Please answer my short rat respiratory health questionnaire!

If you think your rats have been affected by respiratory disease please answer my questionnaire here:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RVCrathealth


Hello everyone!

I'm new here, but just to introduce myself, my name is Rachel and I am a rat lover and final year vet student at the Royal Veterinary College in the United Kingdom. I'm currently owned by four gorgeous rats- Turnip, Leek, Spud and Pepper.

I know from my own personal experience that pet rats are very prone to suffering from respiratory infections, but there is almost no scientific research on how often they get ill and what happens when they do. Research underway at the Royal Veterinary College is indicating that of 700 rats seen at British local vets, almost a third were seen for respiratory disease, and two thirds of those eventually die from the disease.

I have lost rats who I loved to this disease and it has affected all of my pets, so for my vet school research project I am asking rat owners like yourselves to take just 10 minutes to answer an online questionnaire to give a better understanding of respiratory disease in your pet rats.

Please answer, however trivial you think the impact of respiratory disease has been in your rats. There are no right or wrong answers and all answers are completely anonymous. You are welcome to leave comments and feedback in the comments box at the end of the questionnaire.

You can also win prizes for replying- a selection of handmade rat fabric hammocks and hidey-holes including a hanging rat pirate ship (and yes, I will post these internationally if the winners live abroad!) Winners will be drawn at random in early January 2015 and notified by email.


If you think your rats have been affected by respiratory disease please answer my questionnaire here:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RVCrathealth

The legal stuff:
All data is completely anonymous and confidential and will not be used for any purpose other than this research project. No names of animals or owners will be published in any reports I produce. An email address is taken solely if you would like to enter the competition to win goodies for your rats!


Thank you all soooooooooo much in advance for your time and help!

Answered. I hope you will share your results with us too.

I also answered it earlier today. I hope that, one day, a vaccine will become available to thwart myco from rat lines. I've heard that the knowledge for it already exists, but that there isn't enough 'money' it in for the pharmaceutical industry to invest in it. Either way, given the high percentage of rats who suffer from this in one way or another, some worse than others, it would be great to be able to eliminate it. Yes, please share the result of your study when it's complete.

Done! Can't wait to see the results. That's great you're doing this for your vet school research project, Rachel.

Done. I hope I helped.

Awesome! I filled it out. I've only ever dealt with a very very mild case in my boys. My vet said that when I brought them in, the infection had barely begun, so we were able to squash it with antibiotics and so far (6 months later) have had no recurrence. Hopefully it stays that way! And my first pair of female rats were adopted from my university animal laboratory, so they never had any resp. issues due to their breeding.

I would totally pay for a vaccine against this illness for my boys and any future rats that I own. Hopefully some day, there will be something like this available to rat owners. Unfortunately though, until rats become less of a (I hate to say it) 'throwaway pet', I don't know that enough progress will be made..

Good luck with your project and degree!

Done!
I'm a RVN (qualified in 1998) great to see a vet student with such an interest in small furries and rats especially. Some of my best friends are vets and I've struggled to find any friend or colleague over the years with more interest other than "give baytril and see if it gets better". Good luck!

I filled out the questionnaire.

Done!
.............

Just completed mine

Thank you so much everyone who has answered so far! I have 90 responses already, its great. The more I get, the more likely it is that I will be able to publish the results of my study, which would be amazing! Please encourage other friends and rat owners to complete the survey if you can!

Done. Thanks for choosing a topic that is so hugely important to rat owners for your project!

done ................

answered! i'm also interested to see your studies. and that pirate ship, that sounds FANTASTIC lol

My rats love the hanging pirate ship! Click here to view on Amazon

That is adorable!

Wow, that is amazing! I make mine on my sewing machine in a skulls and crossbones pattern fabric but it doesn't have a little sail like that. After seeing that I might have to add a little mast and sail!

AboutPetRats said:

My rats love the hanging pirate ship! Click here to view on Amazon

Click to expand...

Rosetrumpet said:

Wow, that is amazing! I make mine on my sewing machine in a skulls and crossbones pattern fabric but it doesn't have a little sail like that. After seeing that I might have to add a little mast and sail!

Click to expand...

You MADE one?! I'd love to see photos!!! We probably should start a separate thread for this since we're getting off topic.

Did it! I recently lost my sweet Dwaley (last week) due to respiratory problems. :tearful: