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B

Bati

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2007
Messages
548
Location
Copenhagen, Denmark
A breeder I saw wednesday have had 5 rats die just like that this night, I lost my old boy (http://jorats.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=543&highlight=), and now I'm panicing.

Have a girl going with a boy, so I put her on the scale - saturday she'd lost 30 grams for no reason. She looks healthy and happy.

Have to boys with a heavy cold, sneezing and wheezing, one is old, one is mid-life.

The breeder has found one with swollen something - I have none with swelling.

We think SDA and the medicin for that is baytrill and that's it - what would you do? any medicin? anything else? I'm not going to have them tested for SDA as it's extremely expensive and I can't use the results for anything
 
OK, have you researched the highly contagious rat diseases?

SDA
Sendai etc?

You need to talk to that breeder and get all the info, timeline on symptoms, new rats, people who own rats etc in or out of their rattery, etc

Anything you can think of!

come back and post your findings. Do you get SDA very often in Denmark? Is Quarantine a common practice there?
 
Quarantine is used by some (I always use it, but obvious not after meeting with the breeder). We've never had sendai (or never had it confirmed), we've had some outbreaks of something like SDA (as far as I know I'm the only one who did the bloodtests two years ago and it was NOT sda). The breeder has no idea where she could have got it from (but taking the bus with some snake-person would be enough), the rats had no symptoms, mine who died got a cold and wheezing, hers just died.

I just wonder if there is anything I can do now, before someone else dies, and if you use anything else than baytrill (I've given baytrill for all, put each cage in separate room, given oakmeal-porridge).

I have two who looks dying now, the rest looks fresh and healthy, but I panic a bit :(
 
Wednesday, I got 2 rats from the breeder Bati talks about, so if it is SDA, I'm in the danger zone too.
SDA is very common among the petstores in Denmark, so those who are aware of that, quarantine their petstore bought rats as the SDA articles prescribe, and so does this breeder.
She has no idea where it comes from, or if it is SDA og maybe something else, and she doesn't know when it started, because the rats have shown no signs of illness, they just drop dead. She found the 5th dead rat just 1½ hour ago.
We do take precautions, I'm keeping an eye on mine, I think a couple of them have started sneezing. I won't be visiting any other rat breeders before I'm sure that nothing is wrong with mine. And everyone who has been in contact with the rats Bati transported wednesday have been warn, and will take precautions too.

SDA is still very new in Denmark. We had the first outbreaks about 3 years ago, and noone knew what it was, causing the rats to drop dead and noone knew what to do about it. Even the vets had never heard of it. So this one breeder started searching articles on the internet and found out about SDA, and had a blood test done to her rats, and it confirmed it was SDA. We suspected it came from a mass breeder in Sweden, delivering rats to the biggest petstore in Denmark and to a lot of smaller ones. Everyone has been scared of getting it ever since, but there hasn't been any outbreaks for a year, so maybe people have started lacking a bit on the security.
 
I've just talked to the breeder again. She had bought a doe in a petstore and quarantined it as she should, but when it got home to her after the quarantine periode, it turn out it was pregnant and gave birth soon after. It might be the source.
 
Annbritt said:
I've just talked to the breeder again. She had bought a doe in a petstore and quarantined it as she should, but when it got home to her after the quarantine periode, it turn out it was pregnant and gave birth soon after. It might be the source.
Click to expand...

How long is a normal QT?
 
14 days for one rat, 3 weeks for 2 rats, 4 weeks for 3 rats, and up to 2 months if it is a lot of rats, from when the babies are weaned.
That's what we have read in the articles we have been able to find.
 
I don't have any experience with SDA or Sendai, but I just want to tell you both, I'll be thinking of you and your rats and sending healing vibes to your remaining crew.


Shelagh, do you think it would be wise of them to put all their rats on Baytril just in case?
 
If I remember correctly, baytril doesn't kill the SDA virus itself, but only the other illnesses coming with it.
I don't know whether you should give baytril to rats, that aren't responding to the virus and showing symptoms.
 
Definitely ALL rats on baytril even if they seem healthy because it is those very fast secondary symptoms that they will contract and die from. If they start to act sick add in the Doxy for sure. Watch for dehydration. Angelratgirl found that if they get the swelling lymph glands in their throat metacam (meloxicam) actually helped. She and Arlene went through a bout of it last year. I thought I had a rat with it so studied up (false alarm), and Kaia (Blackthorn) just went thru a bout a few months ago.

Sadly nothing kills SDA it is a self-limiting virus and sheds after a certain period of time, its the secondary infections that weaken and kill your rat. Think of it as putting a rat on antibiotics after a surgery just so there will be less of a chance of infection.
 
I'm just not sure I can get my vet to write out that much baytril for the rats, without them being ill :(
I've just found my Avalon with starting pneumonia, I have started him on baytril and I hope he will be fine :(
 
It seems like there is a possible outbreak and I hope to God your vet is smart to realize it is best to medicate all rats just to be safe. Good luck, I hope it works out.
 
Print off this hun,...

http://ratguide.com/health/viruses/sda.php

Not all rats infected with SDA show symptoms.

Treament for secondary bacterial infections that often accompany this particular viral infection, and seen most often in very young, and very old rats, or those rats that are immunosuppressed are as follows:

Adult rats: Broad-spectrum antibiotics such as those used for mycoplasmic respiratory infection given at the maximum dosage for 3-4 weeks. Refer to the Rat Medication Guide for broad spectrum antibiotics.
*Note: Treatment with antibiotics must be aggresssive to be effective.*

For eyes, use a topical ophthalmic antibiotic ointment. Lubricate with natural “tears” to help with dryness.

and this...

http://www.petratscanada.com/sda.htm
 
Annbritt said:
14 days for one rat, 3 weeks for 2 rats, 4 weeks for 3 rats, and up to 2 months if it is a lot of rats, from when the babies are weaned.
That's what we have read in the articles we have been able to find.
Click to expand...

The minimum quarantine period for ANY new rat coming into your home should be 21 days. Anything less than that could pose a risk to your whole colony.

After rats recover and stop showing signs of illness, you'll have to go into a post-SDA quarantine for a minimum of 8 weeks. During this time there can be no new rats introduced to the rattery, no new rats born or weaned and there should be no symptoms shown in the colony. If any of these events occur, the quarantine starts over.

Good luck with all of this and please let us know what is going on! Our thoughts are with you and your little ones.
-Dan
 
I'll try getting baytrill for Annbritt as my vet is more cooperative. I have two who looks dying but am surprised they survived the night. Feel so sad, and hope they all make it and that I didn't bring it to anyone else :(

thankyou for the help about metacam, but that one the vet says NO to
 
How can you have a vet, whom I assume you are paying, that tells you no? I dont understand that at all. I know they have studied medicine and the treatment of animals and usually know best, but there are situations that warrant a pet owner having some say.

It would be foolish not to at least take into consideration what a client is telling them, especially since SDA isnt common over there.

I hope your furbabies pull through. Good luck, we will be crossing our fingers and toes for you all.
 
I would put them all on med-higher doses of baytril twice a day.

Bati, PM me 2 bits of info, all your rats weights and the concentration of the baytril you get. (mg/ml). I can help you work out dosages for each rat. :(

I am soo sorry you are all going through this. I wish I could loan you one of our super rat savvy vets from North America. :(

Question for anyone reading. If the metacam helping the throat swelling it must be the anti-inflammatory effect right? Would infants ibuprofen OTC help a little then?
 
I give them 0,4 ml / kg and its 25 mg/ml baytrill

The vet I have is actually considered the best in Copenhagen, but 5 years ago he knew nothing about rats, and yes he studied medicin, which is why he knows better and can say no - I feel helpless, Annbritts vet don't even give out baytrill enough for her rats, so I have to help her on that. 2 years ago I had to go to 13 different vets to get the medicin I wanted in the quantity I wanted :?

They look really bad, only the boys, not my litter, not my girls and not my two cages with two rats in each.
 

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