jeschodron11
Voice of the Voiceless
Hi All -
It's been awhile! I came for some advice. My rat, Scotty, had a brother who passed recently from CHF. He now has shown open mouthed gasping starting about a month ago. I took him into the vet and the vet stated she believed it might be a touch of CHF plus a pretty bad pneumonia. He has been on Doxy and Furosemide for almost a month now with a slight improvement in his breathing, however, he still has episodes of dashing about and open mouthed gasping (though not as many and not as severe as they originally were). He does have a humidifier next to his cage running 24/7 and when he does have the episodes, I steam him in the bathroom and that seems to calm him down. He is still eat, still drinking....he seems to start gasping when eating occasionally. The vet said that it was more a quality of life issue (since he's still eating and still drinking) and said that since the pneumonia was very bad, it might take awhile for him to recover. Do I just continue to let him have these episodes and keep giving him his meds? It pains me to see him gasping and short of breath. He has had some weird behaviors since he got sick as well, and has been extra cuddly and wanting to climb all over me as well as standing upright against the cage bars, which I'm assuming he does to help breathe better....does anyone have any further suggestions or help for me? His vet is an hour away and I'm picking up a refill for his medication this weekend.
What do you guys think??
It's been awhile! I came for some advice. My rat, Scotty, had a brother who passed recently from CHF. He now has shown open mouthed gasping starting about a month ago. I took him into the vet and the vet stated she believed it might be a touch of CHF plus a pretty bad pneumonia. He has been on Doxy and Furosemide for almost a month now with a slight improvement in his breathing, however, he still has episodes of dashing about and open mouthed gasping (though not as many and not as severe as they originally were). He does have a humidifier next to his cage running 24/7 and when he does have the episodes, I steam him in the bathroom and that seems to calm him down. He is still eat, still drinking....he seems to start gasping when eating occasionally. The vet said that it was more a quality of life issue (since he's still eating and still drinking) and said that since the pneumonia was very bad, it might take awhile for him to recover. Do I just continue to let him have these episodes and keep giving him his meds? It pains me to see him gasping and short of breath. He has had some weird behaviors since he got sick as well, and has been extra cuddly and wanting to climb all over me as well as standing upright against the cage bars, which I'm assuming he does to help breathe better....does anyone have any further suggestions or help for me? His vet is an hour away and I'm picking up a refill for his medication this weekend.
What do you guys think??