because he was a she and now this and that we took her to the vet this morning and she was given a clean bill of health.

I hope she pulls through


----------



## Poppyseed (Feb 1, 2007)

Sounds like your vet isn't that knowledgable in rats. A knowledgable rat vet would of given a script for sneezing as that can lead to more agressive problems, like what is going on. Also they would of been able to listen to the lungs and hear problems. There is no way a knowledgable vet would of let that pass.

Does the vet have a Emergancy number? How hard is she breathing? Is she gasping and making loud noises?


----------



## crackerkorean (Jul 4, 2007)

she listen to her lungs and didnt hear anything.
and she said that the sneezing was from stress. We have only had them for 2 days.

There is an emergency number.
Her breathing seems to be better since we have taken her out of her cage. Anything in there that could cause bad breathing?

We reused a water bottle. I just rinsed it out and filled it up. And we are using a paper bedding that is folded so that it looks like an accordian.


----------



## Stephanie (Mar 25, 2007)

I would do the steams as much as you are awake LoL I think the vet was warranted in the fact that it could be new home stress but now the other symptoms are arising. I doubt that the paper is making her sneeze she probably stops sneezing when you take her out because she trusts you and calms down a bit.


----------



## crackerkorean (Jul 4, 2007)

Took her to the doctor this morning and was prescribed some antibiotics to put in her water. We gotta give it a couple days and hope everything will be okay.
I think we'll keep doing the steam because that seems to help too. And this doctor definetly seemed to be a lot more knowlegdable on rats so we're probably changing doctors.


----------



## Poppyseed (Feb 1, 2007)

Antibiotics in the water are usually strongly discourged to use. There is not telling how much water she will drink/if she will stop drinking the water because it tastes funny/ if she will be overdosed or underdosed.

Take in the rat guide's RMCA medicine chart to them and ask for a doxy/baytril combo. That's the best strongest thing for rats. The kind of antibiotics you put in water are generally unaffective in strong problems. I would talk it over with them and tell them you aren't comfortable putting them on antibiotics you put in water for the reasons I stated above and ask if there is some other way to do it or some other antibiotic you can use.

But yes, antibiotics in water are very very bad to use for rats. I wouldn't want my rats to be put on that because dehydration is horrible and overdoseing is horrible. Underdoseing when the rat is breathing hard is horrible as well. My rat Odin wasn't treated strong enough when he started breathing hard, and he now has absesses in the lungs.

It could also be a heart condition. Maybe you can get x-rays to see if it is something wrong with the heart. If that is the case, antibiotics won't work but there are other meds you could use. Good luck.


----------



## crackerkorean (Jul 4, 2007)

There was anohter med that he said he uses on older rats but the are injections. He said on younger rats it usually causes bone marrow problems.

There is nothing we can do now and I would prefer her to be on something than nothing. The vet opens back up on Monday. I can call and talk to them then but as for now there is nothing I can do.

He said that she was not dehydrated and suggested that we put a little sweet and low or something in the water to make it taste better. She has been drinking the water so she is getting the meds. We were told to crush one pill and use it in 450ml of water. And use a portion of that water for a day. And keep the whole mixture for about three.

He did mention that is could be a heart problem in which but seeing the red seepage coming from her nose it let him to belive it is mycoplasma. 

How does one get this rats medical guide?


----------



## Poppyseed (Feb 1, 2007)

http://ratguide.com/

Yeah, keep an eye on your rat though and make sure they are drinking the water. Anyway you could do the same amount in another yummy liquid and syringe feed it to her? Like veggie baby food would work or a bananna or ensure. Best wait to ask the vet for PRECISE doses though as one pill a day sounds a bit much and it sounds like it should take three days.

Baytril will be fine for an older rat. Baytril and doxy would be the best and repetidely seems to be the combo many rat owners have used with the most success in URI's that get serious. The combo is great because it kicks the myco and the secondary infection causing it to surface.


http://www.rmca.org/Articles/dchart.htm
the drug chart and usage.

http://ratguide.com/health/bacteria/mycoplasma_mycoplasmosis.php
on myco


----------



## crackerkorean (Jul 4, 2007)

Yea one pill of the anibiotics should last in solution for about three days worth of water bottles.

These are the directions on meds.

Crush one pill and mix with 450ml of water. Fill water bottle and put rest in fridge. Swap water out each day. After three days throw out the old solution and mix new. So its one pill for every three days.

He said we should see a difference by monday or tuesday. 

Since this is a younger rat he didnt go with anohter solution that he knew of. Also the other solution is an injection.


----------



## Poppyseed (Feb 1, 2007)

Oh, it is a young rat! Sorry my misunderstanding. Yeah the antibiotics are a bit more limited to the young ones. How old is your ratty?


----------



## crackerkorean (Jul 4, 2007)

She is about 5 weeks old. 

And I just read that the doxycyclene tastes bad in water and we added some artificial sweetner to it so that she will drink it. She has taken a drink (several licks) so that made is feel a little better.


----------



## Stephanie (Mar 25, 2007)

as far as a good rat guide if you go to www.ratfanclub.org you can order Debbie "the rat lady" Ducoomon's rat health care book so you can have it on hand all the time! Sounds like you are doing everything you can for your girl hope everything turns out well!


----------



## Poppyseed (Feb 1, 2007)

Yeah, five weeks is a BABY BABY! LOL.

But yeah, the medication itself sounds fine then, especially if it's doxy which is good. I was hopeing it wasn't the bird antibiotic lol. I'm glad it isn't. Just call and ask if there is another way to give other than water when the vet is back in. I think that would be better still as giveing it via water is a very rocky thing to do as my afformentioned reasons. It's good she is drinking it though.


----------



## twitch (Jan 4, 2007)

another antibiotic that has worked great for my young rats is sulfratrim. its strong for the illness but growing baby bodies can cope really well with it. no bone problems at all. and it tastes like strawberries supposedly. its a liquid oral antibiotic.


----------



## crackerkorean (Jul 4, 2007)

http://ratforum.com/Forums/viewtopic/p=22856.html#22856


----------



## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

I will add to the "Antibiotics in Water = Bad" rant. A long long time ago when vets didn't know quite as much as they do now, they often treated rats like birds. They used things like Tylan/Tylosin which is very very mild and very very ineffective for rats, and put it in their water.

The rat often dehydrates because it won't drink the water which makes them weaker/sicker and, you have no control over the dosing which is extremely important.
The water bottle has to be scrubbed daily because the meds can cause a bacteria buildup and make your rat sick, and most vets don't mention this little gem. 

What type of meds did your vet give you anyways?


----------



## crackerkorean (Jul 4, 2007)

We were given doxycycline to crush and put in water.

These little guys are/were 5 weeks old so the vet said the other option he knows of will not work for rats this young.

I noticed this morning that Hollies brother Buddys hair was raised instead of a nice smooth coat. It also looked as he was breathing heavy and he has been sneezing also. 

His sneezing would come for a few minutes and then for a while you wouldnt hear anything from him. 

We put the water antibiotic mixture in his cage but I am not sure if I am being paranoid or not. This has truely been an emootionally trying weekend. I dont think I can handle anohter loss. 

I want to make sure he gets his water so I might also put a small ramekin with water in it also. I will also call the vet first thing tomorrow (Monday) and see if we can mix the meds in some baby food and feed it to them. 

We would like to get him a cage mate but at the same time I want to wait and see what happens.


----------



## crackerkorean (Jul 4, 2007)

OK hopefully people are still reading this.

Right now the water bottle in the little boys cage has the antibiotics in it. I am going to call the doc first thing and ask about mixing it with baby food or something like that.

Until then I want to make sure hes getting water but at the same time I would like for him to get the meds. Should I put a dish with reg water in there also?


----------



## Stephanie (Mar 25, 2007)

i wouldn't give him the choice of antibiotic water or regular water becuase he will choose the regular water over the medicated water. Definitely take himto the vet first thing asap though


----------

