# Rat Terrified of Nebulator



## Andromeda (Apr 28, 2016)

I haven't been here for a few months because of life, and also because one of my rats, Sebastian, can't seem to shake his respiratory issues.

He's been on about 3 rounds of antibiotics, and I just took him in again this afternoon. Nothing has been working so far, and I'm really worried about him.

My awesome vet took a look at him, and decided to bump up his antibiotics. I told him that the past week or so I've gotten into the habit of taking Sebastian into the bathroom with me every night and turning on the shower to steam up the room, and just letting him breath it in for a few minutes. It seems to at least temporarily help his symptoms.

My vet then offered to let me borrow their nebulizer (for free, which was nice). He gave me some saline solution to put in it.

So I just tried it for the first time tonight, and it was not fun. Sebastian is a super friendly rat. Loves scratches, loves to lick, and loves to take naps on my lap. But the second I turned on the nebulizer, he started squirming around and would bolt to a hiding spot. I eventually stuck him in his carrying kennel and put a towel over it so that all the holes were covered except the door grate. Then I held the nozzle up to the door and turned the thing on.

The poor guy was digging at the bottom of the carrier trying to escape, until eventually he just cowered at the back until it was over. When I stuck him back in his cage, he immediately ran to crawl on top of his brother for cuddles, which makes me think it freaked him out pretty bad.

Has anyone here used a nebulizer before? Is there anything I can do to make this easier on him? Is it worth stressing him out to ease his breathing?

Any advice helps.


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## Asteria (Jul 6, 2016)

I have lots of experience nebulizing one of my rats who has lung scarring and congestion problems (loosely diagnosed as COPD by my vet). Nebulizing is really only beneficial for rats with lung damage IMO, it helps for temporary relief. 
Nebulizing to cure an upper respiratory infection is probably going to cause more stress than it's worth. If he's just being nebulized with saline solution it's going to have a similar decongesting effect as just steaming him at home, which is far less difficult. I personally have seen no effect in nebulizing antibiotics which people have had varying success with. 

I honestly think you should ask your vet for a new strong combo of antibiotics and look for other methods, stressing him out further while his respiratory system is under distress isn't going to be helpful at all. 

Good luck, hope Sebastian gets better soon.


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## Andromeda (Apr 28, 2016)

Sorry, I should have mentioned this in my original post. My vet said today that he thinks the problem might be more in his lungs rather than a URI, which was part of the reason he suggested the nebulizer.

He said the only way to be really sure is to do x-rays, but because Sebastian's last round of antibiotics seemed to at least help his symptoms, we decided to try a stronger dosage and see if it clears things up.


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## HaggisWhisperer (Apr 9, 2015)

My vet suggested using F10 antiseptic (1:250 dilution) to nebulize my rats if they were showing symptoms of respiratory problems (I think the F10 SC is the same stuff, just in much bigger bottles with a different label). I had to build my own nebulizer box which was a bit of fun in the first place as the boxes I could buy were really horribly expensive. When I chose my nebulizer itself I opted for the quietest one I could find that still made the droplets into the correct size for treating a rat. I also stretch the tubing as long as possible away from the box to minimize the sound. I have put some kitchen paper in the bottom of the box with a few sunflower seeds on it as a distraction (works for one of my rats and not the other one that I have to nebulize).

Coco, my 2 year old rat is absolutely fine with the nebulizer and chills out in there eating sunflower seeds. Harry (~1 year) is a lot less keen, but not as bad as your rat (although he did attack the nebulizer mouthpiece where it entered the box and I've had to order replacements). I am finding that the nebulizer on its own doesn't seem to be treating the infection - at least not as quickly as using baytril might - although maybe I should give it longer before going for the drugs. The nebulizer does seem to help clear up the symptoms faster (compared with baytril alone) once they are on the meds though. If the rats are making their pigeon/guinea pig noises then 20 mins in the nebulizer box seems to help their breathing at least short term so I think it is worthwhile.


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## mis.kay (May 29, 2015)

My Boo has constant respiratory problems, and my last rat Hartley did too. I actually use albuteral diluted with saline solution in the nebulizer, along with oral baytril and it seems to keep the symptoms at bay for a while. We're never going to completely get rid of their respiratory issues, it's just keeping them comfortable while they have flair ups. =/

You can put another rat in with Sebastian. That's what I did with Hartley when he panicked. It's not going to hurt the other rat to get the treatment, and it will help Sebastian feel safer in his environment. Good luck to you and little Sebastian.


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## Jg309 (Feb 19, 2017)

What was your experience of the F10? I have a nebuliser on its way for Louie, she's always been quite anxious so I'm hoping she'll take to it...


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## HaggisWhisperer (Apr 9, 2015)

I think the diluted f10 in the nebulizer helps, even just short term for a few hours - Harry breathed a lot better after coming out of it. When we used it for our older rat Coco we had been treating him with baytril for about 3 weeks and although symptoms were much improved they hadn't clearer up completely - we nebulized him twice a day for about 5 days (early January) and the symptoms clearer up - he is still OK although I fully expect them to come back sooner rather than later as he has had a few URIs. According to the f10 website you can nebulise them with it 3 times a day (my vet said to put 5mL of the diluted 1:250 solution [I made this up in a clean jar with cooled boiled water] in the nebulization chamber and nebulize for about 20 mins) so if you needed to nebulize more frequently you could always just use straight saline. I have stopped nubulizing Harry (our ASBO rat) as he was destroying the box, either he was bored and looking for something to do or he just really took exception to the plastic tube thingy that was spraying mist in his face. I don't think it was a stress response as he was fine when he was taken out of the box and took a banana chip in my arms. I've bought some wire mesh that I'm going to try and fix to the inside of the box to cover the nebulizer inlet and hopefully stop, or at least delay, his appetite for destruction. I was starting to notice a bit of improvement by the 4th day of nebulising (twice a day), but he is on baytril now so that particular experiment of N=1 is over. He wasn't very ill with his respiratory infection which is why I tried the nebulizing on its own for a few days (at the vets suggestion), just making pigeon/guinea pig noises on and off - still eating and drinking fine and running about as normal during free range time.


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