# Lethargic, sick rat. Help diagnosing?



## Smatty-Beau (May 23, 2017)

Okay so one of my rats, Pansius, has become very sick.

About Wednesday night I offered all the kids a piece of yellow pepper. Pansius took it, but then immediately dropped it and didn't want any. I didn't think much of it at the time. Then he disappeared almost all of Thursday, which although my rats have free roam of my room, they are always very happy to come out and interact with me. When I did find him on Thursday evening he was clearly not feeling well, limbs curled in, lethargic, and squinted eyes. However he was interested in water. I decided to put him in the sick/geriatric rat cage for the night and by Friday morning everything looked a lot worse. Here's basically what's up:

Symptoms:
- Lethargic
- Curled in feet, but he can walk/jump
- Extreme discharge from the eyes, but none from the nose
- Interest in food/water, but can't consume much at one time
- Slight labor of breath

He doesn't:
- have cold limbs
- a lack of motor control
- he's not sneezing


I've had rats with pneumonia and heart failure, but this doesn't seem to line up completely with either. I've read up about a possible PT tumor, but still doesn't seem to match. My best guess is a respiratory problem since he's always had a bit of a cough, but otherwise no discharge or breathing problems before. I've been giving him some vibramycin since Friday evening which seems to help a tiny bit. He has an appointment with his vet on Monday, and he's been holding in there. However if I could have a better idea what's going on so I could maybe help him better it'd be nice.

Any help is super appreciated!


----------



## Shadow <3 (Jan 25, 2017)

Waiting a few days is never a good idea with a sick rat. Do you have a emergency vet you could go to by any chance? When my girls show ANY lethargy, it's usually because they're so sick that they can no longer hide it. I've rushed my rats to the emergency vets many times, and I once even had a rat die on the way there. Often times, it's a matter of life or death when a rat shows symptoms such as lethargy or labored breathing.

As a side note, I've had rats with pneumonia that showed absolutely no signs before falling deathly ill. No sneezing, no excess porphyrin, no lethargy, and then bam! The next day, full blown pneumonia! My rats with pneumonia also never sneezed, and only one made clicking sounds as she breathed. The others only showed extreme lethargy, loss of interest in food, puffy coats, sucked in sides (in one rats case), and labored breathing (this often started out as mildly labored but quickly progressed into full blown "use all your abdominal muscles" breathing). 

I would try and get him to a vet ASAP, if for no other reason than to try a general treatment of antibiotics (if you assume that he has respiratory issues). You could also get him some Albuteral if you have a nebulizer, and see if that makes breathing easier for a few hours. 

Cold limbs would be a very bad sign, and in my case, cold extremities have always been followed by my rats death. If you saw these symptoms, or open mouth breathing, then I would be extremely worried. I definitely wouldn't count pneumonia or other respiratory issues out just because he doesn't have all the symptoms.

I'm sorry I couldn't help much, but I'd really try and find an emergency vet to bring him to if I were you. 

Hopefully he feels better soon


----------



## Smatty-Beau (May 23, 2017)

I'd been flip flopping a lot on taking him to the emergency (It's so expensive after all), but your reply helped convince me to take him in last night and I'm glad of that. He had an upper respiratory infection that looks like it'd just turned into pneumonia. He's been put on a strong dose of baytril and he's now living in my bathroom with a vaporizer. Still has his appointment on Monday to follow up with my regular vet. Looks like he's doing a little better; he's eating more and been drinking from his bottle.

I agree with you about how fast pneumonia can creep up. I lost a rat at only 6 months old. No symptoms then bam she was full on abdominal breathing. Died at the emergency within 6 hours. 

Either way I'd say your reply was of sincere help in convincing me to take him in and that's important. Thank you. Hopefully he can recover from this


----------

