SillyGilly
Member
Hello all!
So, my rat Giltine has a possible upper airway infection. The vets can’t really determine whether it’s his heart or lungs that’s causing the issue because both are real noisy, but the bottom line is that he breathes REALLY heavy and extremely fast all of the time. They ran some X-Rays on him and his lungs are real gross, they even thought it could’ve been cancer. Luckily though, we had him on doxycycline and Baytril and his lungs started clearing up, so that’s how we got to the whole upper airway infection diagnostic. This was maybe less than a month ago. Saturday we put him back on Baytril and yesterday we received the doxy to begin treatment again, (because his breathing is whack and all he wants to do is hide while his brothers are all super playful and curious. Scary stuff!) but this time the vet prescribed the method where you take them into a bathroom filled with steam and let them breathe it in with his treatment. I mean, his breathing seems to have calmed down a little but what worries me is that tonight after the steam bath treatment, when I put him back in his cage, instead of coming to the cage door for a treat like he normally does, he just kind of froze up like he was scared and just kind of…laid there in the middle of the cage. He took the treat but then ran off with it, nibbled it a bit, but then he laid down again and held it in his mouth for a while. It’s really just this change in behavior that gets to me, should I be worried? Am I just over exaggerating? Even before I took him out, he ran and hid in his house (something he NEVER does). He’s normally real eager to come out and he’ll run right up to the cage door, but his hiding…I’m just nervous. Any advice or just about anything would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks in advance!
Also, I feel like I should mention that while we’re in the steamy bathroom he makes a squeaking sound whenever he breathes. I know rats are supposed to be silent when they breathe, and call me inexperienced, but could this sound possibly indicate him getting better? Is it stress? He doesn’t usually squeak while he breathes when we’re out of the steam. :/
So, my rat Giltine has a possible upper airway infection. The vets can’t really determine whether it’s his heart or lungs that’s causing the issue because both are real noisy, but the bottom line is that he breathes REALLY heavy and extremely fast all of the time. They ran some X-Rays on him and his lungs are real gross, they even thought it could’ve been cancer. Luckily though, we had him on doxycycline and Baytril and his lungs started clearing up, so that’s how we got to the whole upper airway infection diagnostic. This was maybe less than a month ago. Saturday we put him back on Baytril and yesterday we received the doxy to begin treatment again, (because his breathing is whack and all he wants to do is hide while his brothers are all super playful and curious. Scary stuff!) but this time the vet prescribed the method where you take them into a bathroom filled with steam and let them breathe it in with his treatment. I mean, his breathing seems to have calmed down a little but what worries me is that tonight after the steam bath treatment, when I put him back in his cage, instead of coming to the cage door for a treat like he normally does, he just kind of froze up like he was scared and just kind of…laid there in the middle of the cage. He took the treat but then ran off with it, nibbled it a bit, but then he laid down again and held it in his mouth for a while. It’s really just this change in behavior that gets to me, should I be worried? Am I just over exaggerating? Even before I took him out, he ran and hid in his house (something he NEVER does). He’s normally real eager to come out and he’ll run right up to the cage door, but his hiding…I’m just nervous. Any advice or just about anything would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks in advance!
Also, I feel like I should mention that while we’re in the steamy bathroom he makes a squeaking sound whenever he breathes. I know rats are supposed to be silent when they breathe, and call me inexperienced, but could this sound possibly indicate him getting better? Is it stress? He doesn’t usually squeak while he breathes when we’re out of the steam. :/