# Does anyone have a rat that just sneezes?



## erikablanchettexo (Nov 25, 2014)

The title kind of says it all. 

I'm just curious because my female rat I got in November has always had sneezing issues since day 1. I treated her with baytril, doxy as well as chloro Palm until about February 20th? And she's been doing great but she sneezes every so often. They're dry sneezes. I listen to her belly probably like 3 times a day and her lungs sound perfect (even when she was being treated they sounded perfect), she's bright eyed, eats well, drinks well and plays also. 

Is it possible that she's just a sneezy rat?


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## Medilia (Mar 18, 2015)

My friend had a pet rat named Sneezy who was the same. Unfortunately I do think it is a respiratory issue or you have an allergen in the house setting her off. Sneezy lived a good life with my friend, she was already mature when my friend got her and she lived for a further year and a bit before passing in winter (We think from her breathing issues). As far as I am concerned if the rat is playful, happy and has a good quality of life you should just let her have that.

Oh! And I am presuming you have already taken her to the vet to check her out?


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

Ours sneeze to clear their noses. When I offer them something to smell or eat they often sneeze before they sniff. Fuzzy Rat had a morning ritual when she would get up, then she would stretch, drink, eat, poop, pee, preen and then sneeze after which she was ready to go outside... I'd wake her up before we went anywhere about ten minutes before we left so she could do her thing. The sneeze meant she was ready. But to be sure it was absolutely voluntary.


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## Sowa (Jan 24, 2015)

My girl Pepper was doing the same. I tried different bedding, different medications, and she didn't stop sneezing til I changed her cage. Now she has no bedding, just fleece lining. She stopped sneezing now. When I put her in the old cage again to clean she started sneezing again.


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## Jessiferatu (Apr 30, 2014)

Yes. September, whose nickname is now Sneezy Rat. He has been to the vet a few times, and every time the vet says there is nothing wrong with his lungs. He's been on antibiotics too. His sneezes are dry also. I'm thinking allergy, though I can't say what exactly. We're careful not to have any irritants near the rats so I don't know what it is. He is fine otherwise, bright-eyed, alert, and active.


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## Tedology (Mar 3, 2015)

Sowa said:


> My girl Pepper was doing the same. I tried different bedding, different medications, and she didn't stop sneezing til I changed her cage. Now she has no bedding, just fleece lining. She stopped sneezing now. When I put her in the old cage again to clean she started sneezing again.


Hehehe...maybe it was her name that was causing it.


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## Zabora (Jun 8, 2014)

Maybe you could try a bit of benadryl? What bedding are you using?


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## erikablanchettexo (Nov 25, 2014)

To answer everyone's questions;

She's been to the vet December 10th as well as January 26th for a re check if the issue. Each time the vet said both my girls lungs sounded great (and every time I check them which is like 3 times a day they sound good also)

They've had very minimal porphorin around their eyes and nose if any at all. Sometimes the one I'm talking about in particular will have a little bit around her nose when she wakes up but it's not wet when I see it, it's more like dried on?

I use fleece bedding (I wash it with baby shampoo and then let it sit in hot water and vinegar once it's been rinsed). 

I've been giving them 0.1cc of children's Benadryl for the past day and a half and it doesn't seem to be making that much of a difference. 

So as long as she's still bright eyed and happy looking and doing all her regular stuff she's fine?


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

This is not advise, simply because I can't prove anything. But my rats don't get URI's or sneezing attacks or other respiratory issues. Simply put, their bombproof. Smoking, trash diving, dirt of any kind and eating moldy or sour foods doesn't phase them in the least.

Way back before "I knew better" when I started out with rats, I pretty much assumed they were designed to survive the worst environments the world had to offer. I also started training our rats outdoors in the dirt and grass to be true shoulder rats from a very young age. And yes they occasionally find food that people dropped and would eat it. It's actually rather disgusting, but at least two rats we've owned cherished moldy food dug from under bleachers or park benches above all other foods... Cloud will just let food mold and not go after it until it's been in the trash.

I'm not going to pretend this makes any sense; other than I recall my mom saying kids need dirt to stay healthy...

I'll also note that my friend heppa cleaned his house when his kids were young and now they have asthma, our home is anything but heppa clean and my daughter is also bombproof.

I realize I'm a bit older than some of you folks, and maybe moms don't let their kids play in the dirt and mud anymore, actually I hardly see kids playing outside at all, which I shouldn't find strange since my own daughter has gone digital, but I'd suggest that raising rats in a hot house might not be the only approach. There may actually be something to rats needing a certain amount of "dirt" in order to develop a normal immune system.

Don't panic, I warn folks who own hot house rats that my rats are outdoor rats because I don't want our rats to infect their rats with anything our girls might carry and be immune to and I'm not suggesting that anyone do anything different with their rats, like I said, this isn't advise.

That said, I find it odd that true shoulder rats never have respiratory issues while they seem so common in the general rat population. And I have to almost wonder if there isn't something in the "dirt" that rats need to develop better health.

I realize that true shoulder rats are very rare, a fraction of a single percent of the fancy rat population, so they don't make up much of a sample, but there are way more wild rats than domestic rats in the world and they live in burrows and dirt and eat trash and are remarkably healthy too. 

So is it better to expose young rats to a bit of dirt for their own good? Is there something in the natural environment that protects rats from RI's? I'm just tossing it out there... as a question, rather than suggesting it as an answer. Certainly I'm not encouraging rat neglect, but when my own experience tends to be different from the current common wisdom I tend to wonder if there's something going on that someone is overlooking...

Maybe, just maybe my mom, born in 1921 just might have been right... decide for yourself, or not...


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