Correct medicine?

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Twilight

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 25, 2020
Messages
103
Location
Southern USA
It's been about 2 weeks since I started my rat, Willow, on Baytril for a suspected respiratory infection. I haven't noticed any changes in him, and I was wondering whether he never had a respiratory infection in the first place.

I've never heard those URI noises in him, all I've heard is a faint puffing sound when I put my ear to his side. He was always very active, he never looked sick. I don't want to harm him with the wrong medicine, and I don't want to waste the medicine. Is there any way I can be sure that what I'm doing is right?
 
does it mostly sound nasal? If so it could just be congested nasal passages rather than an infection you can fight with antibiotics.

I'm not really sure what that sounds like- I've never dealt with this before. I would describe it as a faint airy ringing (like the ringing in your ears when you're on an airplane) accompanied by some breathy breathing sounds.
 
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I'm not really sure what that sounds like- I've never dealt with this before. I would describe it as a faint airy ringing (like the ringing in your ears when you're on an airplane) accompanied by some breathy breathing sounds.
Could you make a video, upload it to youtube and post the link here? We really need to hear what you're hearing.

I have 3 sneezing, congested rats who have all gotten a perfectly clean bill of health after hundreds of dollars. LOL. The problem is environmental. They put a dehumidifier out in the hall near my door to dry out the ceiling in the bathroom. This has irritated my girls sinuses and made them uncannily dry. So they are congested. Plus, the weather has been dry from the El Nina in the Pacific. My girls are totally normal in every other respect, eating, active, no piloerection... just congested runny noses.

So I made my own humidifier. A huge pot of water with pomelo rinds and some vanilla extract on a portable element. I run it for 6-8 hours while they are napping in the day and turn it off when they wake up at night. It's helped a little but it's the dehumidifier in the hall that finally was taken out this morning. I expect to see a lot less sneezing now that it's gone.

My oldest girl sounds much better and I'm always checking my two younger rats since they are also sneezing. I expect to have much less sneezing in the next couple days as the humidity rises again.
 
Could you make a video, upload it to youtube and post the link here? We really need to hear what you're hearing.

I have 3 sneezing, congested rats who have all gotten a perfectly clean bill of health after hundreds of dollars. LOL. The problem is environmental. They put a dehumidifier out in the hall near my door to dry out the ceiling in the bathroom. This has irritated my girls sinuses and made them uncannily dry. So they are congested. Plus, the weather has been dry from the El Nina in the Pacific. My girls are totally normal in every other respect, eating, active, no piloerection... just congested runny noses.

So I made my own humidifier. A huge pot of water with pomelo rinds and some vanilla extract on a portable element. I run it for 6-8 hours while they are napping in the day and turn it off when they wake up at night. It's helped a little but it's the dehumidifier in the hall that finally was taken out this morning. I expect to see a lot less sneezing now that it's gone.

My oldest girl sounds much better and I'm always checking my two younger rats since they are also sneezing. I expect to have much less sneezing in the next couple days as the humidity rises again.

That sounds like a good idea! And yeah, I'll post a video to youtube as soon as I can- unfortunately I usually can't capture the breathing sounds of my rats in videos, but I'll try :)
 
Could you make a video, upload it to youtube and post the link here? We really need to hear what you're hearing.

I have 3 sneezing, congested rats who have all gotten a perfectly clean bill of health after hundreds of dollars. LOL. The problem is environmental. They put a dehumidifier out in the hall near my door to dry out the ceiling in the bathroom. This has irritated my girls sinuses and made them uncannily dry. So they are congested. Plus, the weather has been dry from the El Nina in the Pacific. My girls are totally normal in every other respect, eating, active, no piloerection... just congested runny noses.

So I made my own humidifier. A huge pot of water with pomelo rinds and some vanilla extract on a portable element. I run it for 6-8 hours while they are napping in the day and turn it off when they wake up at night. It's helped a little but it's the dehumidifier in the hall that finally was taken out this morning. I expect to see a lot less sneezing now that it's gone.

My oldest girl sounds much better and I'm always checking my two younger rats since they are also sneezing. I expect to have much less sneezing in the next couple days as the humidity rises again.

Here’s a video of Willow’s breathing- sorry it took so long, it’s difficult for me to upload videos here.
Sometimes a squeaky breath comes out, and when I press my ear to his side sometimes there is a sound, but usually he looks and sounds completely normal. I stopped giving him meds for the time being, because I wasn’t sure if he needed them.

(He was annoyed that I interrupted his snooze, LOL)
 
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