# Are the symptoms of Myco contagious?



## Awaiting_Abyss (Jul 24, 2012)

I have two rats that show myco flare up symptoms. They are caged separately from my other rats and have no contact with them at all. I know all rats are born with myco, but the others do not have any symptoms at all. Is it safe to keep them in the same room? Are the flare up symptoms contagious or no? I have searched on the internet and I've found opposite answers. 

Also, I was going to switch my three girls (who's cage is too small for 3 rats) to the cage that my two girls with flare up symptoms and switch the two girls to the cage that the three girls are currently in. How should I go about disinfecting the larger cage? Or is this not advised that I switch their cages?


----------



## elliriyanna (Jul 27, 2011)

From what I understand all rats pretty much have mucous its just a matter of flare ups and its not contagious just vainglory cagematez they go through the same things so they may both get symptoms at the same time


----------



## Awaiting_Abyss (Jul 24, 2012)

Hmm alright. So it should be okay to switch their cages once I sanitize the cages?


----------



## elliriyanna (Jul 27, 2011)

They are in the same house they would already have the same illnesses. I would just do a normal cleaning routine.


----------



## Awaiting_Abyss (Jul 24, 2012)

I've only had my six new rats for a week now and they are at opposite ends of the house and I keep the room that the two girls are in closed off.


----------



## elliriyanna (Jul 27, 2011)

In that case I have heard a 10% bleach solution will kill everything its what our vet told us to do when our dog dog parvo... then you just have to make sure to rinse very vet well and let it air out


----------



## RattiePeepz (Aug 19, 2012)

If they are new rats, the transport and new environment is often enough to trigger the symptoms. Also dependent on the innate resistance to myco flare-ups of the rat.Best thing to do is to get them straight into a nebuliser, twice daily, with a dilution of F10 or the like. Its usually not something that will get better on its own once flare-ups occur...especially if both cage-mates have it. Upper-respiratory problems turn to lung problems, and the pneumonia or worse. 2nd level treatment is either the usual Baytril treatment orally or doxycycline, like Ornicure. Both if respiratory issues are already occurring. Unfortunately part of every rat owners life at some point. Ive had to deal with it far too much due to getting pet shop rats (big mistake) and rats not bred to be strong against it. Good luck! And don't let them near your other rats because it IS contagious. Very. Not sure how yet...


----------



## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

Myco flareups have to do with a rat's immune system and how strong it is. If a rat is stressed (travel, a fright, etc) then this also can allow for a flareup. Myco is not contagious as such and you often will have a group of rats and only cerrtain ones will get sick...these are the rats with the weaker immune systems.

I do have to ask, how were the previous URI's treated? If the antibiotics weren't strong enough or used long enough, the infection never really goes away and it will keep coming back.


----------



## RattiePeepz (Aug 19, 2012)

It's not contagious in the sense that particles of some kind cannot be transferred in such a way that they can pass on the disease...as they already have it anyway. 

But over and over again I have seen that if one gets it, and I don't isolate that one...the other "weaker" ones inevitably get it. And some stronger ones too. 
What causes this??

I've just come out of a bout of myco whereby I treated 6 of the rats and isolated one for treatment, as she was especially bad.


----------



## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

whatever is stressing and causing the flareup in the first place is affecting all the rats and the ones that consistently get sick will always be like that. Myco is constantly bombarding our rat's immune system and any opportunity they get in and cause a flareup whether it be respiratory or genital myco. I only separate out sick rats that are sooo sick and their cagemates are bothering them...rats take comfort from their friends, and removing them can add to the their stress which stresses their immune system.


----------



## RattiePeepz (Aug 19, 2012)

I introduced a (already known to the colony) rat with minor resp symptoms to a cage, and following that, multiple rats showed symptoms. This included very strong rats. 
It is contagious by its very nature. But yes, a common stressor with always trigger it as well. Have a barking dog next to the cage will always trigger it  But so will a sneezing rat. 

Once a rat shows any wheezing/sneezing or weight loss, they're out! I treat them (nebuliser, then antibiotics, then nebuliser + 2x antibiotics if necessary) and back in with their mates. Cages always within close proximity to each other. 

Spending quality time with the separated ratty and a good diet does the trick as well for comfort. 

Each his own.


Sent from my iPhone using PG Free


----------



## elliriyanna (Jul 27, 2011)

It depends what the rat has but sometimes a new cagemate can cause that level of stress... honestly at this point are you even helping the op or just arguing about your beliefs? No offense but the op came for help not an argument


----------



## RattiePeepz (Aug 19, 2012)

No no. Not an argument at all. But the question was whether its contagious or not, and I'm just not sure saying the disease itself isn't, is true.

I don't want the OP to suffer the effects that I have suffered by thinking one rat having it won't affect another.

Like you said, depends on what they have. Just speaking from my experience is all. Hope it helps 


Sent from my iPhone using PG Free


----------



## Kieola (Aug 20, 2012)

Myco is very contagious, you may find the following link useful:
http://ratfanclub.org/resp.html, or just 'google' it, you will find many links agreeing with this.


Sent from my iPhone using PG Free


----------



## RattiePeepz (Aug 19, 2012)

As for cleaning cages...I use the principal of cleaning dishes:

If I cut up raw chicken on a plate, I wash it a certain way I make sure my kids dont get salmonella. 

So..that method must surely be enough for rattie cage elements  right?
If its good enough for my kids, it's good enough for my rats. Loosely this translates to hot water and Fairy liquid. Pet disinfectant sometimes or F10. 

Cloth stuff...in the washer. Should be fine


Sent from my iPhone using PG Free


----------



## Awaiting_Abyss (Jul 24, 2012)

My rats were never treated for URI because they haven't had it. Their flare-up symptoms have never been very bad and they do fine as long as I keep them on the correct bedding. I haven't had the two girls very long either. I got them June 17th. I'm quite sure they have weak immune systems because of where I got them. The only place to get rats around me is Petsmart, and they only sell male rats. I wanted females to start off with so the only place I could find was a person at the flea market who bred rats for feeders and pets. I told her to give me the tamest two female rats she had. She almost gave me a male and a female.. because for some reason she thought I wanted to breed, but I corrected her and got my first two little girl rats.
My new six rats I got from a person on craigslist, and they are all healthy. I haven't heard a sneeze out of them since they arrived. 

To clean the cage, I dipped the shelves in a bleach solution (10% bleach) and let them soak. Then I pulled them out to let them dry and rinsed them off. I cleaned the rest of the cage with the same solution but with a washcloth. My three new girls seem very happy with their larger cage now! My other two girls don't seem to mind the change of cage, especially since they are small and spend most of their time in their hammock.


----------



## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

Myco is very contagious, however it is so contageous that it is endemic in the rat population. This means that unless your rats were born from a Myco free strain (lab rats generally, but those kept in lab conditions) they will already have it. Myco illness is caused by a number of factors, genetic weakness is one, and if you get your rats from one source, or even from a variety of sources that don't breed against it them they are likley to be susceptable. Stress also triggers, as does (more seriously) a secondary infection. Theses are the major issue when taking in New rats, if they pass on something like sendia, sdav or bordetella (the three main risks here in the UK). These can easily be passed from rat to rat and being viruses asside from trying to control the Myco flare up they cause there's nothing you can do accept keep them warm, safe and well fed, and hope they'll make it.

Generally speaking for those three a 3 week seperate air space quarentine is pleanty. Your looking for any new symptoms coming in. If the rats are consistently sneezy its not an issues, but if they get worse, very ill etc then don't intro until there better. Generally once there showing symptoms they are passed the infectious point but it can take time to spread from rat to rat so worth being careful. We have a rule of thumb here in the UK, we don't take rats in or send them out for 4 weeks (for small pet home) to 8 weeks (for larger groups and any with kittens pre weaning) after first symptom or the kittens being weaned.


----------



## Awaiting_Abyss (Jul 24, 2012)

I know they are all born with it. I was just wondering if the flare up symptoms were contagious. 

The two who show symptoms only sneeze, and the sneezes aren't as bad as long as I keep a schedule with cleaning their cage and keep them on certain bedding. At one point one of them was making a coughing noise, but she stopped and hasn't done it since. 

I just didn't want my new ones to start showing symptoms because of my other two.


----------



## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

The symptoms aren’t contagious, as they are caused by the illness, however the stressors are often shared by all the rats in the cage. So say you have 2 new rats, they are at a high level of stress because they have moved into a new home, they are sneezy because of it and have a mild flare up. After a while you add them to your group who are all fine at that time, though the newcomers are still a bit sneezy as it’s all new and scary. You then go into an introduction situation. Even the best handled introduction is one of the more stressful events in a rats life so your existing rats that are myco prone genetically will then start sneezing too and have mini flare ups. This will generally happen whenever you introduce them if they are prone to it, unless there myco resistance is strong.

If you have an existing rat in a colony having a flare up this can add to the overall stress of the group, it does depend on the individual rats and how ill the existing rat is. That is because it’s another stressful and upsetting situation. You see it even in rats that don’t have a tendency towards myco and it’s even more obvious if the ill rat is the group alpha. I can give a good example of this, I am lucky enough to have a group of rats who are all very strongly resistant to myco at the moment (one has a pasturella nasal infection but that’s not making him ill, all of them are from breeder lines who breed away from myco weakness). About a month or two ago when I had 6 lads the cage Alpha suffered from sudden onset pneumonia (not myco related actually,), in the space of a day he went from fit and healthy to incredibly ill. His cage mates became very quiet and withdrawn, none showed myco flare ups however had they had an illness it would have exacerbated it, they were obviously stressed and only recovered some time after I had him put to sleep. I’ve seen this again and again, it’s not abnormal for lice or mite outbreaks to happen either when someone in the group is poorly or dies.

I will say though that whilst you may protect the group from low level stress of being around a poorly rat, you put that poorly rat through even higher levels of stress by splitting them off. I honestly believe this should be avoided unless for some reason that rat needs very intensive care and no rats potentially trampling them. Even in these cases I will generally split them off with a very calm and loving friend if I have that option available unless the rat clearly shows it want’s to be on it’s own. Most rats recover far better in their main group though (even if you have to adapt the cage a little), and generally speaking if they have something infectious the rats in that group will already be infected as by the time the symptoms occur they have been infectious for some time. Some vets still recommend this, however generally those are the vets that also tell you to give baytril in the rats water, which is a sure fire way to dehydrate your poorly rat at best.


----------

