Ongoing respiritory

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phoenix.madley

Active Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2020
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28
Since I got my artan in around Nov last year.. He is about 28 weeks old aka 7 months old. He has had ongoing respiritory issues. We have tried a variety of meds. And different bedding. He is eating, running around as normal..the vet days she doesnt want to keep medicating him. He is currently on baytril. He had this within a few days after I got him from the pet store.
 
My rat has ongoing respiratory issues and has been sneezy and sensitive her whole life. I always have her on doxycycline. It's been the most effective thing for her. If she goes off it, within 10 days she's making funny noises again. But it always clears her right up when I put her back on.
 
My rat has ongoing respiratory issues and has been sneezy and sensitive her whole life. I always have her on doxycycline. It's been the most effective thing for her. If she goes off it, within 10 days she's making funny noises again. But it always clears her right up when I put her back on.
Courtney 10 days of any antibiotics isn't long enough to cure an active infection. Doxy alone is also one that isn't enough for anything more than a very mild respiratory infection.
A good combo for resp infections is baytril and doxy for 3 weeks at least.
 
Courtney 10 days of any antibiotics isn't long enough to cure an active infection. Doxy alone is also one that isn't enough for anything more than a very mild respiratory infection.
A good combo for resp infections is baytril and doxy for 3 weeks at least.
I meant that whenever I take her OFF doxy...within 10 days she's showing resp infection symptoms again. I have had her on doxy for months at a time. There have also been times where I've added in baytril.
 
my rattie finally progressed into pneumonia. I swapped vets. they gave him some injections, kept overnight. Much better now, on baytril, and meticam
 
Courtney, whats the cage like? What kind of bedding? How often is it cleaned? Whats the house like? Does anyone smoke or burn incense, scented candles, or is there a lot of dust, etc?

Glass aquariums are not good for rats, they pee in the cage and then the ammonia off-gasses and fills the cage and there is nowhere for it to go. Wire cages offer much better airflow. (But you also don't want them in a drafty area.)

Rats have very sensitive respiratory systems. This may seem counter-intuitive seeing how wild rats literally make a nest in their own waste and some of the nastiest materials they can find. But they also don't live very long.

My babies get their cage cleaned every 3 or 4 days, their poops are removed immediately, and they have their own dedicated 3 stage carbon filter- and they still get respiratory issues! My house is dusty AF, however.
 
My rats respiratory issue progressed I swapped vets after my rattle got pneumonia. He had an overnight stay and was given some injections, then put on metacam and Baytril which cleared it up..however the injections caused am irritation on his neck which scabbed over. The scab came off but is scabbed over again. Gone back to the vet and they have given cream but worried as it's taking ages to heal 😟 no the scan definitely isn't mites.its the it place he has a scab, not anywhere else and both rats are treated once a month every month with ivermectin. Any suggestions. In helping it to heal. The thing is as its dry, he tries to get it off. When it heals, and then it bleeds around the edges. I guess the cream is meant to keep it moist?
 

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To tell you you the truth I have gone to the vet so many times.they said to try prevent him from touching it.but he does as rats groom themselves
 
Poor baby. :( Can you try to get a better clearer pic? I usually put them on a chair with a dish of baby cereal to keep them still. They most likely injected him with baytril and undiluted it's caustic to tissue which causes the skin to go necrotic and die. We call this baytril burn. It takes awhile to heal but he's very bloody so it might now be a bacterial infection of the skin called pyoderma.
Is he still on baytril and Metacam? If so can you tell me the concentration of each,his weight and what dose you were told to give for each?
 
This is Faith a little old rescue I took in a long time ago. I document my medical rescue cases so I can help future owners and their rats.

You see how the lesion is streaky and an angry orangey pink? The crusting on the sides? It's very painful and itchy and she would scratch it bloody if I didn't manage her discomfort with higher doses of Metacam.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ynbvjk6u5agpgoh/Faithsbackdoesntlookasangryjul15.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/mhm6klg945oh27d/Faithjul19pretreatment.jpg?dl=0
 
Poor baby. :( Can you try to get a better clearer pic? I usually put them on a chair with a dish of baby cereal to keep them still. They most likely injected him with baytril and undiluted it's caustic to tissue which causes the skin to go necrotic and die. We call this baytril burn. It takes awhile to heal but he's very bloody so it might now be a bacterial infection of the skin called pyoderma.
Is he still on baytril and Metacam? If so can you tell me the concentration of each,his weight and what dose you were told to give for each?
 
No he is no longer on the baytril and metacam but the vet said its not infected. He tends to remove the scab before it's healed they gave him cream that I put on it 😢 when it scabbed over it was a thick scab that partially healed then it came off as he knocked it off. It's like he doesn't give it time to heal. The cream is isoderm which treats infections..it scabbbed over 3 times.this time the scab after coming off formed again as a thin layer. It's like it's attempting to heal.he seems like his happy self. But the scab came off prematurely. I'm not sure when it will heal 😟
 
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No he is no longer on the baytril and metacam but the vet said its not infected. He tends to remove the scab before it's healed they gave him cream that I put on it 😢 when it scabbed over it was a thick scab that partially healed then it came off as he knocked it off. It's like he doesn't give it time to heal.
I'm really cross at the vets. And it's costing loads to keep taking him back to check in it
 
Did it look like the pics I posted?
Yes but worse. I took him back today and they said it's ulcerated they don't want to use the isoderm anymore as it's contains a steriod. That have prescribed a different cream. Flamazine. And and a oral liquid called loxicom. And baytril oral. I asked them for a discount as I felt the problems caused by giving him an injection created the lesion which it did. I'm paying to undo what they have done. I had gone back with the lesson 4 times and was told it was healing after they gave me isoderm and don't understand why they didn't prescribe this to begin with. After 4 visits.
 
Flamazine is good stuff,Loxicom IS meloxicam (Metacam) and Baytril. You have the correct treatment now :) Do you want me to make sure your Loxicom is an appropriate dose? Is it 1.5 mg/ml? How much does your rat weigh?
 
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