Worried! Change in Behavior!!?!

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SillyGilly

Member
Joined
Mar 2, 2019
Messages
9
Location
El Paso, TX
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. :/
 
This must be stressful and Unfortunately I have no idea on things like this so hopefully SQ or lilspaz come along soon.. As for the sounds is there any chance you can record it so we can hear and get a better grasp on things? (post the video to YouTube and link it here)
 
This must be stressful and Unfortunately I have no idea on things like this so hopefully SQ or lilspaz come along soon.. As for the sounds is there any chance you can record it so we can hear and get a better grasp on things? (post the video to YouTube and link it here)
Thank you for your response Kye!!! And so quickly too! I can totally record the sounds during our next steam bath treatment! Thank you for the idea on linking it here! I hope it helps :)
 
With his lungs already being cloudy, and him having a respiratory infection, I'd probably NOT take him in the steam room. Doing that too much can actually DROWN them. I'd make that a LAST resort if he's having trouble breathing. The two meds should help him get better. But he needs to be on them for a while. Like 4-6 weeks, maybe longer to help clear up the infection. I know giving Lasix (which can be a one time thing) can help with fluid around his heart, and should actually help with fluid in his lungs as well. Lilspaz and SQ can tell you more on that. If his breathing gets bad (head hanging over a shelf or basket, using abdominal muscles to help breathe, clicking sound when he breathes, with eyes sort of bugged and hair puffed), I'd take him back to the vet and see about changing the doxy to azythramycin, and maybe even adding nebulizer treatments. I even had to give my boy a steroid to help (but be VERY careful with that if they give it to you). Can you give us the weight of your boy, and meds and doses that the Dr prescribed? Also, put a video on YouTube of him breathing, and copy and paste the link on here, so they can see and better help you. Also with antibiotics, sometimes it messes with their tummy. Maybe try giving a tiny bit of strawberry, or plain yogurt with his meds. That should help a little. Hope he gets better soon!
 
If he has fluid in his lungs a steamy bathroom will add more fluid and make breathing or difficult or kill him
If you are taking him onto a steamy bathroom, watch carefully and if he gets worse or does not improve, then get him out of there immediately

Vets test for heart issues by seeing is Lasix or benazepril will help

If you type breathing into the search box at ratguide.com you will find a lot of info
I hope he is soon feeling better
Sometimes people who have rats with damaged lungs or chronic infections on a maintenance dose of baytril for life

Please post a video of his breathing (as mentioned in above post)
and also meds he is and has been on - med, strength (mg/ml), dose, length of time and his weight
 
Here’s the link to a video I took of his breathing:


As for his medication and dosage, we have him on just the Doxycycline (5mg/mL) and Baytril (0.4 cc). It says he weighed 50.00, but it doesn’t say the unit of measurement? The date on the receipt for his weight history was also a little outdated …I may end up giving them a call tomorrow morning to ask for an updated weight and I’ll let you all know! Dena our vet talked about how if the steam baths didn’t help that we’d need to take him back and she’d prescribe him a medicine that will open up his bronchioles, I can’t quite remember the name of it?? Thank you guys so much for warning me about steam baths!! Every time I took him into the bathroom I’d do countless research about the possibilities of drowning a rat with too many steam baths, but nothing ever came up so I’m glad I came here for help! They tend to make him very loose-boweled, squirmy, and his breathing gets whistly. I would post the noise of it but I think I’m done giving him steam baths until I really have to. SQ my vet didn’t really give me a length of time to keep him on the meds, she told me that his treatment may just end up being a lifetime thing :c
 


Hello again everyone!! Above is the link to a video on Giltine’s sudden noisy breathing. He’s been on the doxy and Baytril treatment for almost four weeks now, and he’s been doing pretty good but today we caught him breathing like in the video, all squeaky with a little clicking noise behind it. Those noises also happen to be the same ones I mentioned whenever we’d get done with steam treatment! I was just wondering if maybe I need to take him back to the vet to find out if he’s being underdosed or what! I would really appreciate any and all advice I can get! Thank you guys for always being so helpful!! Also, please disregard his little brothers lol they’re camera hogs!
 
Yes. I'd go back to the vet. He's using his body to breathe, and still sounds like he has some congestion. Maybe ask about switching to azythromycin and baytril. I may be wrong, but that's just what I'd do. He doesn't look like he feels so good. Poor baby! Hope he gets better soon!
 
Awww. He looks just like my Mickey. That is really rough. Climate can do with it. If you were were I was last year.(west coast during fire season) it was SMOKEY. Even afterward my rats had a hard time breathing. And they were born after fire season began. But anyway if you live in a valley or a bad smokey area(pretty much anywhere inland 9n the west coast and western canada) its gets pretty hairy for these little guys.
 
Thanks so much for the replies!!! Unfortunately Dena, he’s always breathed real heavy like that :( I think it has something to do with his origin, I adopted him from a pet store and those babies have rather poor health to begin with (or so I’ve heard) they can’t find out what’s wrong with his lungs because his heart is also real loud. I’ve had two vets tell me this so far. But I’m feeling quite hopeful because now that I’ve captured him breathing like this on film I can show my vet and maybe it can help clear some of those issues up! I’m going to take him as soon as I get home from work today!! I’ll definitely give asking about azythromycin for him a shot!! DapperRat I am just absolutely OBSESSED with the albino boys lol!! Giltine was my first ever albino (and rat in general lol) and after my boy Oz passed, I adopted another albino (he’s the one grabbing at the camera in the video, quite the character -wink-) I named him Wizard (as a homage to Oz). We live over here in Texas, the weather hasn’t been too bad lately and our other boys don’t seem to be suffering from anything, but we’ll definitely be keeping an eye on the climate from now on, that’s for sure! I really appreciate you sharing your experiences with me! I’m learning new things everyday!
 
Thank you so much SQ for the reference list!!! The breathing problems section definitely caught my interest!

I just thought I’d give everyone an update on how the vet visit went! They ran some X-Rays (his third since March) and found that his lungs have really cleared up! Unfortunately, the problem turns out to be more in his heart. There’s a high chance it’s congestive heart failure. We’re having him treated with injections of dilution furosemide that will help flush out all of the fluid that’s draining into his lungs. He’s drinking plenty of fluids and eating! We’re going to bring him back in the morning for a follow-up!
 
Heart disease and congestive heart failure is pretty common in rats.
Presently my Jasper, Monty, Harry and Octavia are all being treated for heart disease and have enlarged hearts as seen on xray

They are on oral furosemide, pimobendane, & benazepril - all for heart disease; plus, since their hearts are enlarged they are also getting digoxin …… all orally, twice a day

This link contains links to the medications http://ratguide.com/health/cardiovascular/congestive_heart_failure.php

ratguide.com is a vet approved medical site so your vet may find the links helpful

I hope Giltine is soon feeling much better
 
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