Stressed and Sneezing?

Rat: Muffin, approximately 2 years old had an upper respiratory infection within the last two months which cleared up after a week's worth of Baytril. Recently lost her only cage mate Harvey to old age/bad arthritis. Muffin and I are currently living in a basement apartment which can be chilly, so I keep a temperature regulating heater on in the room. There is no humidifier, but the air doesn't seem all that dry to me.

Muffin's symptoms began around the time of Harvey's death. Within 1.5 weeks of his death, she was sneezing occasionally and making audible sounds that corresponded with her breathing. After a call to the vet, I picked up some Doxycycline and Baytril (14 day prescription)and was told that Muffin should be improved within 3 days. 3 days later all signs had cleared up. On day 4, the sneezing returned and seems to be increasing.

Muffin also has some scabs around her neck and head. At first, we assumed these were from Harvey, but he's been gone for 3 weeks and while it seems like the original scabs on her neck are lessening, I think she has scabs that I didn't notice before. Muffin's fur is beautiful and smooth to the touch as always, though sometimes I wonder if she's a bit more puffed up than usual.

Her right eye looks a little large to me and a second person confirmed this though it's so subtle that neither of us is sure if it really larger.

Muffin is not exploring as much as she used to, but every now and then she does have a good exploratory venture. Maybe this decreased activity and increased time spent hiding correlates to the death of her protector rat and her own old age?

Additionally, I have acquired a new friend for Muffin who is being quarantined upstairs. This rat continues to look and sound amazingly healthy and I would really like to be able to introduce them in a week at the end of the quarantine.

Muffin and I have a vet appointment scheduled for tomorrow, but I am wondering if you have any thoughts or ideas. She really is confusing me.

There were a couple of log tunnels in her cage/my room which were mildewy/moldy, but I took those out a couple of days ago.

Thank you for you help and experiences.

Did the vet actually examine her? It sounds like she might have mites in addition to a URI but it also could be the start of a PT. I would highly recommend having a vet examine her.

Also if it is anything to do with the mold/mildew then different treatment might be needed.

It really does sound like she has mites. Revolution is the best med for this. And all her issues might go away after treatment. She is also going through a grieving process so her behaviour will change.

One of my boys started with Baytril and Doxy, his symptoms cleared up and then returned a few days later while still on the meds. We added Azithromycin to the mix, and it is doing the trick.

I agree with the others. Mites and URI Do you freeze your bedding, wood/cardboard hide outs for at least 48 hours before using? If not, you need to do so to get rid of critters that might be hanging out...

Thanks all, after a visit to the vet, I am still confused.

He thinks it's highly unlikely that she has mites, so he didn't prescribe anything for it. He thinks that she is over-grooming herself because of stress and/or eating lots of sticky medicine (which I always mix in yogurt). He said it doesn't look like mites to him because the scabs are just on her head an neck (there's also 1 on her back). She always has been a nervous rat and she's always had some scabs (which we blamed on Harvey), but not to this extent. I watched her closely this weekend and all of her grooming looked like regular bathing, no scratching an itch.

FYI I used fleece blankets for bedding. I have not used aspen or alfalfa since March, but I didn't freeze or treat the bedding in any other way. The vet is under the impression that I have only ever used fleece. I need to clear this up with him.

He listened very hard to her lungs and everything and heard nothing. He thinks she is no longer contagious and that I should introduce her to the new rat Monday (I saw him Friday) pending her behavior/symptoms this weekend. He and I will talk again on the phone tomorrow (Monday).

He thinks the sneezing is an allergy (since she didn't sneeze in his office and I heard no sneezes on the way to the vet-not sure that I would have over road noise) to something, but we spent the weekend in a completely different home and she continued to have wet-sounding sneezes.

We discontinued all antibiotics on Friday, day 7.

Lastly, following our vet visit Friday, I counted out 50 pieces of Oxbow Regal Rat and put them in her food bowl. She has not touched them. She only pooped twice in 24 hours, so I fed her as much as she would eat of egg, butternut squash baby food, blueberry pomegranate Ensure and Oxbow ground up and mixed into strawberry yogurt. She pooped 7 times in the following 24 hours. I haven't had as much success getting her to eat today, and it's going to become a lot more difficult during the work week.

He also prescribed nebulized albuterol in the for sneezing fits. I've only done this once since we were away from home and the nebulizer. When we got home, she freaked out and ran around the cage quickly. She even stood with one foot in her water dish for a few seconds. I noticed that she sounded like she was wheezing, so I nebulized her. Maybe this was a bad idea because it took her a while to calm down in the nebulizer chamber and ever since I got her out she's been lying in the same place.

In regards to PT, she was spayed at a young age so that should be highly unlikely. She seems to hold food fine and her motor skills are good. There has only been the one spastic episode.

So, do you still think a persistent URI and mites or do you think the vet knows what he's talking about?

It sounds like she has mites, she certainly has the symptoms.
It wouldn't hurt to treat her with revolution so I hope that you do that asap
When rats show scabs around their head and shoulders it is almost always mites and you just treat them with revolution
usually when one rat is treated, all need to be treated.
When rats over groom they get bald spots, usually on their front legs - at least initially

While symptoms may disappear, upper respiratory infections in rats do not clear up in a week
and if only on antibiotics for a week, the symptoms will return so she may need to go back on antibiotics asap
If so I would suggest baytril + azithromycin (10 mg/Ib, by vet prescription from a pharmacy) orally, twice a day, for at least 6 weeks if it is helping

If you think the environment may be causing her to sneeze, see if you can figure out what may be wrong
Strong odors will bother rats, for example

It doesn't sound like she is reacting well to nebulizing
Nebulizing can make rats worse, as it can cause a lot of stress
especially if they have a heart issue

I hope that you can keep her eating and well hydrated and start her on new meds asap

I hope this helps, I definitely agree with the advice you were given by others

Thanks all,

So little Miss Muffin is feeling better and worse. After your advice and consulting via E-mail with two exotics vets and a local rat rescue, I have set up an appointment for a 2nd opinion this Saturday morning.

I administered ivermectin in horse paste form and scratching and sneezing have gone away. She continues to be a giant puff ball who eats only her mashed up food mixed in with strawberry yogurt. She'll nibble at other things, but she's less and less interested in them every day. She has a nice healthy stool, but I suspect it comes less often than it should. I hope my poor little rat is feeling better soon.