Rat: Don't know whats happening

[GandysGurl20]

I know this is usually for squirrels, but my friend has a rat who is a little over two years who is displaying very weird behaviors. He is clicking (which I know with squirrels is bad), and refusing to eat. She said he looked like he had blood on his nose (I know they produce that redish color stuff, but she said she knows what that is and it looked like real blood). They have two males in the same cage, but they were from the same litter and get along great. What do you guys think? Any suggestions on what we can do for him?

[Pierre]

If he's clicking and has no appetite and has at least heavy porphyrin, he needs to see a vet. Sounds like a respiratory infection which is very common. Two years old is great but it is elderly for a rat and they can become ill more easily and can go downhill quickly.

Wishing your friends the best! Love ratties... :grouphug

[squirrelfriend]

Sounds like it is allergic to its bedding. Are they using any kind of wood shavings? Not all but the odd rat here and there will have allergies to it. The symptoms sound exactly as that.

Change the type of bedding to a not wood bedding and it should clear up.

[Lulu2010]

It is quite possible that it is URI/Pneumonia. I rescued some rats from a feed store and all 3 got sick. We did x-rays on the first one that was real sick and she only had about 25% lung function with the same symptoms you are talking about. We gave it all we had and treated with two antibiotics, force feeding, Vet administered fluids, and we had her on nebulizer treatments 3 times a day. She passed a few days or so later. The others got better. The male got sick again on and off and would recover with the same treatment each time. After a few months he finally passed. I still have one left who got better with antibiotics only and she has never gotten sick again and it's been several months. I pray that it is an allergy to the bedding but I advise getting him/her to the vet because if it is pneumonia/URI, it only gets worse with waiting. Good luck and hope he gets better soon. :grouphug :grouphug :grouphug

[pappy1264]

He needs a vet. Aside from the upper respiratory, they are prone to tumors and it could be one, as well. Either way, a vet is needed.

[Jackie in Tampa]

If you are near Tampa, I can try to help... I have meds and a wee little rodent experience.
If not , take your sweeties to the vet asap... some issues can be cleared up with ABs...
and if you are using wood shaving like Sqfriend has mentioned, yes change to a dust free oil free bedding...maybe care fresh , it's sold in pet stores everywhere.
good luck:Love_Icon

[GandysGurl20]

Thanks you guys, I will let her know ASAP to try changing the bedding and to get him to a vet. I told her it could possibly be pneamonia (just from knowing some signs and symptoms, I did alot of research on that stuff when I had Charlie).

[Bess5527]

I know this is usually for squirrels, but my friend has a rat who is a little over two years who is displaying very weird behaviors. He is clicking (which I know with squirrels is bad), and refusing to eat. She said he looked like he had blood on his nose (I know they produce that redish color stuff, but she said she knows what that is and it looked like real blood). They have two males in the same cage, but they were from the same litter and get along great. What do you guys think? Any suggestions on what we can do for him?


That definitely sounds like a moderate, 2nd level pneumonia, probably caused by mycoplasmos. It needs antibiotics, preferably, at this stage, doxycyclene at about 0.5 mg in a.m. and in p.m. --- not with dairy, no dairy 2 hours before or after. Actually, probably 0.1 mg would do fine at this stage. Alternative: amoxycyclene and baytril, but do not use baytril with doxy! Bad combination. See more here: http://ratfanclub.org/firstaid.html


The 'blood' on her nose most likely is not blood at all, but the secretion that comes out of their sinuses during an infection. You may also see it around the eyes if not now later on possibly. Has he been sneezing? Make sure his cage is clean and dry and his bedding is also clean and dry, that he's getting enough water and fresh foods as well as her regular dry food and monitor his stool consistency. If it's runny, pull back on fresh food for a day or two.

CareFresh seems to give a lot of ratties a hard time since all of it is not dust free, but it advertises as having 'less dust' ---less dust compared to what, though? The best bedding you can use is paper towels and cloth for bed stuff, and mini rabbit paper pellet bedding. For some odd reason, I've seen more mice tolerate the CareFresh better than rats (in general).

[Pierre]

I agree CareFresh is not a great bedding. It can be dusty and does irritate some rats, and it is not very good at odor control. Another great choice is Aspen pellets [often in the bird section]. No dust and incredible odor control. Yesterday News is good too, as are Aspen shavings.

BTW, baytril alone doesn't seem to do it anymore. Get it in combo only or get another AB combo all together [better choice].

[Jackie in Tampa]

ugh, sorry about the Carefresh sugestion...I know that some members use it in their sqs' cages...I use fleece in my cages, but I do not have rats...

I do have some mycos experience in sqs...I worked with several vets{some specialists} to help a sq in my care that had a very severe case, but not before I lost his brother to it. After countless attempts with several ABs, the actual combo we used was doxy and baytril...it took 5 months before we felt we were on the right track and outta the woods.

As for rat info and med dosing...I found this site and charts to be a good source for info...

http://ratguide.com/meds/

http://www.rmca.org/Articles/dchart.htm

I will ck out the link you shared...not that I have rats, but in most cases rats and sqs metabolize and respond to the same meds, they are, after all, both rodents!:)

just a question...do you feel rats respitory system is more complex/susceptible than sqs?
do they have issues with dust normally?

good luck and again, soory I reco'ed it.

RIP Frisco and Sammy:Love_Icon :Love_Icon

[Bess5527]

I will ck out the link you shared...not that I have rats, but in most cases rats and sqs metabolize and respond to the same meds, they are, after all, both rodents!:)

just a question...do you feel rats respitory system is more complex/susceptible than sqs?
do they have issues with dust normally?

good luck and again, soory I reco'ed it.

RIP Frisco and Sammy:Love_Icon :Love_Icon

Hmmm, that's a very good question. I don't really know a lot about squirrels but I would take an educated guess and say that squirrels are better acclimated to the outdoors as compared to rats that are bred to be indoors. Indoor rats have been bred since the 1800s for their temperament and appearance, and seem to have lost their stamina for adjusting to mere climate changes as compared to wild rats. So it's highly probable that rats that aren't wild are a lot more susceptible to respiratory illnesses. In one, same litter, there can be some rats that have acute allergies, even to dust. However, most rats do have some level of sensitivity to particles in the air, which seems to effect them pretty quickly.

That's interesting that squirrels can get myco. Did you know that people can get it? It takes often 2 years of doxycyclene to get rid of it in a human, and 8 to 30 days in rat (ha! but 30 days to a rat is like 2 years to a a human anyway).

Someone here just sent a message to me but I don't know how to get at it. Any suggestions?