abby3089
Well-Known Member
So I've had a couple posts now about how long it's taken for my three rat girls to get over a never-ending URI (3 months on different meds). The two younger sisters (4 months) are nearly all better with 2 weeks to go on antibiotics, with the exception of a little whistle and a sneeze every so often -- so I'm not worried. However, my older girl (10 months old) is a different story...
Izzie, the older girl, is slightly better on antibiotics, but she still has constant nasal/lung noises. They almost always seem dry - usually it's a grunt, or as if her breathing has a harshness to it. It's pretty quiet though -- you always have to ratphone her. She will sneeze porphyrin on occasion from her nose. But she isn't having lots of sneezes or sneezing fits or struggling to breathe. She is a lot happier/peppier on the meds than she was before. BUT here's the worrying thing: I've noticed her breathing is more pronounced (you can see her sides move a little, tiny bit more than usual when she breathes, sometimes she is a little more stationary than usual just standing in one place for a while and staring, sometimes her body temperature feels a little cooler than normal, and her body feels... weird. I want to say it almost feels like her rib cage is more expanded than it should be. She's a little overweight and always has been despite a pretty strict diet-- not by much -- but her abdoman feels a little big too... It's really hard to describe and I'm doing a terrible job of it. And it's not something you can see well in pictures either. But her body feels very different than the two younger girls bodies. I know they are younger -- but it's almost like anatomically I can tell something is off about Izzie.
I took her to the vet and had the vet examine her. She noted the slight harshness to her breathing, but said it wasn't pneumonia or anything worrying, just a normal URI and I should continue the baytril and doxy. I asked her directly about CHF, and she said her heart sounded fine. But I seriously doubt her abilities as a rat vet.
Ages ago, my breeder warned me that she unfortunately found that Izzie is related to a line of rats that she stopped breeding because the boys in the line had a predisposition to CHF at a young age (8 months) if they were also obese. But she said she never saw it in a female in the line... at least not yet.. but wanted me to be on my guard nevertheless. I should also mention, Izzie's full sister that I also had died from kidney failure at 6 months old.
Do any of the symptoms sound like CHF? Should I be worried? Is CHF treatable but terminal? Is kidney failure and CHF related? Is it likely she will suffer or die peacefully? My poor girl -- she's had such a tough life.
Izzie, the older girl, is slightly better on antibiotics, but she still has constant nasal/lung noises. They almost always seem dry - usually it's a grunt, or as if her breathing has a harshness to it. It's pretty quiet though -- you always have to ratphone her. She will sneeze porphyrin on occasion from her nose. But she isn't having lots of sneezes or sneezing fits or struggling to breathe. She is a lot happier/peppier on the meds than she was before. BUT here's the worrying thing: I've noticed her breathing is more pronounced (you can see her sides move a little, tiny bit more than usual when she breathes, sometimes she is a little more stationary than usual just standing in one place for a while and staring, sometimes her body temperature feels a little cooler than normal, and her body feels... weird. I want to say it almost feels like her rib cage is more expanded than it should be. She's a little overweight and always has been despite a pretty strict diet-- not by much -- but her abdoman feels a little big too... It's really hard to describe and I'm doing a terrible job of it. And it's not something you can see well in pictures either. But her body feels very different than the two younger girls bodies. I know they are younger -- but it's almost like anatomically I can tell something is off about Izzie.
I took her to the vet and had the vet examine her. She noted the slight harshness to her breathing, but said it wasn't pneumonia or anything worrying, just a normal URI and I should continue the baytril and doxy. I asked her directly about CHF, and she said her heart sounded fine. But I seriously doubt her abilities as a rat vet.
Ages ago, my breeder warned me that she unfortunately found that Izzie is related to a line of rats that she stopped breeding because the boys in the line had a predisposition to CHF at a young age (8 months) if they were also obese. But she said she never saw it in a female in the line... at least not yet.. but wanted me to be on my guard nevertheless. I should also mention, Izzie's full sister that I also had died from kidney failure at 6 months old.
Do any of the symptoms sound like CHF? Should I be worried? Is CHF treatable but terminal? Is kidney failure and CHF related? Is it likely she will suffer or die peacefully? My poor girl -- she's had such a tough life.
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