Oreo...in pain?

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Dena

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2018
Messages
377
Location
Texas
I have a female rat, about 16 months old named oreo, who is acting like she's in pain. At first, I thought she was sick. I found her laying cold and puffy, on the bottom of her cage about a month ago. I listened to her chest, and it sounded somewhat muffled, and she was breathing fast and heavy. I gave her antibiotics for a few weeks and didn't think anything of it since she was acting normal after that first day. Well, two nights ago, she got out for playtime, and was playing like normal, but when I picked her up, she was again coldish, and limp. I literally thought she was going to die before I woke up the next morning. When I got up, she was her normal bouncy self. Then, last night she started acting sluggish again, but not as bad. This morning, and all day today, she has been puffy, limp, and felt like she was a little Warmer than she should be. I gave her some metacam, since she was doing the teeth grinding, and had the pain look on her face. I have no idea what could be wrong. She is usually a gassy rat, and she loves loves loves to gorge herself on food. I've been weighing her and she hasn't gained more than 2-3 grams in the last month or so. I'll post pics of her from the other day, and today.


The first two are the other day, and the others are from today.
 

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*UPDATE*

Took oreo to the vet for an emergency visit since it wasn't scheduled, and I didn't think she could wait until tomorrow. She was panic running, climbing up stuff to hang her head over, and has diminished breath sounds. She's almost non responsive to any type of food, or liquid. She makes little squeaking noises when she breathes and its obvious it takes a lot for her to get air in and out. Dr said he wouldn't do baytril since it's the same as cipro. But he did give me 2 weeks worth of Zithromax. It's a suspension they made from a powder. The pharmacy told me it will go bad after 10 days though. So is it safe to give longer than 10 days? I'm going to call and get a refill on her meds in a few days. He argued with me that 10-14 days was plenty of time to kill the virus (which doesn't die, but maybe goes dormant. You're killing the bacterial infections caused by the virus 🙄) when I asked him to give me them long enough for at the very least, 4 weeks, he said no. There's no need to give them longer than two weeks. 🙄🙄 if he won't work with me on this just a little bit, and continues to talk to me like I'm a child experimenting with my rats health, and therefore life, I'll be forced to find another vet to go see. When I told him I had doxy at home, he acted like mine wasn't good enough and I'm no smart enough to get the mixture and dosage correct. I assured him I had it. So he was basically saying lilspaz is wrong on what she told me.


Her new meds to go with the cipro are now azythromysin 200g/5ml I give her. .25ml once a day. And don't refrigerate the meds. She did weigh 328 four nights ago. At the vet, she was 307, but when we got home I weighed her and she's 317.
Am I giving her the right dose? Do you think she'll make it?

Good vibes, or prayers appreciated
 
How do you force a rat, who is just holding their meds in their mouth, to swallow the meds? She's not only just holding the meds, and letting them drain out of her mouth, but she refuses water and food. I have a dropper I'm using for the water, but she fights it all....
 
I just called and made the dreaded appointment.... She will go in at 2:45pm today and will be in peace. I hate to let her go, but I also hate to see her suffer. Not being able to breathe is incredibly painful and scary....😢
 
I am so sorry I missed this. Giving oral meds when a rat is gasping cannot be done :( If she's not swallowing or able to, letting her go is probably best :( With these rats I get them an injection of dex so they can breathe again and then try but depending on what is going on it may or may not work. Are any of your other rats sick? :(

We can go over what the vet gave her later on...always good to know what happened, etc. ((hugs)) Dena :'(
 
Cotton is. But it's always been like a nasally, like when a kid has a snotty nose, sound. She's done it off and on since I got her back in January. Meds may make it less noisy, but it never truly goes away. She sounds clean in the lungs, and her chest isn't hard. But she's the only one.

As far as oreo, she just passed in my arms. It's so hard to watch them die like that. I just held her and told her I love her and I'm sorry I couldn't help her. The lights were on, but nobody was home. Sad to say that, but she just had this blank, dull look in her eyes. Like she was already gone..... Did you see the video? Did it look to you like she had abscesses in her lungs maybe? See how her sides were sucked in? Or is that just from her working to breathe?
 
You're story reminds me almost exactly of my rat, Illyria. She is also a Dalmatian rat just like Oreo and has on and off respiratory issues for over a year since the stress of her spay. I had a vet keep her on different antibiotics for about six weeks with absolutely no change. I wonder if there is something linked to the Dalmatian rat gene and long-term respiratory issues.

In terms of Illyria I eventually just had to accept it and try to find ways to mitigate the symptoms as I couldn't find a vet who could make a diagnosis. Small doses of steam once a week (I was skeptical of these too but they really seem to help) and cleaning the cage frequently seemed to help her. Giving vitamins often seems to help as well. I suspect there is something about her genes that has led to some kind of permanent lung damage. She is 2 1/2 and so far seems to be leading an otherwise happy life other than respiratory issues, chronic weird breathing sounds and muffled chest sounds she gets now and then.

Hope my comments can help with your future rats and possibly any other owners who have experienced similar things!
 
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