IDEXX Radil Opti-Spot for Serology Sampling

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Lore

Lore Rattery
Joined
Oct 21, 2014
Messages
24
Location
Texas
I've been debating on ordering some IDEXX Radil Opti-Spots for Serology Sampling lately, just to test my colony and make sure everything is in working order. Ideally, I would like to test all my rats for any illness every six months to a year just so I can keep a clear monitor. Testing through my vets (I have three for different uses.) is extremely expensive and I try to avoid it unless an emergency occurs.

Has anyone used Opti-Spot? What are your reviews for it?

Link: http://www.idexxbioresearch.com/rad...--_The_Future_of_Serology_Sampling/index.html
 
Serology_Rat_US_Jan2014_600p.gif

I'd get the clinical.
 
I suppose that it is collected via the tail vein. It only needs a drop. I am just seeing if anyone here has used it. It looks like you may have to go into the vet to get them to take the blood samples for this? I'm not entirely sure, it just looks like a good idea.
 
I dont see any point in this. By the time the resukts come back for half of the viruses they can be over it. All rats have myco. The other I dont see much reason for testing for it.
 
I wonder how fast the turn around is? I mean if it is 24 hours or something, it might be nice to know before bringing suspected rats in to a colony if you don't have the luxury of a quarantine or something. (Excluding Myco of course-why they bother to test for that I don't even know)
 
I happened to see this post while lurking around. I have done this several times.

The good: It only takes a little blood comparatively, and it can be collected much easier and without anesthesia. Results are super fast. You can have results in just a couple days if you send it express and not over a weekend. I sent mine regular priority. It does not need any special packaging or labeling or anything like that. Also, the value in testing, to me, is not so much primarily the Big Bads (SDA, Sendai), but the sub-clinical stuff, like car bacillus for example.

The bad: It is quite expensive, and even rats who live in the same cages may not test positive for the same things (surprise to me). It is thus not 100% accurate to just test one rat or even one rat per cage. To know for sure your colony is clean, you'd have to test every rat. It also doesn't test for everything so it's not a substitute for quarantine.
 
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Also, Sheldon, they test for myco because there are lab rats that are pathogen free and the labs need to test to make sure their colonies don't have myco. These myco-free rats are born by c-section initially and then inbred and closely contained in a sterile (or near sterile) environment to keep them from contracting myco, but they need to test now and then to be sure their research isn't compromised.
 
I'm late to the party but stumbled upon this thread. I just had the OptiSpot test done on my rat Pogo after fighting what has felt like an ongoing battle of resistant respiratory troubles this year. Pogo, Minca, and Bean have all been having intermittent stuffiness attacks, and both mice I brought in had respiratory noises that did not respond to abs (one finally died of respiratory issues). I had planned to test Minca but she got cancer and was deemed a less likely candidate for testing, and while Pogo had arrived to me with bad respiratory issues he became the next best candidate because his issues are more consistent.

The test itself ran me about $200 and results took about two weeks. She attempted to get blood from the tail, but not enough would come out so I believe she used a back leg vein. I should have emailed results Monday and I'd be happy to post those here if it provides any information for anyone. I was told he tested positive for Myco, some form of bacteria that affects the cilia (the name did not sound familiar to me), and two strains of bacteria that are more common with mice instead of rats. I was also told that most of what he tested positive for was more commonly spread via direct contact, and more responsive to the sulfa antibiotics.

Personally, it was worth it to me to have the test done to simply know "what" we've been fighting, as it's pretty much felt like we're working blind and respiratory illnesses break my heart to watch. I'm told we'll stick with the doxy/cerenia course of antibiotics he's on, as they seem to be working for now, and later if anyone regresses we'll move onto the sulfas.
 
POGO'S SEROLOGY RESULTS. I'm not overly familiar with many of the viruses, so advice is appreciated. Is there anything here that I should be highly concerned about, or that would prevent me from wanting to bring more rats/mice into my current groups? We've been treating Pogo, Bean (rat) and Mari (mouse) with Doxy & Cerenia, but I was told we'll move them onto a sulfa antibiotic if their breathing declines again. I've got the new boy, Templeton, in quarantine in the heated shop but was hoping I'd be able to bring him in soon.
Hopefully these links work. Let me know if the results are big enough to be read easily:
Page 1
https://www.flickr.com/photos/scarletnotion/15896626719/…/o/
Page 2
https://www.flickr.com/photos/scarletnotion/16082681675/…/o/
 
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