Help! Pneumonia!

[Ratmomma2016]

Does anyone have any experience with their rats getting pneumonia? I posted about 1 of my rats being sick in August. She got better with my treatment plan. Then her sister got sick with the same thing a month and a half later. Ive been treating her with the same medications (doxy, baytril & meloxicam with a nebulizer session once every 12 hours or so). She seemed to be improving. However today she declined hard and fast. I rushed her to my normal vet, they had her in the oxygen chamber for 40ish minutes and told me that was all they could do and my only option was to take her to the emergency vet. So I rushed her there and she is currently in their oxygen chamber and will stay there overnight. She got nebulized with baytril upon her arrival.
Assuming she holds her own tonight, what should I do for her? I'm at a loss. Ive never dealt with pneumonia before. I've kept the room at 73-76 degrees. I kept the humidity at 60% average. I even have had a heat lamp over their favorite cozy spot so they could curl up their if they felt chilled.
My usual vet is on sick leave so I got stuck with one that doesn't care for rats much (her resolution to everything is to put them down). So I don't believe in her competence to help me with this. I would have to tell her what I want to do. But the thing is, I don't know what to do.

Any suggestions or information would be much appreciated.

 

[Dallis]

One of my girls got pneumonia a few months ago. She was really bad by the time I got her to the vet. She has scarring on one of her lungs because of it. The vet did 2 medicated nebulizations about a week apart, but she didn’t tell me what medication she used. She also gave me azithromycin and enrofloxacin which she’s been on since then. A couple weeks later she gave me a steroid to help her breathe better because she was still breathing hard. I nebulized her at least once a day especially while she had pneumonia.
However I got baby rats about a month ago. I had them for maybe a week when one of them got really sick. We rushed him to the emergency vet and he was on oxygen and they nebulized him and did everything they could but he ended up passing away the next day.
I guess it just depends on the rat. It’s nothing you’re doing wrong, they just get really sick sometimes. I really hope that your baby recovers from pneumonia. And try not to stress about it because you’re doing everything you can. I wish I could give you more advice but it seems like you’re doing all you can do.

 

[Ratmomma2016]

Thank you. I appreciate it. It helps to hear that. Ive been picking away at my brain trying to see if I could have done anything differently but there's not enough information out there on rats. And the fact that the vet that sees all of my rats (i trust her completely) is gone for a couple months has been killing me. The vet we saw last night basically told me she was going to die and not to waste my money on trying to save her. That clinic is 1 hr away from where I live. The emergency vet is just 5 minutes from here and while they know nothing about rats, they said she could come back to be put in the oxygen chamber if need be.

My normal vet charged me 114$ for the emergency visit & 40 minutes of oxygen.
Then the emergency vet charged 350$ for her overnight stay in the oxygen tank + $40 to nebulize her with baytril (which my normal clinic refused to do saying it was a waste of money).

I picked her up from the emergency vet this morning at 730am because they closed at 8am. She had been in the oxygen chamber for 12 hours last night. Her breathing calmed down. And her body temperature seems to be regulating. Her breathing is still pretty fast but it no longer sounds wet. I got her to drink some chocolate ensure so thats what I'll be mixing her meds in once I get back from the vet. She's eaten a couple of treats. She's just really tired from the stress of being passed around last night. I also think my psycho driving didn't help but I was panicking.

She's been on doxy + baytril for a couple weeks. I'm picking up some zythro from the normal vet today around noon. So we'll see if that helps.

I have 2 critter nation cages connected into 1 giant one. So I closed off the bottom half and all 5 of my other rats are up top with her. They've been taking turns curling up with her and I think its helping calm her & keeping her warm.

I also gave her a quick puff of my asthma inhaler 15 minutes ago and I'm waiting to see if that helps any. She seems like a fighter. I rescued her and her sister from a horrible environment back in Feb or March. Time has been weird. Her sister got sick in August but I got it under control. Then 1-2 months later shes sick and now her sister is getting sick again.

I'll post an update if this new treatment does anything. I'm just worried that I'll have to put her down by this weekend if she doesn't improve.

My rats mean the world to me and I would do anything for them. It sucks knowing that there isn't anything else I can do for her.

 

[Ratmomma2016]

One of my girls got pneumonia a few months ago. She was really bad by the time I got her to the vet. She has scarring on one of her lungs because of it. The vet did 2 medicated nebulizations about a week apart, but she didn’t tell me what medication she used. She also gave me azithromycin and enrofloxacin which she’s been on since then. A couple weeks later she gave me a steroid to help her breathe better because she was still breathing hard. I nebulized her at least once a day especially while she had pneumonia.
However I got baby rats about a month ago. I had them for maybe a week when one of them got really sick. We rushed him to the emergency vet and he was on oxygen and they nebulized him and did everything they could but he ended up passing away the next day.
I guess it just depends on the rat. It’s nothing you’re doing wrong, they just get really sick sometimes. I really hope that your baby recovers from pneumonia. And try not to stress about it because you’re doing everything you can. I wish I could give you more advice but it seems like you’re doing all you can do.

HOW was your baby doing when you guys did the steroid shot? I'm wondering if I should have the vet do that tomorrow when I take her in for the check up appointment.

 

[Dallis]

I’m glad she seems to be doing better. I don’t think it’s wrong of you to try to help her instead of putting her down. A lot of people think “it’s just a rat” but they don’t understand that you can bond with a rat the same as a cat or dog.
That’s so sweet of your other rats to curl up with her. I’m sure that’s comforting to her.
My vet put my rat on a liquid steroid she has to take once a day so I’m not sure about the shot but that’s an option you could discuss with your vet. I don’t want to worry you but you should consider how long your rat has been sick before thinking about a steroid. My girl has been sick for almost a year now and she got pneumonia a couple months ago so that put a lot of strain on her heart. Steroids aren’t good for the heart so she was diagnosed with tachycardia and possible congestive heart failure the last time I took her to the vet. It did help her breathing a lot the first week she took it so if your girl hasn’t been sick for long then that might be something that could help a lot.

 

[Ratmomma2016]

I’m glad she seems to be doing better. I don’t think it’s wrong of you to try to help her instead of putting her down. A lot of people think “it’s just a rat” but they don’t understand that you can bond with a rat the same as a cat or dog.
That’s so sweet of your other rats to curl up with her. I’m sure that’s comforting to her.
My vet put my rat on a liquid steroid she has to take once a day so I’m not sure about the shot but that’s an option you could discuss with your vet. I don’t want to worry you but you should consider how long your rat has been sick before thinking about a steroid. My girl has been sick for almost a year now and she got pneumonia a couple months ago so that put a lot of strain on her heart. Steroids aren’t good for the heart so she was diagnosed with tachycardia and possible congestive heart failure the last time I took her to the vet. It did help her breathing a lot the first week she took it so if your girl hasn’t been sick for long then that might be something that could help a lot.

She's only been sick for 2 weeks, on meds for 1.5 weeks. I thought it was congestion at first so I was only nebulizing at first.

The vet I talked to seemed to think it was a good idea but an oral one might be better to do than a shot. Less stressful on her. So thank you. I'll mention that tomorrow when I take her in.

 

[Big Schpog]

Also ask her about amoxicillin. I think steroids is a good idea. I had pneumonia and I was hospitalized for almost a month in my early 20's. I had to have steroids, and even tho I hated them, they worked. Now, the amox is good for secondary infections, which might be the case with your girl. It might just be that she needs a different broader spectrum antibiotic.

Sometimes certain antibiotics are required for certain types of bacteria. Here is a good site that LilSpaz swears by: Pneumonia – Rat Guide

 

[lilspaz68]

how old is your lass? Age can have a lot to do with it. There are horrible fatal contagious viruses running rampant in the US right now (SDA) and these can cause a severe pneumonia that is very hard to treat.
I can also doublecheck the doses your vet gave you for treatement. I would need her weight, the concentration (mg/ml) of each antibiotic and the dose you were told to give.