Respiratory Issue?

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Luna&Ralph

Member
Joined
Mar 28, 2018
Messages
12
Location
British Columbia
Hey guys!
My little girl Harriet will be 3 in December, and I’m wondering if she has a respiratory issue. She was spayed and had a mammary tumour removed in August, and then started slowing down and breathing loudly in September. I figured that she probably got an infection from the stress from the surgery and immediately put her on Baytril, doxy and amoxicillin (amoxicillin to prevent pneumonia or inner ear infection).

A few days ago, I noticed that she’s not eating very well and is less active. I listened to her lungs a few days ago and heard some noises, but hoped that it was the changing weather and the antibiotics would resolve it. I’ve had her on antibiotics since mid-September and planned on keeping her on them for 6 weeks. I’m not sure how she would have gotten a respiratory infection while she’s been on antibiotics, but I’m wondering if that’s what it is. I listened to her lungs today and on her left side she is making a hollow clicking sound, and it comes and goes.

Has anyone had anything like this happen? Do you think this combo of antibiotics could still help or should I take her to the vet?
 
To be honest, when oldies get a resp infection while on antibiotics there's usually not a lot you can do. That aging immune system can only do so much. How did she respond to the surgery? Slow recovery? How is she acting now? Active for her, eating and drinking well? Just a nagging little sound? is it lungs or possibly nasal congestion (try holding her to your side then covering her nose with your fingers to see if those sounds go away)
 
She recovered pretty quickly to the surgery. I have nothing to compare it to but I would say that it was pretty fast. She’s also always been active but has slowed down gradually since the surgery, and probably a little bit before. I assumed that the tumour was making her less active but it may have been age. The past few days she was pretty much in her hammock all day but has been making appearances more often. She hasn’t been eating as well and hasn’t been taking greens anymore but has been taking her meds really well and has been eating the baby cereal I’ve been giving her. I’m not sure about water but I don’t think she’s been drinking as much. Yes, it’s not a sound that you can hear without listening to her lungs so I would say it’s a nagging little sound. She wasn’t having the part where I held her nose, but I can hear the sound coming from her nose so I think it could be nasal congestion. I also think that the sound stopped one of the times that I held her nose, but it’s not constant so it’s hard to tell.
My biggest concerns are that her fur seems puffed up like she’s sick and although her breathing isn’t laboured, she does sit and hang her head pretty offen.
 
I also forgot to mention that she did get better in the first 2-3 days of initially starting antibiotics, she hasn't been showing symptoms this entire time.
 
She’s not taking her meds very well at all now and is eating less in general. Her breathing is slower and seems to take more effort now, and I heard the clicking on both sides yesterday. I tried to put her in a small carrier yesterday that she’s been in before no problem, and she freaked out and ran around panicking, so I took her out quickly. Since she hasn’t been taking her meds as well lately, I’ve had to force her to take them. She hates it and it really stresses her out. After doing this, she needs to take a break just to catch her breath. She used to get excited to take her meds and now she just refuses them. Should I stop trying to give them to her or do you think that that will make it much worse?
 
It sounds like she is panicking because she is having difficulty breathing.
She likely does not want anything by mouth because it is hard to eat and breath at the same time
I would take her to the vet asap

You might want to try a steroid (like dex injection) and put her on baytril + doxy + azithromycin (10 mg/Ib twice a day) ……….…… vet should be able to tell if there is fluid in her lungs
and you could test dose for a heart issue with benazepril or Lasix (there are heart meds that can help if there is a problem)

Lilspaz68 can give you better info

Good luck at the vets
 
Thank you for your advice SQ!
She didn’t want to take her meds this morning (but I forced her to) but has started eating better and her breathing is also faster and more normal, so I’m not really sure what’s going on. I’m hoping that the antibiotics she’s been on the whole time are starting to work or that the echinacea I’ve been giving her to boost her immune system is helping. I would love to start her on some different antibiotics but I’m not sure that they would work if she managed to get sick while already being on some.
 
Ok so on Sunday night she was breathing so slowly and looking so bad that I put some drops of FerretRX in her litter boxes. It is a mix of some oils and kind of like Vicks for rats. That was the only thing that I had changed and Monday was the day where I saw improvement with her breathing faster, eating more, and being more active. I keep adding more to her cage and some days she can breathe better than others. I wonder if this means that she’s just congested, or would something like Vicks work if she had something worse? When she does struggle to breathe, it can get pretty bad but usually is better the next day. I’ll take her to the vet and try to get her some azithromycin if it might help but I’m just not sure if any antibiotics will work at this point. I hate to see her sick but she’s still active when she can be and eating and taking meds pretty well.
 
Can you hear popping in her nose? Does she sneeze and then rub rub her nose? This would be nasal congestion and she likely panics when she finds her nose blocked as rats naturally breathe through their nose. If it's her lungs are they filled with fluid or constricted?
 
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