Respiratory Illness and When to Quarantine

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LittleCritters

Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2009
Messages
15
Location
Canada
Hello, I need some help.

I came home to find my rat making a strange gurgling, congested sound. It was loud enough that I could hear it from the other room and can only describe it as being similar to a cat purring extremely loudly... sometimes kind of that squeeky sound that would come from rubbing a damp cloth on glass. My boyfriend thought the noise was mostly coming from her nose, but I could hear that she was wheezing slightly when I listened to her lungs. The gurgling sound starts and stops, it isn't constant. She has no other symptoms.

I took her to the vet and was told she had a respiratory disease but nothing much more specific than that beyond that is is acute and bacterial. She's been put on 0.17mL of Azithromycin (a human child's antibiotic) once a day for seven days and I was told to keep her separate from my other four rats. Its now at the end of the second day of giving her the meds and I've noticed no improvements. However, she hasn't got worse either.

I have never experienced illness in any of my rats. Aside from Rizo's (my rat) loud breathing and occasional sneezing she seems perfectly fine. She is eating, drinking, perfectly active and good-humoured. Looking at her you couldn't tell anything was wrong, there's no fluids around her nose or eyes or anything like that.

I have her in a different cage in a different room from the other rats, but she is definitely upset about being kept by herself and while I give her as much attention as I can, I know its not the same as being with her peers. I want to know:

* If anyone has any insight into what is wrong, specifically
* At what point I should start noticing improvement to be able to tell if the antibiotics are working?
* What else I could/should be doing?
* If it is necessary to keep her separated (is this contageous or is it mycoplasma-related)?

Etc.

I trust my vet's opinion that it will go away with time and meds, but the big question is... how long must she be separated from her cagemates? Obviously I dont want them getting sick, but it breaks my heart to see her all alone. Also anyone who could offer advice, reassurance, or information would be really welcomed.
 
It is most likely one of two things:
An acute flare up of Myco, or
Congestive Heart Failure. (CHF)
If it were contagious, the other rats would already have been exposed.
She would be much happier and fare better if she were back with her cage mates.
7 days on antibiotics is much too short a time span for effective control. Usually Baytril is the drug of choice, although my girl was on Azithromycin because Baytril became ineffective.....

If there is no improvement in another day, a different antibiotic should be tried. If there is no improvement with several different antibiotics, then it is probably not a bacterial infection, and other conditions should be investigated.

Just my two cents........
 
I agree with Joanne, it's most likely a Myco flare up or CHF.

There's no need to split up cage mates. Although Myco is contagious, most rats already carry it even if they show no symptoms. It's an old fairy tale so to speak to split up rats when one comes down with Myco. Some vets sadly still insist on it.

And if it is something more serious such as SDA/Sendai (been to a shelter/pet store recently where they have pet rodents? Do you have a wild rat/wild mouse infestation?) then the others would already have been exposed to it as well.
 
She will need to be on it for 6 weeks if it helps. Some people suggest 4 weeks as being long enough.
Azithromycin & baytril are also an effective combo.
As others have said, there is no reason to separate your rats and doing so will cause her stress.
 
Sounds like myco/pneumonia. Zithromax is an excellent med but she needs at the very least a 4 week treatment.
And don't separate your rat... it will only cause her more stress and make her recovery that much harder.
 
Thank you so much for your advice. I'm definitely not an expert (though I'm trying to educate myself) on rat health and I didn't want to contradict the vet without getting other people's opinions first.

I found this chart (http://www.rmca.org/Articles/dchart.htm) which is supposedly very reliable and it has suggested using it (the drug I have) for at least two weeks at one dose a day, then up to two times a day for an additional two weeks if it doesn't work. If it doesn't work after those four weeks I'm assuming I move on to a different antibiotic.

Would you agree with that chart? Or should I give up on the Azithronmycin earlier... and at what point? I've read that if she's not looking better after three days then it isn't going to work...

Thank you again for your time.
 
The way we dose with Zithromax, we do twice a day for one week, then once a day for the next 3 weeks.
If it's a mild enough myco flare up then, that should do it but if it's more serious and you see absolutely no improvement after a week, then I'd switch to Baytril and doxycycline combo for 4 to 6 weeks.
 
Okay, so if I've only given it to her once daily for two days is it okay--in your opinion--to now up the dosage to twice a day? I'll run this by my vet to see what she thinks, but I definitely value the opinion of people who work with rats day in and day out at varying degrees of health.

Thank you for tolerating all my questions.
 

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