Pepper_rat
Well-Known Member
My older girl Mac has a history of lung issues. She’s been on antibiotics and meds most of her life so I wasn’t surprised when she suddenly got sick and started breathing heavy. She was puffed up, lethargic, not moving, and breathing through her abdomen. I thought she might die so I called vets but it was night so there was no one open and the e vet didn’t have an exotics vet. So I tried my best to help her and gave her her antibiotics (that she was on at the time from the vet) and used the nebulizer with a bronchodilator. It didn’t seem to help and she wouldn’t eat the meds so I just tried to keep her comfortable and I even gave her a low dose of infant ibuprophen as I didn’t want her to die in pain. An hour later she was relaxing but still breathing loudly and struggling to breathe. I was sad but knew I had done everything I could so I went to bed. By the morning she was surprisingly mostly back to normal! She was flat furred and moving around normally. She still has a slight sound when she breathes quickly but nothing else. I thought that’s crazy but I’m happy! She seemed fine and back to her normal self for weeks. Two days ago the exact same thing happened. Super sick all of a sudden. Can’t breathe and lethargic. I did the same thing thinking that this time she would die but she didn’t! After around 4 hours she was mostly back to normal and today she’s perfect. I don’t get it? I mean I’m so glad she’s doing well but I’m confused. Does anyone know why this is happening? Of course now I’m going to do this for every rat that’s having issues breathing because it seems to help even a little. Here’s a picture of Mac living her best life after scaring me twice now 
