Rat - respiratory issues

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DanielZielwolf

New Member
Joined
Aug 18, 2018
Messages
1
Location
Melbourne
Hi,

I have got a rat who is rattling loudly in his nose when breathing. This terminates every so often with a sneeze. He sounds a lot like a human with a snotty nose. I know this is probably due to mycoplasmosis and he's currently on doxycycline for it. However he is not responding at all to the treatment so I'm going to take him back tomorrow at the latest to see if there is secondary infection and if we should add Baytril or something else. My question is, what does this symptom actually mean for the rat? How bad is it, is he suffering? He otherwise seems ok. He is eating and drinking. Still gets excited about treats. Still active as usual. He doesn't act like a rat with the kind of end stage respiratory distress that is leading to death (which kind I have seen before). Is he struggling to breathe without me realising it though? If people think he is struggling/suffering I want to take him straightaway but because it's Sunday in Australia, I will have to travel much further which I'd rather avoid as he is very nervous and gets stressed out easily.
 
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Doxy doesn't do much on it's own, but works much better when Baytril is added. Definitely go back to the vet to get Baytril and also add amoxicillin if you are concerned about a secondary infection. If he's still active and eating well, he is likely not suffering. That being said, having him on a good combo of meds ASAP is important to make sure that he doesn't get worse. Once they do get worse or get a secondary infection, it will be harder to give meds and they won't be as likely to get over the illness. He seems pretty happy still though so getting the meds tomorrow should be fine.
 
He sounds just like my old girl did. She had pneumonia when she was pretty young and was on clavamox and doxy for a couple weeks. She recovered from that but then just had on and off respiratory issues and sounded just like your boy for most of the rest of her life. There were 4-5 more times that she was on a round of meds, usually baytril and doxy, when she was extra sneezy and wheezy. But nothing got rid of the stuffy nose/congestion. She always had energy and a great appetite through all of this though. Unfortunately it got way worse one weekend, possibly pneumonia again, and no meds were helping, her breathing became labored and she stopped eating :(

You should definitely get a second or third antibiotic to combine with the doxy, and hopefully that will take care of it. Just make sure you have enough for several weeks, and start as soon as you can. It’s great that he is still active and his breathing doesn’t look labored. I hope he gets better!
 
He sounds just like my old girl did. She had pneumonia when she was pretty young and was on clavamox and doxy for a couple weeks. She recovered from that but then just had on and off respiratory issues and sounded just like your boy for most of the rest of her life. There were 4-5 more times that she was on a round of meds, usually baytril and doxy, when she was extra sneezy and wheezy. But nothing got rid of the stuffy nose/congestion. She always had energy and a great appetite through all of this though. Unfortunately it got way worse one weekend, possibly pneumonia again, and no meds were helping, her breathing became labored and she stopped eating :(

You should definitely get a second or third antibiotic to combine with the doxy, and hopefully that will take care of it. Just make sure you have enough for several weeks, and start as soon as you can. It’s great that he is still active and his breathing doesn’t look labored. I hope he gets better!
This is exactly what happens to my girls. They have been on medication all their lifes but always with a stuffy nose and congested, getting better than getting worse. Sometimes their lungs sounds okay sometimes they dont.
 
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