Rat sneezing

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.

Kboze

Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2021
Messages
5
Location
Reno
I have two rats both about 4 months old. One has been sneezing more often, not showing any other signs of illness. I started using natures miracle to clean their cage recently. Can someone give me advice on alternative cleaning methods? Also, when should I take action on the sneezing? I.e get medicine of antibiotics? I had a rat pass from respiratory disease before and I want to prevent this at all costs from happening again:(
 
I use vinegar and water when washing out their cage or a bleach solution that I then wipe down again with water after 10 minutes. I also have had success cleaning with vinegar mixed with young living thieves oil when dealing with a rat that had chronic respiratory issues but there's really no science to back this up in rats just personal trial and error on my part. Any perfumes, Febreze's or candles in the room can also cause sneezing for a few days. Bedding can also be a source, using liners has been the only thing to help sneezy rats. And any source of steam in the room can be as well. If they don't have a wire cage ammonia from urine will build up as well.

Sneezing without any other signs of illness is most likely like not a respiratory disease but definitely watch for funny breathing noises or mycoplasm. Honestly, once you've had one rat pass from respiratory disease you tend to know what to watch out for so I think you will be fine. Its best to avoid antibiotics if not actually necessary as these can repeatedly damage a rats immune system over time.
 
I got 3 girls who sneezed very very bad when I first saw them. I had to buy them just to save them. One was squeaking which is an obvious symptom of RI. Well they all stopped sneezing. The lady I got them from said they sneezed all the time since she got them which was 3-4 month. 2 of them stopped sneezing the day after I got them and entirely after a month or so. One required a little more attention but she’s good now too, luckily, since she’s got babies to attend to. I’m pretty sure if I put them back into a cage with any sort of bedding they’d sneeze again. I use dollar store mats, the ones that say “our nest is the best” and the like. I also use fleece from the dollar store. They’re in large cages too. Not sure if that helps you but it’s just something that worked for my rats. I’ll never use any sort of bedding for my rats ever. They can get dig boxes but that’s it.
 
Back
Top