2/4 New Rats dead within 5 days

So I just bought 4 rats on Saturday from a place in NH called Zoo Creatures. They're the first rats I have ever owned and the employees were incredibly unhelpful about giving me any care info. The first rat was sneezing when we got him, just once every once in a while. By 8am Monday I'm at the vetsgetting him euthanized because the vet said he had no chance and didn't want to risk the lives of the other rats. Now today (Thursday) at 6am one of the rats was lethargic and shivering and 4 hours later he died. So now half the rats I bought from this place have died, one to the cost of $123 which Zoo Creatures basically just told me the vet took me for a ride, and I'm not sure what to do. To top it all off these were birthday presents and the place is an hour from my house. So going back again is going to be 6 hrs worth of driving. I have no idea what to do at this point... I don't want to bring them all back, but something isn't right. They all are over 6 weeks old I believe (couldn't get a good answer out of the employees). Does anyone have any advice or know why 2/4 would have died so soon?

I am so very very sorry
Find a good vet that knows how to treat rats and take your rats to the vet immediately.
It sounds like a secondary infection.
By the time you notice a rat is ill, you are well into a medical emergency.

Please take them to a good rat vet immediately. They need to be examined and put on medication.
If you take them back to that store, they will die.
It sounds like they need to be on baytril + clavamox or baytril + azithromycin (10 mg/Ib - I get mine from a pharmacy by vet prescription) orally for at least 6 weeks if it is helping.

Are they eating and staying well hydrated? Dehydration kills. Suggest good quality rat blocks (Oxbow or Harlan Teklad 2014), daily vegs, and while they are ill - soft foods such as cooked sweet potato, mush made by soaking some rat blocks in cool water, and organic soy infant formula thickened with baby cereal, as they are easy to eat and will help to keep them hydrated.

Can you post pictures and videos?
More information would be appreciated.
How are your remaining rats doing?

You may want to post on facebook group Real Rat Lovers Want to Know

Edit: It is important to know how to have rats humanely put to sleep because most vets do not know how and you need to make sure it is done properly, discussing it with the vet and remaining present if at all possible as that it is not done inhumanely .... rats is rendered unconscious to at least a surgical level by breathing in the gas/oxygen mix used for surgery, vet will check eye and toe reflexes in make sure the rat is deeply unconscious, when unconscious to at least a surgical level the vet will inject the rat, the rat will continue breathing in the gas/oxygen mix until dead. A conscious rat is never injected in the heart as it is so inhumane that it is actually banned in some countries. http://www.ratshackforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7652


Here is some info:

http://ratguide.com/health/lower_respiratory/pneumonia.php
http://ratguide.com/health/bacteria/mycoplasma_mycoplasmosis.php
http://ratguide.com/health/viruses/sendai_virus_sv.php
http://ratguide.com/health/basics/basic_health_check.php

BTW if the first baby was contagious, then the others were already exposed and also have the same thing ..... so the vet that examined the baby knows little about rats

Please let us know what happens

It sounds like your babies may have been exposed to a virus unfortunately. Keep an eye on the others and see if any more show symptoms. with your little current sickie, can you hold his sides to your ears and listen to his breathing and tell us what you hear? You may also want to check your cupboard for any leftover antibiotics as a lot of human grade prescriptions are used for rats. for eg. augmentin/clavamox, amoxicillin, azithromycin, ciprofloxacin etc

https://youtu.be/3luQRa2KeAI I can't get the pics or video to upload :/ I posted a vid on youtube, not sure if links allowed or not, just made the account here a few hours ago so I apologize if it's not. My name on youtube should be Zombie OTR and I only have the one vid.

I'm not sure if the others are sick. The two that were died :< just the 2 other originals and one replacement now.

find a good vet knowledgeable and experienced in treating rats or a good vet that likes rats and is willing to learn, asap

Please take them to a vet and get them checked out
They look healthy in the video (Edit: too noisy here to be able to hear their breathing in the video), but I would get them checked to make sure they are ok, a vet can listen to their lungs better then you can
and if the vet does not put them on antibiotics, if possible I would get long lasting baytril and unmixed clavamox to have on hand in case they get ill when vet is closed

Keep a close eye on them, ear phone them every day, etc (see the links I posted)

They look active but I can definitely hear a respiratory infection in their breathing. I second the recommendation to get them on antibiotics ASAP.

I'm so sorry for your losses... the three now look really good and active and completely adorable. Keep a close eye on them. Find a good rat savvy vet and at the first sign of illness, bring them in.

So I have an update for you guys. The vet gave me clavamox 0.05ml bid for 2 weeks for the 4 rats (I have the 2 replacement rats now). One rat is making some weird noises and had me a bit worried though. I took a video but my phone was on 5% and couldn't use the light so you guys won't be able to see much, but you can hear the noises if you guys wouldn't mind giving it a listen. I will take some better pics or videos in the morning, it's just 10:45pm and I've been awake since this time last night. Yay 3rd shift @.@ https://youtu.be/VIOvQCUI_IA

What is the strength of your clavamox (mg/ml) and the weight of each of your rats?

I can't say for sure because I do not know the strength of the clavamox (mg/ml) or the weight of your rats but it sounds like they are being much given too little.

and if a med is helping then it must be given for at least 4 to 6 weeks (imo and experience, 4 weeks is not long enough) As in this link, there are several dosages that can be given such as 6.25 mg/Ib and my vet doses at 10mg/Ib http://ratguide.com/meds/antimicrobial_agents/clavamox_amoxicillinclavulanate.php

Box says add 14ml water to bottle. Each 14ml of suspensioncontains 62.5mg of amoxacillin/clavulanic acid. 15mls in the bottle when reconstituted. So the rats are getting 3.125mg medicine twice a day for 10 days? The biggest rat is 137g or .3 lbs. Sorry, I'm completely unable to math right now, but seems like I need a better vet.

Ok if it's the same as ratguide you have 62.5 mg/ml Clavamox. We usually dose at 20 mg/kg so a baby of 137 grams should be getting 0.04 ml twice a day so your vets dosing is correct

https://youtu.be/_1SH_ja_m_I

https://youtu.be/hwDXrnJ0jnE

Rats seem to be doing a bit better. Trying to give them meds is horrible x.x... One is ok though, he loves it and tries to steal the syringe, the others want nothing to do with it. I posted 2 vids of the rats though so you guys can see the two new ones and did a vid of the setup, though we're adding these platform things now that we made.