# How often should a healthy rat sneeze?



## cervine (Oct 14, 2012)

Hi all. I'm curious about how frequently a healthy rat should sneeze, and what exactly constitutes as excessive sneezes.

My 2 month old rats (that I've had for a month now) just finished a 2 week course of Zithromax because they were both sneezing daily and sometimes hiccuping. Otherwise they are zooming little popcorners and they're both great eaters. The vet said their lungs were clear when she listened to them. Anyway, Baron stopped showing symptoms a few days into the treatment, but Basil was still sneezing (not hiccuping as much, though). I called the vet and she said that I should finish out the course and then we would see if he was still showing symptoms.

Anyway, Basil is still sneezing periodically throughout the day, maybe around 5 times a day. They are dry sneezes and he only has a teeny bit of porphyrin when he first wakes up in the morning, but he quickly cleans it up and it doesn't come back. I catch him hicupping maybe once every other day.

I'm going to call the vet tomorrow to maybe try a different antibiotic, and I'm also going to put a humidifier in my room since it is winter and we do have the heater running, maybe that will help. They are on fleece bedding and the only dust in the cage is from the lab blocks that they've eaten. I change the liners twice weekly.

Anyway, I'm just wondering how often your healthy rats sneeze? I'd like to have something to compare to in the future. Thanks!


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## Blaze (Jul 16, 2012)

I'm not sure how helpful this will be, but I'll share anyway.

One of my first two rats, Emilie, sneezed all her life. I've never been able to take any of my rats to a vet, but I don't believe that any of the ten I've owned ever had an actual respiratory infection. Emilie sneezed her whole life and was always making a quacking noise, so I believe she may have just had a weak respiratory system. She came from a pet tank at the pet store, and the rat I got her with, Florence, has always been exceptionally healthy. Emilie died recently at two years, and Florence is still going strong. But Emi's sneezing was bad, like, a sneeze with every single breath. That's not an exaggeration. 

Basil sounds fine to me. I'd be worried about him if he were producing excessive porphyrin.


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## JBlas (Oct 21, 2012)

My girl rats sneeze the most. Every time I have them out they sneeze. I think they are very sensitive to every scent that I happen to have on my body--hair product, soap, shampoo, perfume, etc. They are otherwise perfectly healthy--or so they seem. All my rats sneeze on and off. Mainly when they are out of the cage and running around me.


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## cervine (Oct 14, 2012)

Thanks for sharing guys. I'm a little less worried now but I'm still going to call the vet because I'm moving in about 3 weeks and I don't want the stress of the trip to make any possible respitory infection worse. :/


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