Lethargic, weight loss, heavy breathing, not eating

I have no idea what is wrong with my little girl, and apparently no vets do either. She's been to 2 vets and both have said her heart and lungs are fine and she's just "old". She is only 18 months.

She has been like this for at least a couple weeks now but is slowly getting worse.

• She doesn't do much. I have her out with me all day and she mostly just sits around on the couch. She randomly gets bursts of energy and runs and jumps around but has to stop in between and breathes heavily.
• Before she would only eat soft foods (egg, soft veggies, baby food), now (today) she will only eat completely mushed foods.
• She has lost a lot of weight and is skin and bones
• She doens't make any noises at all and her feet and tail aren't blue
• When I put her back in her cage she runs to the corner and props her body up on the litter pan. So her butt is in the litter pan and her head is hanging over the side.

She has had 3 vet appointments in the last couple weeks and no one can tell me what is wrong with her. I don't know what to do for her. She does have a lump between her back legs, if that means anything. It is between her back leg and vagina. It's about the size of a small grape, maybe smaller.

Here she is tonight. Sorry for the awful camera work, I was using my webcam.
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Or3rEmLQcCA&feature=youtu.be[/ame]

Does anyone have any idea what is wrong or what to do for her?

She is a very pretty girl! I love her color.

I am not sure what is wrong , but she definately is breathing heavy.
What do the vets say about the lump? It could possibly be a tumor.
Make sure to keep her hydrated. So sorry she is not feeling well:hugs:

I am sure someone will read this post that has had a similar experience.

2Rats said:

She is a very pretty girl! I love her color.

I am not sure what is wrong , but she definately is breathing heavy.
What do the vets say about the lump? It could possibly be a tumor.
Make sure to keep her hydrated. So sorry she is not feeling well:hugs:

I am sure someone will read this post that has had a similar experience.

Click to expand...

Speaking of keeping her hydrated, she won't drink from a bottle anymore either. I keep a bowl of water in her cage and take her out every few hours to offer more water.

The vets both said it looks like a tumour and could spread or grow but neither will operate when she is already sick.

It sounds to me like a heart problem. The issue could be tumor related or it could be CHF or a defect. Some of these issues can be managed with meds. The hard part is getting a vet to prescribe meds. Most want to do all kinds of tests and still might not get a conclusive result. I dealt with this a few years ago and was lucky to have a very open vet. There was a thread awhile back about CHF if you try searching that it might offer some help.

From her heavy breathing, it is probably either heart or lungs, even though they may think they are fine. At this point, I would start treating for one or the other and see if she improves. Nothing to lose but some money for meds, everything to gain!!!
Either start her on a combination of antibiotics like Baytril and Azithromycin and perhaps add a steroid like Prednolisone for a week, OR try her on some heart meds like a diuretic and ACE inhibitor. If there is no change after a week, then try her on the other course of meds.

Here is a link to some medication regimens for lungs:
http://ratguide.com/health/bacteria/mycoplasma_mycoplasmosis.php

And for heart failure:
http://ratguide.com/health/cardiovascular/congestive_heart_failure.php

She is struggling to breath ... and losing weight likely because it is difficult to breath and eat at the same time.

Her bursts of energy and running around are likely her panicking because she can not breath

take her to Dr Munn in Toronto asap - tell them she is struggling to breath

I would get her on baytril + azithromycin (10 mg to 15 mg/Ib) twice a day and if helping keep her on it for at least 6 weeks.
Lasix if her lungs sound congested .... and they likely are - unless this is the result of pulmonary abscesses

Dex injections might be a good idea ... ask lilspaz68 what she thinks
A bronchodilator might help in the short term

You can try Benazepril or Enalapril to diagnose a heart issue. If it helps then atenolol is added and an xray is done to see if the heart is enlarged

but if this continues she will need to be humanely put to sleep
See: http://www.ratshackforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7652

Give sub-Q fluids if necessary to keep her hydrated - get a vet to show you how and sell you what you need
See thread in reference section
Blocks soaked in cool water to make mush will help.
Also ensure or organic soy infant formula - as liquid or thickened with baby cereal (kind that says add milk)

She appears to be in severe respiratory distress which can also affect the heart. Is she on any antibiotics? She needs Baytril and Zithromax, a combination to fight this and if that helps great but if that doesn't help then you can try heart meds.
Where any meds tried at all? Are the vets you've seen knowledgable in rats?

The vets we saw are knowledgeable in rats to some degree. They both do surgeries on rats, both wanted to do heart x-rays (we had one done), and both knew the right dosages of meds. But they both only give meds for 2 weeks, then want you to bring them back. I don't know if they don't know the right time frame or just want more money.

Both vets said they didn't know what was wrong because he heart and lungs sounded fine, and her x-ray came back fine. She has a tumour between her back legs but they won't remove it because of whatever issue this is.

We took her back to the vet yesterday and he prescribed baytril. He wants us to keep her on that for 2 weeks and if it doesn't get better then add another med. If that doesn't help, then try something for heart.

I'd love to get her to Dr. Munn, but right now there is no way of getting there. I'm pregnant and due in 4 weeks and on bed rest for some complications and my fiance works 14 hour days, 5 days a week. So making the 1h45m drive each way won't fit in.

Some days she's better, some she's worse. Yesterday she was on deaths doorstep (though she still isn't far). She wouldn't eat anything but baby food off my finger. She slept all day. Today she was bright eyed in her cage and came to the front right away. She ate some baby cereal, oatmeal and a bite of egg for breakfast.

If she has a heart problem, is surgery for tumour removal ever an option? It's not growing fast but eventually will be a problem.

If her breathing becomes ok, surgery might be an option.
Depends on what her condition is and the vet

Can you get her on Baytril and Zithromax? that might give her a chance.

In addition to medications, nebulization may help.