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I have a rat who was put on Theophylline/doxy on Friday. I don't have any experience with this bronchodilator and was wondering if it's ever prescribed with a steroid such as prednisone? Ran some searches and it seems most rats were put on either Theophylline or prednisone, along with an...

CongRATS on the new ones! My opinion is, you should make the young ones come out to socialize. Otherwise, they'll always be afraid of you. Try to handle them a lot (unless they seem particularly skittish or traumatized on a particular day). My first rats were adopted as babies and coming out of...

Wow, that thing about the Suprelorin implants is super fascinating! So the implant both prevents them from getting pregnant and also lowers the incidence of tumors? How is the cost? (Along the lines of complaints about vets, I found wildly different prices for surgery...) I hope you continue to...

I can tell you my experience. I started in the rat game with three sisters that my daughter got from a breeder in Western Mass. None were spayed as I didn't really know about the issue then. One passed from a PT at about a year, one developed a tumor a few months later and passed from...

If I had a nickel for every time a vet or vet aide has said to me that they 'love the taste' of some flavoring, only to have it immediately rejected, I'd be a wealthy man. I bought a multivitamin paste recently and there were multiple reviews saying rats love it, with one describing it as 'rat...

I would say, definitely not overweight!

Does anyone have any feedback concerning which painkiller (aspirin, Ibuprofen, or acetamenophin) tastes the best (or, let's say, the least bad) to most rats? Getting a lot of pushback from current mischief.

I was having the same problem with doxycycline recently with a few rats--rats who normally aren't so picky about food--and read over some relevant pages in Deb Ducommon's book. I've read these pages dozens of times, but didn't remember some of her advice. Two things worked well for me: 1) Try...

Sorry for the thread jack, but do you mind telling me what you use for 'rat phoning'? I bought a well-reviewed but inexpensive stethoscope from Jeff Bezos and I wasn't able to hear any respiratory sounds. I poked around a bit on the web and found info saying that one has to buy an animal...

I advise you to take him out, even if he seems snoozy! Otherwise I really hope he's okay. Sure sounds to me as if you're doing everything right!

I currently have two rats, one about 2 years 4 months and one just turned 2. Both are rescues, male and female, and the male has had a lot of socialization issues (though much improved since the spring). My third rat just passed away this past week. I'm interested in getting another 2-3 rats...

It seems like you're really in touch with what's going on with him, which is great, but the actual symptoms don't seem to indicate a PT, at least to me. What you describe sounds almost hormonal. But the symptoms sound mild, and many of them could be explained by him being an aging male. I...

I've run into this before and there's no easy answer. Especially with males and females, it seems IME that the males believe they're entitled to more food and tend to get fat as a result. If there's a bullying aspect, you can try to feed the smaller guy outside of the cage, but they often don't...

If you end up thinking it's an ear infection, make sure and keep him on antibiotics for a good LONG while. But it does sound like it could be a stroke. Rats are so wonderfully adaptable, if the symptoms are mild, I'm sure he'll continue to live a rewarding life. I was interested that your vet...

I have a girl who was showing some signs of respiratory issues--sneezing, lethargy, seemed a bit off-balance at times. I put her on Baytril, no change after a week, then added doxycycline, and she was her old self again in two days (one lesson learned!). I kept her on the two antibiotics for two...

I have a space heater in the room my rats are in because I'm totally paranoid about them getting cold. But this isn't the cheapest option and is kind of silly since it heats up the whole room. One good option might be a heating pad, like one of those things you put seedlings on? You'd just want...

Did someone already answer your question? If not, feel free to dm me as might be able to help.

Sorry, I just answered your other post. Your vet's meds sound good to me--the steroids are a good idea, given the circumstances. But they may make him act a little batty. I don't think you should be too worried if he's not eating, as rats should be able to go a bit without food. It all depends...

He is on antibiotics? Respiratory infections are very dangerous for rats--it's hard for me to tell from your post how severe it is. Taking him to the vet was the right thing, I just hope your vet knows something about rats--s/he should know how to handle the situation a lot better than anyone...

Lilspaz, the story of Malcolm is really incredible... enough to make me reconsider! Good luck, Raspberry.