# HELP! Do my rats have URI? Benadryl?



## genie.kim8 (Nov 20, 2018)

Hi

I have had my two rats, Dobby and Lumos, for around two and a half months now. They have been settling in pretty nicely, although I’m embarrassed to say they haven’t had play time in quite a while because of vacations and being very busy recently. I am working on changing that because I know it isn’t fair to them. 

Anyway, I got them from a pet shop (I know, bad idea, but we don’t have breeders in our area and rat rescues are non existent where I live). They both were sneezing a little bit when they first moved in but it wasn’t too bad and i assumed it was from the new environment. It got better for a while but then started getting worse. They were sneezing constantly and Lumos started to get some porphyrin around one eye. I started worrying but there are hardly any small animal vets around here, let alone ones that will treat rats and I didn’t want to overreact. 

Today I noticed Lumos had so much porphyrin around his eye that he was squinting. I got very scared and started researching home remedies for rats with URI. I gave them a little piece of dark chocolate which didn’t really help. Then I came across Benadryl. Do you think that would help? Is it safe to use? I haven’t weighed my rats yet but how would you figure out the dosage? 

They are on recycled newspaper bedding for anyone wondering and they are eating and drinking fine. They are asleep for most of the day but that’s my fault for neglecting them. 

I really hope they get better because I love them so much and wouldn’t be able to handle it if they died because of me. 

Oh and one more question: if only one of them died, would I have to get another rat for the remaining rat? Would the URI spread to the new rat? I know rats shouldn’t be alone but is it ok for them to be solitary for the last few weeks of their lives after their companion died?

Thank you for any responses and sorry for the long post.


----------



## Chove (Mar 23, 2014)

Did you phone the vets to ask if they treat rats? More of them do than you might think.


----------



## CorbinDallasMyMan (Feb 24, 2017)

Benadryl may help with symptoms but it won't solve the problem (if there is one). I'd recommend a vet if you're concerned about their health. If they're sick, they'll need actual medicine. A smelly or dusty environment can cause issues. Be sure to clean your cage very regularly. Get your nose all the way up to the cage and smell. If it's unpleasant, it's been too long.


----------



## shibezone (Feb 5, 2018)

Agreeing with Corbin and Chove, even a vet who isn't a small animal specialist can likely help you with your rats! If you can't find a vet who takes small pets ask if they'll be able to do a swab and culture to check for a URI, allergies can present almost exactly like a URI and sometimes it's super hard to tell the difference! I'm telling you from experience, I have one boy who has just terrible allergies that at two different points I mistook for a URI, both times he came back negative but I wouldn't have known without going.

My rat was on Benadryl, so yes you can give it to them! I'm not sure how to dose it, but to give you an idea I was giving .3 ML of the 12.5 mg / 5 ML children's Benadryl to my estimated 1 lb adult male once or twice daily as needed. Now he's on liquid prednisone as needed.

I'd maybe try a different substrate than recycled newspaper, it's not super absorbent and they may be getting sneezy from it just being dirty. Also, rats do tend to sleep most of the day off and on just naturally, and are more active at night when you're probably not watching them.

If one rat passes away: I would probably try to get a couple to keep the solo one company, yeah. Rats do better while having other rat friends, especially if you're in the situation you are where you can't spend most of the day with them, rats are extremely social and some do take the passing of a companion pretty hard.
What you'd want to do is do a heavy cleaning of the current cage, and quarantine the rats separately as possible. Monitor both for a couple of weeks, because, yes, the old rat could get the new ones sick, or the new ones get the old one sick.


----------



## genie.kim8 (Nov 20, 2018)

Thank you for all the replies. 

Yes I definitely will call some vets to see if they could see my rats. I know Benadryl won’t cure the URI but maybe it will make it more comfortable for them? 

And about the recycled newspaper, I researched and found it to be a recommended bedding type? I meant the recycled newspaper cat littler pellets, like Yesterays News. Maybe I interpreted it wrong, but I thought it was a common bedding to use. I could always be wrong.


----------



## CorbinDallasMyMan (Feb 24, 2017)

Yep, the paper pellet litter is very commonly used as a substrate or litter and it's pretty low-dust.


----------

