# Grunting Rat



## ericasuzyq (Nov 5, 2007)

Hi. I'm fairly new to rats here and I've had my three little girls for a little over a month now. When I got them, two had a bit of a sneezing/stuffy nose thing going on and the third, Emma, sounded so congested that she was grunting while breathing. She also didn't seem to want to eat as much as the other two and was a lot smaller. So I packed up all my rats and took them into the vet, who prescribed a dose of doxy for all three (two weeks for the two that were just a little sniffly and three weeks for Emma). Well, Emma was better while on the medicine and for a few days afterwards. She's gained enough weight that she looks the same size as her sisters but she's seemed to have lost her appetite again and she's back to making the grunting noise. She just sits in the corner of her cage and grunts. To me, it sounds like what happens to me whenever I have a massive sinus infection and I just can't breathe. My boyfriend thinks it sounds rattley like bronchitis. Anyway, I've made an appointment with the vet on wednesday to have another look at her. Does anyone have any idea what may be going on or anything I might be able to do to help her out?


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## ration1802 (Sep 25, 2007)

I've got an amazingly similar thing happening right now with one of my boys Jake - he's got (what I call) a crackle in his chest that clears up with either a anti-inflammatory injection or a long dose of anti-biotics. But a week later, the crackle's back and we're back to square one. This has been going on for over 7 months now!

I've been told it could be an environmental cause, so I was advised to change his bedding and diet and favourite play places - so far, I've not found out what's causing it - but continue to treat in the regular fashion of ab's and jabs.

I think you're right to make an appointment at the vets and get it seen to. You might even ask to add another ab into your treatment - for bad resp infections I use doxycycline in conjunction with baytril. That'll usually clear them up (cross fingers)

If, after this course, it comes back again. Perhaps try changing bedding (I've changed mine to towels washed in non-bio) and if you have any incense/candles/smelly airfresheners in the room take them out.


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## Poppyseed (Feb 1, 2007)

What type of bedding do you use?


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## ericasuzyq (Nov 5, 2007)

They're on fleece and their litter box has carefresh in it. 

Ration: Thanks for the advice about the environmental factor. It reminded me that two days ago, I came home and my roommate had been burning this oil in the livingroom where I keep the rats. It was strong enough to bother me and I didn't think anything at the time about the rats. Duh! So I've just removed the dish and will vaccum and air out the apartment. Hopefully that will help. 

If it does, do you think I should still take her in to the vet?


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## ration1802 (Sep 25, 2007)

I'd take her in, just in case. It never hurts to get her checked over, and they may just give you another course of abs as a precautionary measure. That's what I'd do anyway.


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## ericasuzyq (Nov 5, 2007)

Thanks! I was thinking the same thing. Its just.... I'm a poor college kid.  Oh well. Better safe than sorry.


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## ration1802 (Sep 25, 2007)

I know what you mean, I have weeks where mine fall ill and I've not got the cash that week and I think..maybe I can wait BUT I always know it's better to be safe than sorry.

After all, that's what they invented overdrafts for


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## madeittothemoon (Nov 1, 2007)

Two of my girls were doing that same type of thing, so I took them to the vet. He told me that it's probably environmental (I live in a reeeeeally old house), so I bought a humidifier. It's been working REALLY well so far- everyone has sounded pretty good. I'm still going to get an air purifier, but I would definitely recommend getting a humidifier.


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## CaptainFlow (May 16, 2007)

The visit to the vet might not be so bad, financially. I went too, and thought I was going to get charged like, $37 per rat. But basically the vet looked at them, heped me trim their nails, and said it ws probably environmental factors. Cost me only $15. I dunno if I put out a good "pity me, I'm broke" vibe, or if the vet was just nice, but maybe you'll get lucky, too.


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## vegan_bexx (Nov 4, 2007)

my youngest rat makk has been doing it since january - i have only had him since october, hes now on his second lot of antibiotics.


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## ericasuzyq (Nov 5, 2007)

Its good to know that I'm definitely not the only one having sick rat problems. I knew when I got my girls that they might be/get sick but I didn't know how much of a pain in the butt it would be. And around finals/Christmas time! If they keep it up, Santa might not have any money left to buy them toys! Lol. Thanks for all the advice!


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## ration1802 (Sep 25, 2007)

ericasuzyq said:


> Its good to know that I'm definitely not the only one having sick rat problems. I knew when I got my girls that they might be/get sick but I didn't know how much of a pain in the butt it would be. And around finals/Christmas time! If they keep it up, Santa might not have any money left to buy them toys! Lol. Thanks for all the advice!


Eh, I've learnt that xmas = vet bills. 'Sod's Law' comes out to play and, as it knows we're already spending out tons of dosh on prezzies, why not spend just as much on vet bills. lol


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## ericasuzyq (Nov 5, 2007)

So the vet bill came out to $55. Ugh. 

What happened, apparently, is while she was sick the first time and on doxy the vet didn't take into account that her weight would change rapidly (as she was a baby) so the dose wasn't enough to do anything more than control the symptoms. So now she's on Baytril until the day after Christmas. Unfortunately, she really dislikes the meds, even mixed in with her favorite yogurt. Does anyone have any tricks up their sleeves I might be able to use on her?


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## ration1802 (Sep 25, 2007)

babyfood. i put the baytril in the syringe and coat the tip in babyfood. while they're happy licking off the end of the syringe, squirt it in. mine usually give an 'ick' look, then carry on to clean off the syringe lol


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