Help. Rat suddenly having trouble breathing

I got home from work today, and my rat is having a difficult time breathing and is breathing through his mouth.

I gave him metacam. The only antibiotic I have is orbifloxacin. Will this help. I am phoning the vet first thing tomorrow morning.

Do you have an emergency vet?
If possible go now.
Mouth breathing is bad.
You could try a tiny piece of dark chocolate. You could also try going into the bathroom and starting up the shower and letting him breathe some steam. This also has a chance of making him worse if it's something like pneumonia though, so be ready to leave immediately if he shows signs of distress.

This showed up out of nowhere?
How old is he?

Orbifloxican does not seem to be super safe or researched for rats:
http://ratguide.com/meds/antimicrobial_agents/orbifloxacin.php
If you decided to use it, I would go with the minimum, 1mg/lb, as it isn't a well researched treatment. If you have an asthma inhaler you can try giving him a puff of that.

As mentioned above, a tiny piece of dark chocolate will help to keep his airway open until you can get help.
If he does not have fluid in his lungs, then a steamy bathroom may help but you will need to hold him and watch him very carefully. If he starts if get worse get him out of there immediately!!

I have no idea about the type of antibiotic you have ... and it takes a couple of days for antibiotics to work.
Vet will likely prescribe baytril, baytril + doxy, or baytril + azithromycin (10 mg/Ib), or clavamox - all are given orally twice a day for about 6 weeks.
If he has fluid in his lungs vet will also need to prescribe Lasix ... at least for the short term

Hope you both get through this ok

If you plan on getting your rat in tomorrow I wouldn't bother with the orbifloxacin, as it won't take any effect in that short a time. Metacam for discomfort and inflammation is a good idea, as long as you can get it into him safely.

I hope you were able to get him in to see an emergency vet (and one who's experienced with rats).

Thinking of you both and sending positive wishes...

I am waiting at an emergency vet right now. He is 1.5 years, and has always had problems with myco flair ups. He has never breathed through his mouth before, though. The mouth breathing arrivived very suddenly. Last night he was sneezing a little, but still eating, playful, not gasping for breath. Thanks everyone for your advice.

The vet is suggesting I keep him over night in an oxygen tank. I am not sure if I can afford this. If I am given the antibiotics needed do you think that he will be fine. Before bringing him, he was still eating.

An update: My rat has been home from the vet for a few hours. He seems to be doing a lot better. He's eating, comes when I call him, and just started wrestling with his doctor. The vet gave me baytril and a script for doxy, which I'm going to bring to my vet tomorrow. I also have metacam I can use.

The doxy and baytril should work, if your vet thinks he can wait the 4 days before it actually builds up enough to work on his infection.

So no vet/pharmacy I have called carries the liquid form of doxy (which is what I was prescribed). Are there alternatives that I can ask about?

Ask for the 100 mg doxy capsules, you can make doxy solution with the powder

Is there a compounding pharmacy in your area? That's where I get my liquid doxycycline - through a compounding pharmacy. Your veterinarian can call in the Rx to your local compounding pharmacy.

lilspaz68 brings up a good point, though. You can mix the medication yourself. It's easier to have the medication compounded, however it is more expensive.

In case it's helpful, here are some Canadian compounding pharmacies I found online. Of course your vet will already be familiar with whatever pharmacy is closest.

Toronto: http://compoundingpharmacy.pro/
Victoria, BC: http://wecompound.com/
Winnipeg, Manitoba: http://www.tachepharmacy.com/veterinary-compounding-pharmacy.htm

Glad to hear your rat is doing better. Hope he continues to improve. Sending positive wishes to you and your rat!

My regular pharmacy compounds Doxy for my rats when necessary. I think it's usually 5mg/ml.
Good luck, I hope your boy gets his breathing under control.

I hope he's doing okay. Thinking of you!

So I have the doxy (have been giving it to him since Friday -- that's the earliest I got it). The Baytril from the Emergency Animal Hospital ran out, but my vet gave me a refill of Orbax (She told me that it is similar to Baytril and works well with doxy. They also didn't have the liquid baytril). But now tonight he's having trouble breathing again. He's not breathing through his mouth, but I can see his sides moving when he breathes. He is still eating. I have him out of the cage right now and he is running around/wrestling. I put him in a steamy bathroom and gave him metacam and he seems to be doing better, but his sides are still going in and out harder than I would like (I can also hear him breathing. I have been able to do so since this all started). If I only was able to start the doxy on Friday, is it taking awhile to start working? Is my rat immune to doxy and orbax (He's had to go on meds a lot over his life do to myco). I am at a loss of what to do.

It sounds like he should be seen by the vet again. Open mouth breathing is always serious.

Did the steamy shower help him be able to breath without having his mouth open?

Medications for respiratory problems can take up to 3-5 days before you start to see results. If they're not working by the 5th day, your vet should prescribe something else.

I'm wondering if it would be good for him to have an Xray as well?

I'm not sure if Metacam is a good idea to use for treating respiratory disease---I could be wrong. In case it's helpful, here's information on the uses and contraindications for using Meloxicam: http://ratguide.com/meds/nsaids/meloxicam.php

I'm glad to hear he's still eating and playing. It does sound like a recheck would be a great idea at this point.

AboutPetRats said:

It sounds like he should be seen by the vet again. Open mouth breathing is always serious.

Did the steamy shower help him be able to breath without having his mouth open?

Medications for respiratory problems can take up to 3-5 days before you start to see results. If they're not working by the 5th day, your vet should prescribe something else.

I'm wondering if it would be good for him to have an Xray as well?

I'm not sure if Metacam is a good idea to use for treating respiratory disease---I could be wrong. In case it's helpful, here's information on the uses and contraindications for using Meloxicam: http://ratguide.com/meds/nsaids/meloxicam.php

I'm glad to hear he's still eating and playing. It does sound like a recheck would be a great idea at this point.

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He hasn't been open mouth breathing again. He sides are moving in and out in a way that appears laboured, and I can hear him breathing (but he's still breathing through his nose). The steamy shower just seemed to freak him out, but did not make things worse.

I'm glad he's no longer breathing with an open mouth. Will you be taking him to your vet for a recheck? Since you are observing labored breathing (with his sides pronouncedly moving in and out) a recheck does sound like a good idea.

I hope this isn't the case, but thought it might be helpful for me to share about one of my rats who had laboured breathing. The vet had an Xray done and the interpretation came back as either a mass in her chest or an abscessed lung. The Xray really helped us move forward with assessing treatment options. Again, I hope your dear rattie simply has mycoplasma and that medication can keep the symptoms down to as little as possible.

I am taking my rat back to a different (and hopefully better vet) today, as he is not doing well again. His health seemed to be improving, but then symptoms became worse again. What medication should ask be asking for? He was on orbax and doxy, it didn't seem to help. He has been on baytril and doxy in the last, I am worried that he has built up a resistance against it.