Pneumonia help please

Fins us on Amazon
Shop with us on Ebay
Advertise with us
The Rat Shack Forum

Help Support The Rat Shack Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
M

minnow

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 26, 2008
Messages
515
Location
Nebraska, USA
Charlotte (10 months old) is the latest victim of this curse, already to the point of lethargy after having completely clear lung sounds 2-3 days ago. She's congested to the point of reduced lung sounds and barely audible heartbeat. She's on Lasix, Baytril, Metacam, nebulized gentamicin and albuterol. I've already lost two others in the same cage with identical symptoms. The older adults in the cage appear to be unaffected, as do the rats in the bedroom cage.
 
I don't think there's much more you can do. You both are fighting a hard battle. Some rats are simply not genetically made to last more than a year.
She might at this point be filled with pulmonary abscesses and there's no curing her... only palliative care.
 
She's started isolating herself from the other rats in the cage, so I really don't know if she'll even make it through the night at this point. :sad3:

It would make sense that she's just not resistant enough, though, considering that she comes from feeder breeder stock with really bad genetics... I just don't want to lose my babies. Especially not all at once like this.
 
Pneumonia can be viral or bacterial. If it's bacterial, then the antibiotics will help. If it's viral, then they won't, and it will be up to her immune system to fight it. Poor little girl...hope she hangs in there.
 
Are you and your vet 100% sure it's pneumonia, and not something else going through the colony? You've lost so many, I have to wonder if any of them are connected...

I'm sorry that you have yet another sickie :(
 
gentamicin works well with clavamox.
Doubtful but wondering if that might help if it is a secondary infection. (I'm not a not a vet)
gentamicin does decrease cardiac output ...

Is it possible that she has a heart problem? That will cause fluids to accumulate.
 
Aw minnow, I'm so sorry, sounds like there's some question of this being an individual thing or a thing that can affect everyone? I sure hope it's a run of isolated individual troubles for you and I'm sorry that Charlotte is not well.
Nothing you can do for her since you've obviously done all that is within your power for her medically, just love & spoil her all you can - at this point it wouldn't hurt at all to give her a chocolate chip a couple times a day, if it doesn't help her medically it will help her emotionally - and hope for the best.
I will be hoping for you that it's a bad run and not something affecting all your kids. Hang in there, remember that in spite of what you couldn't do you were there for them taking care of every need and comforting them. We can't always fix the physical but their emotional needs in times of trauma are just as (or more) important.
 
All of the girls that have been affected with these symptoms, even going back to Lily, are close relatives. I'm suspecting at this point that there's either a heart issue (that acts too quickly to treat) or a specific suceptability to this kind of pneumonia. Thinking about it, Lily was about the same age these girls are when she died, so I'm really strongly suspecting a heart failure time bomb... which also means all I can do is love them to pieces and try to keep them comfortable.

The other 10 month olds from the same genetic pool are starting to wheeze now.

I knew they'd be helping the flowers bloom sooner or later, but I was really hoping for later...
 
I'm so so sorry! I can't imagine your grief & worry. But since you're doing all the meds possible then maybe all the power you have beyond that is for their comfort.
Then you just have to get your own heart into quality rather than quantity. You'll survive their passings, so you have to make sure you are ok when they go. Worst is wondering if you've done all you can. You have. Next is hoping their time here was good up til their last day. The more happy or excited you see them each day the more sure you are that day was worth living for them. And if you can put some joy in their every day til they go then you have no days to ache over.
Only missing them.
 
A heart problem could seem like pneumonia, because of the amount of fluid it can put in the lungs. Heart meds could be worth a shot.
 
You may want to try enalapril (0.25 mg/Ib twice a day) to see if it helps. It is an ACE inhibitor. If it helps, you know the rattie has a heart problem and add atenolol (1mg/Ib twice a day).
As you know, the lasix is used to remove fluid from the lungs, etc.
If the lungs are still full of fluid, then you likely need to increase the frequency of the lasix (1 to 2 mg/Ib twice a day) ... ie instead of twice a day, give it 3 or 4 times a day. The dose might also need to be increased. If you do this, keep a close watch for dehydration. Dehydrated ratties need to be rehydrated orally or by SQ injustion.

If they do have a heart problem, then you can check to see if their hearts are enlarged. If so, then they will also need to be on digoxin (0.0025 mg/Ib twice a day) to the other three medications.

(not a vet, info from the rat health care book and from experience)

Also, if they are dying with respir problems, you may want to consider having them put to sleep if they are suffering.
viewtopic.php?f=20&t=9582&p=130502&hilit=humane+pts#p130502
 
There's pretty strong evidence of a bacterial infection now... Charlotte's eyes are starting to get cloudy, which is likely a sign of sepsis... and she's starting to show signs of being in pain, so I'm not even going to try to drag this out. :sad3:
 
I'm so sorry minnow, I lost 4 of my 7 rats to pneumonia a year and a half ago and it was awful being helpless to help my girls. I had a lot of success with Batryl and Doxicyclin in helping the other girls improve, but unfortunately (from my experience) the sicker they are the harder it is to help them. Best of luck.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top