Chronic Respiratory Infection and Wet Sneezing

[silentmagician]

My 2-year old boy Distel is having a heck of a time with a respiratory infection. I could use some advice on how to keep him comfortable as he seems to be constantly sneezing.

Here's the long version:

He was put on antibiotics for 5 weeks in September, then relapsed a week after ending them. The vet has now put him on a permanent prescription of Baytril and Doxy. She checked his lungs and thinks he has scarring. After getting back on the meds, he was doing pretty well until he became stressed due to constant itching. We treated him for mites a few weeks ago, which seemed to help. His breathing quieted down...until the last week or so, when he started sounding very sniffly and is now sneezing constantly with a lot of porphyrin spray.

I'm not sure what else to do for his health. I've tried switching his bedding to fleece, which didn't make much difference so I switched back to his regular bedding of hemp. I've put a humidifier in the room and he enjoys exploring the bathroom while I'm taking a steamy shower. His back legs seem to be giving him slight trouble, so we are making sure he has plenty of steps so he can get to his favorite places without stress. The vet prescribed a painkiller, but it upsets his tummy sometimes so I've only been giving it if he really seems under the weather. He still gets excited about treats and likes getting petted and doesn't seem to be having any problems doing his regular rat stuff. However, with this congested sneezing now, I feel like I'm seeing his health slowly decline.

Anybody have any ideas how to help the little guy out?

 

[Petunia]

hmm, did your vet ever suggest trying benadryl to see if maybe he also has allergies?
and/or using a nebulizer?

 

[silentmagician]

No, maybe I can figure out what Benadryl is called here and bring it up. She didn't mention a nebulizer either. Thanks for the ideas. She's pretty aggressive in treating respiratory infections, but not so much for looking into other possibilities or conditions.

 

[Petunia]

benadryl is Diphenhydramine, an antihistamine-I tried to google the name of the product in the Netherlands but nothing came up except that there's one site that says it's only approved for veterinary use in some countries, but it doesn't say which ones.
there may be other antihistamines that are safe to use for rats, I don't know
I have had two rats that had allergies and this helped them but because it can make them very sleepy, I only gave it to them when they were really stuffed up and not even able to sneeze much.
when it's "just" a sneeze, some times that doesn't bother them all that much, but not being able to breathe can often affect their appetite. (not saying it's just a sneeze for your boy, but it was for a couple of mine)


I don't know anything about hemp bedding, is there any chance he's allergic to that?

also maybe your vet would consider trying a different antibiotic combo, perhaps azithromycin (zithromax)
is that available there?

it sounds like you're doing everything you possibly can for your old fella!
it's good he still wants to be pet and eat his treats.