Is my boy gonna be okay? Is he labored breathing? HELP

[Rwertz123]

His name is Alfred, he’s almost a year old and I’m really worried about him. About two days ago he started being super lethargic, acting really weak and breathing like this. He was eating a lot more but now he’s just eating a little and I’ve been giving him water out of a syringe. He recently had a huge lump under his throat and we got baytril, and some steroids and it went down so the vet thinks it was an enlarged lymph node. It went down and he was fine and all my rats were getting treated for a upper respiratory infection. Well like I said just about two days ago he became like this! I took him up to the vet and she said she doesn’t know what’s going on, but she said to keep him on steroids so that’s what I’ve been doing. he doesn’t have any lumps anywhere but he does have a bit of porphyrin coming out of his nose and all the other things I said earlier. Is this cancer? Can they get cancer without any tumors?? Is this SDAV? Is he just not feeling well? His coat isn’t looking so good, what should I do?? Please comment, anyone!!!

 

[Tabirat]

I'm so sorry to hear that! Is he feeling better, by chance? My apologies for not commenting sooner.
It's hard for me to tell exactly what it could be. The porphyrin coming out of his nose and labored breathing sounds like a respiratory issue, whether it be an upper or lower respiratory infection (he could have picked up a URI from your other rats somehow). On the other hand, cancer is possible, and I've had rats with it who acted that way nearing their final days with it, even after having a large lump removed. The best thing to do is to try to keep him as comfortable and happy as possible, and maybe give him some regular yogurt (flavored has a lot of sugar) for fat, as peanut butter may make him choke.

 

[lilspaz68]

The symptoms with the throat lump definitely sound like SDAV. especially with all your rats getting sick.

Did you mean to link a video.of his breathing?
What antibiotics is he on right now?