Healthy, older titly girl - now wet sneezes and not herself

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violet976

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 17, 2009
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1,447
Location
united states
Gizmo's not doing so well today. she's a tilty head girl from previous resp. issues before i adopted her, but has been a picture of healh for almost a year now. i've been fighting wet sneezes for a few months (merlin has them too now), but today she isn't herself. she'll eat food off my finger but sneezes a lot while she does. solid food which she always immediately hoards/stashes, she just pushes away. she's walking slowly and carefully instead of her usual running pace so i'm thinking she might be dizzy, and the past few days i almost think i smell something when i put my nose to hers. i'm just about certain of it. have you ever smelled infection in the nose? we've had her on baytril/doxy & zithro/dozy, neither with a great deal of success on those wet sneezes.
 
hi hon
is there any chance the smell is coming from her ear(s)?

I am sorry I can't help, no experience with tilty rats at all, but I have heard of the ears smelling from an infection
I would guess their nose can too....

???
 
my suspicion is no. i've sniffed her quite a lot this week (nose/ears/mouth, both sides) and i keep leaning strongest to her nose. it's not "punch in the face" smell, but there is definitely a gunky undertone scent i keep smelling. added to the head shaking of the past few months despite abs, and today's general offness of her... i did wonder that the ear and nose cavity is connected so perhaps the smell is both ear/nose, but the wet sneezes have been a battle of the past months so i have to think that the nasal area is definitely involved here. I've got her back on baytril @ 10mg/kg and just put doxy back in today at 5mg/kg.
 
I hope some good strong abs can knock out any infection. All that ear/nose/mouth stuff can be connected, and it sucks. Sending the little gal lots of strong vibes. Keep us posted!
 
I wish I knew. we had a boy with mystery sneezes for months (no smell tho) and went through a rainbow of abss before the vet suggested a culture. Hopefully some of the med pros weigh in in the morning.
 
well she was a bit more herself this evening. still slower than usual but more eager to eat, moved around the bed/cage more freely so we'll see what morning brings.
 
I wonder if its worth asking the vet about Chlorplam? That penetrates tissues, so can be helpful with inner ear infections. It's also effective against Mycoplasma. I don't think it can be given simultaneously with Baytril.
 
The smell from the nose...I have smelled that before...I always thought it was pulmonary abscesses that had burst in the lungs...I have seen that yellowish stuff bubble from noses before as well, but there's no discharge right?
 
they are wet sneezes and when she sneezes on me it always looks like clear liquid. occasionally her nose will have some porophyn, but not often and not much. today she is stuffy/grunty sounding again as well, which is also a newer symptom of the past couple months.

as for pulm. abscesses, wouldn't those have shown on her xray? i had wondered that myself since nibs (her sister) had them, but her recent xrays were clear. and those wouldnt cause head shaking would they?

i also think it was chlorpalm we tried for her last, but they gave me what looked like a pill mixed w/ water and a ridiculously high 1mg dose since they mixed it so weak and i was unable to get Giz to take any of it. is there a better way to get that drug? should i ask for the pill so i can mix it myself, or insist on a pharmacy make-up?
 
In Canada you can get it compounded. The stuff is sticky and sweet, and the amount is 1ml per pound. The drug is extremely bitter and hard to disguise. Maybe Giz would take it in divided doses? The stuff we get here is palatable to them, just a large volume.
 
She could very well be developing an infection in her nose, causing an abscess. That is not good and I would also suggest chlorpalm.
If you were smelling the pulmonary abscess from the nose, the smell is much stronger.
 
thanks. i will call the vet tomorrow and request the chlorpalm again. any idea how many mg's i'll need to come home with to give a full treatment to a 460 gram rat? i like to make sure i come home with enough beforehand.

tried to get a video today but she stayed in the cage and there is not enough light for my camera. i watched her closely today though. she has heavier breathing, shoddy balance when she cleans herself (she now sits with back legs wide apart), she grooms/bites my skin which she really didn't do before, and when she moves around its still very slow for her. a few times today she came down ramps and almost looked a bit confused, kind of patting her way down with the front paws wide. overall she just looks tired, heavier/noisier breathing, frequent head shaking and a bit off balance. still eating today, still can get up/around the cage.
 
i was wondering pt myself as well, but she still seems pretty coherent so i'm hoping no. would pt cause the head shaking? she still holds her food ok and navigates the cage/hammocks/bed well, but i'm watching her like a hawk to see if the signs fit.

btw, what is "late onset" pt? she is an old gal so the timing would fit. is it where the symptoms show up slower?
 
here's a cage video. it's dark, but you can see the shaking. i'll try to get a bed video in better light, but i still see a resp/ear infect. issue more than pt.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/scarletnotion/8960777445/in/photostream

called the vet as well to request chlorpalm or baytril/clavamox, so fingers crossed. she's still getting around, eating, ect, just seems overall tired from it all.
 
ok, i was able to get more baytril tablets & powdered clavamox for her. she got her baytril/doxy at noon. should i just start her on baytril/clavamox at her midnight dose, or do i need to wait longer in between the change?

also, if someone wants to double check my math:

(gizmo is .480kg) & if I made the 62.5mg/mL solution of clavamox:

@20mg/kg = .16
@ 30mg/kg = .23
@ 40mg/kg = .31

I'm not sure which dosage is best for giz. she's had the head tilt longer than I have had her, and i've had her about 15 months. i was told by the rescue that her and her sister had chronic resp. issues, but the past 2 months is the first i've seen trouble with giz (her sister nibs had chronic issues/pulmonary abscesses). for gizmo, i've already tried baytril with doxy twice daily, baytril with zithro twice daily, and back to baytril/doxy twice daily, all with not much improvement for the wet sneezes & head shaking.
 

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