Sick Ratties

Shop with us on Ebay
Advertise with us
Fins us on Amazon
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.
UPDATE:
I added amoxicillin to the baytril/doxy combo over the weekend when the third rat in the cage, Thayer, started sneezing and "chirping" every now and then, and lost his appetite. None of them will take their meds in food now, they have very small appetites but I have seen them all eat at least a little today and also drink at least some today. Thayer's symptoms quickly went under control and he seems back to normal (knock on wood).

I took Dijon back in to the vet and Bradford as well Tuesday (just barely yesterday technically). The vet said there is a LITTLE less fluid in Dijon and to continue on the Lasix. She said Bradford doesn't have the fluid but she can clearly see he has pneumonia. He was doing fine until Friday, and suddenly was doing the labored breathing like Dijon. However, I suppose it's good news there's no fluid? The vet said there could be pneumonia in Dijon but she can't see it due to the fluid. Thing is Bradford seems more miserable than Dijon right now.

Medication time really wears them out and upsets them, and I can't help wonder since they're not eating well how it's affecting their appetite. I'm scared of aspirating (sp) them otherwise would try to syringe feed some Ensure; with the triple antibiotic combo + prednisolone in Bradford & Dijon + Lasix in Dijon it already adds up to a lot of worry for me and stress for them. I wish I could get them to eat their meds off the spoons again :( But every time I try I just waste medication. They are turning their noses to baby food, apple sauce, yogurt. But I have gotten them to eat some veggies and fruits which I've read could help keep them hydrated. I just don't feel like it's enough.

Any suggestions? Should I supplement them or is it risky to "force syringe feed"? Tonight for about an hour Bradford was making a hiccup type cough/sound. He did it about 4-5 times but I haven't seen it in the last hour or so. It started after meds and of course I'm worried it didn't go down right. I don't want to make him worse :(

Thanks
 
If you give the meds on the side, past the flap, and not too deep, you should be ok and no aspiration unless they take a breath as you are doing it. That is unlikely since rats normally breath through their nose.
 
OK so update...

Dijon is feeling much better. Breathing has slowed quite a bit, he's eating and drinking again. He still sometimes hangs his head over to the next level of the cage, I assume to get better breaths. But he's looking better the last couple days.

Bradford, however, has gone downhill. And I don't know what to do. He's my sister's heart rat and I hesitate at putting him to sleep. Especially because every day his breathing symptoms are changing. He was dx'd with pneumonia Tuesday. Late Wednesday night he started breathing very very fast breaths (90 per minute). Then early Thursday morning he woke with a start, I had been holding him on my chest, and he seemed frantic. I put him in his cage where he ran around alternating from open-mouthed breathing to the fast deep breaths, making clicking and rumbling sounds as he went. Yesterday he stopped running around but he was definitely struggling to breathe.

This morning I thought I was losing him because his breathes are slower now which made me think he was shutting down. But he doesn't seem to be struggling to breathe so much as have a very congested sound to him when he does breathe. He doesn't seem comfortable though; every 10-15 breaths he does lift his head to take a deeper breath. He's been drinking consistently but definitely not interested in eating. If I offer him something he makes a point to push it away, no matter how much he used to like it.

I'll post a couple videos.

Am I wrong to hope for him? I don't know what could be causing the congestion sounds... Anyway video from today:

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umbWl33Eiu8[/ame]

I really appreciate anyone's insight. I was going to take him to have him PTS yesterday but couldn't find a vet who would let me be there. I've got a call into his regular vet who wasn't in yesterday but haven't heard back yet.
 
He was on doxy/baytril/amox & prednisolone, lasix
Tried nebulizer treatments over the weekend but his condition deteriorated each day.
He passed away yesterday.

Dijon is eating and drinking again, but still doing some heavy breathing. Not as bad as before-- his sides aren't as sunken in. He still doesn't have a lot of energy. I have to ask for more lasix as I ran out due to doubling his dosage. The fluid was still there last week but had gone down some. I do believe he has CHF and need to find a way to convince the vet to at least try the heart med.

Bradford was my sister's heart rat and she cried all day and night. I don't understand how he got so sick so fast or why he didn't recover. The third rat in the cage, Thayer, has shown minimal symptoms, once last Sunday and once this Sunday, so he's on antibiotics too.

RIP Bradford :(

bradford.jpg
 
I'm sorry you lost Bradford. :( We expect modern medicine to cure us when we are sick, but sadly Mother Nature still wins sometimes.
I hope you can convince the vet to try a heart med for Dijon. My boy Eddie is on Lasix, Benazepril and Prednisone. Even if you can start with the Benazepril - it can't hurt, and may help. Nothing to lose by trying. It took about a week for Eddie to stabilize, and he has improved a bit more since then.
Good luck!
 
You test dose with benazepril, and if it helps then atenolol is added
Then if your rat has enlarged heart as seen on an xray, digoxin is added to the other meds

Lasix is given to help keep fluid from building up in the lungs and you need to watch out for dehydration

good luck
 
SQ said:
You test dose with benazepril, and if it helps then atenolol is added
Then if your rat has enlarged heart as seen on an xray, digoxin is added to the other meds

Lasix is given to help keep fluid from building up in the lungs and you need to watch out for dehydration

good luck
Click to expand...

Yes thank you. He's been on lasix for almost two weeks. It didn't work fast, after almost a week only some of the fluid had gone down but as of 2 days ago he is eating and drinking as normal. His breathing is still faster than it should be and he's not as energetic as he should be, but his fur is soft again and his side aren't pulled in. So I think the lasix is slowly but surely helping. Goes in in a week to have another scan and then it sounds like the vet is willing to consider CHF. I'm going to push it- at first she said if it wasn't clear on the xray she would have to try to refer me elsewhere but I have told her it's not always obvious and sometimes the best way to find out is to start on the heart med and see. So I'm hoping she'll do that.

The third rat occasionally starts the chirping and sneezing but it usually only lasts a few hours then he's back to normal. It has only happened three times in all these weeks. So hopefully he'll be able to fend off whatever took Bradford. We are very very very sad about Bradford but hopeful for Dijon.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top