# My rats won't stop sneezing...



## Fullmetal Niku (May 29, 2014)

Hello everyone. My girlfriend and I purchased three rats, two fancy and a dumbo, from our local PetSmart at the end of May. Their first few days all three were sneezy, as I understand is normal. This subsided after about a week and a half. Around the end of June, however, the two fancy rats started sneezing again. We changed their bedding from paper-based to fleece with no change in the sneezing. After a few days and concerning for ours rats health, we took then to the vet. She checked them over and said they did not appear to have any kind of URI but put them on Benadryl just to be sure. A week later with no improvement, we returned to the vet and were given Baytril. After giving the rats two doses of Baytril a day for ten days, we are now out of Baytril and still clueless as to what's going on. Now the dumbo rat is sneezing too. It's constant; the only time they don't sneeze is when they're asleep. What in Earth is going on?


----------



## LeStan82 (Dec 31, 2013)

Any other symptoms? Porphyrin,congestion,noisy breathing? Is there something that could be irritating to them such as air fresheners, dust, candles,perfume,smoke etc....?


----------



## AznDonutBoy (Jul 10, 2014)

Can you try taking them out of the cage and just hold them for awhile see if that stops their sneezing? Take them to a different part of the house? It might be something very particular with where you placed them that could effect the sneezing.


----------



## Fullmetal Niku (May 29, 2014)

LeStan82,

No, no other symptoms. No porphyrn, nothing. Some irritation around the nose when they rub it a lot due to the sneezing. We don't use any perfumes or candles or anything in the apartment either, so no 

AznDonutBoy,

They sneeze less when we take them out but they still sneeze. We also just moved to a new apartment last week and they still sneeze!


----------



## LeStan82 (Dec 31, 2013)

The move could be it. New smells and new environment. You can call your vet and see if they will give you a refill of the baytril, tell them they are still sneezing. Normally you would treat for atleast 14 days.Otherwise, keep an eye out for other symptoms such as excessive porphyrin, congestion, snotty sneezes,lethargy, noisy breathing. If they develop any other symptoms they will need antibiotics or if you continue baytril and symptoms appear while on baytril, different meds or combo of meds may be in order. Keep us updated.


----------



## AznDonutBoy (Jul 10, 2014)

Yep, new environment, that sounds like the likely cause. Do what LeStan said, pretty much hit the spot.


----------



## Fullmetal Niku (May 29, 2014)

But they were sneezing just as bad before the move Anyway, I'll try the vet again. Thanks for the help!


----------



## Fullmetal Niku (May 29, 2014)

So I took my rats back to the vet shortly after creating this thread and the vet again gave them a clean bill of health: no breathing problems, no signs of illness, nothing. Just to be safe, she prescribed us more Baytril. We have run the full treatment of the prescription with no results, all three rats still sneeze quite often. One of our chubbier boys, Sam, has now developed a soft whistling sound whenever he sniffs or breathes rapidly. I'm going to make another appointment to bring them in, but in the meantime is there any other advice or conditions I should be aware of?

Quick facts:
My rats have been sneezing since I purchased them from PetSmart. Since then, their cage has been moved to three different locations in one apartment (to try and get them away from anything causing their sneezing) and to a new apartment where they have been in one location for three months.
I initially started them out on the bedding I got with their first cage but moved on to dust-free, paper-based bedding and am now just using a towel because they like to burrow into the folds.
They have constant access to their food (Kaytee brand lab blocks), and a bottle of tap water.
I do not burn candles, incense or anything like that around them.
The cage is spot cleaned every day and fully cleaned once a week.
I treat them every day with bits of dark chocolate and store-bought yogurt treats.

Am I doing anything wrong? The problem seems to be getting worse and neither I nor my vet can figure out what's wrong with my boys.


----------



## webspinnr (Jul 27, 2014)

Do they sneeze when you're not in the room? Like can you hear them sneezing from the next room over? Try switching shampoos and shower products. Are you using any cleaning supplies around them? You can also try some raw honey and if they don't get too scared, 10-15 minute steamy bathrooms with the hot shower going.


----------

