Upper resiratory

[majeekarevel]

At first they were quite good about taking the Septrin in yoghurt. Now they avoid it like the plague, so I had to syringe it earlier and I'll do it tonight. Any suggestions about what to hide the 'obviously horrible' banana flavour in? They hate being force fed the meds.

[Toribob]

I have been struggling with this exact same thing with Boo. Last night I tried it with some ready brek and golden syrup and he ate it all up - three times now, so I am guessing this is hiding the taste of it quite well.

[Neotoma]

Septrin is always a bit of a pain unless they like the synthetic taste, just because there is so much of it. My experience suggests strong flavours of either a sweet, fatty, or meaty taste go down well.

[sati18]

How are they doing symtom wise? any improvement?

[majeekarevel]

Stil sounding the same and Majeeka is still sneezing. Wondering with all the hayfever posts of late, is it possible that they have allergies. Though Majeeka wasn't like this last year and Maisy has only developed this recently.

Tried disguising the Septrin in syrup but they only ate so much and wouldn't touch the rest. So back to syringing it. They are not getting the full dose even through syringing as they are both really squirmy so I usually end up with a big globule running down the side of their face or on me. I'm at a loss, They are both active and happy but I'm scared that it will get worse.

[Neotoma]

Sounds like it could well be myco, if the septrin isn't working after a few days. You could rule out allergies by trying an antihistamine if your vet thought it was worth it, but in all honesty, I think normal rat resp issues are most likely.

My advice would be to insist on doxycycline (ask for the 20 mg tablets of ronaxan, which you can crush up and divide into the right number of doses, which will depend on weight). It is one of the most effective drugs for resp problems in rats in my experience, and is usually my standard first port of call.

[majeekarevel]

I called today to try and get different antibiotics but she wants to see them again. So I've got an appointment on Friday. I mentioned the Ronaxan, so we will see what happens. I just need them to adjust the time of the appointment now. Maisy has started sneezing now. They are both active and not at all like Revel was when she had the resy issues. This is what's making me lean more towars an allergy. I'll mention it to my vet on Friday and see what she says.

[Neotoma]

Tbh, rats with resp infections only act ill when they are very very ill indeed. I can count the number I've had who have actually seemed ill during an infection on one hand. Most sound sneezy or crackly or snotty, but wolf down food and run about like everyone else.

[sati18]

Likewise- mine have only started looking ill with either a very vicious quick onset virus, or after months and months of progressive and slow deterioration with myco which eventually leads to pneumonia which is when they get really ill.

[majeekarevel]

Is it possible to totally cure respiratory issues? I couldn't handle loosing these 2 young as well. I want them to last till old age. Revel never sneezed with hers. Majeeka is almost constantly sneezing (which is what I do when my hayfever is bad) Maisy isn't sneezing as much, but is still sneezing. I'm praying for an allergy I couldn't watch these 2 go through what Revel went through. Another thing is, Revel was quite fluffy and became more so the worse she got. Majeeka and Maisy still have a lovely soft, smooth and silky feel to them. Is that normal if they were ill?

I'll update after I see the vet tomorrow (or should I say today)

[HereticPr1me]

with Majeeka today.
Ive been treating Rhinoa for over a week for upper respiratory. Theres no sound in her lungs, just lots of sneezing like its up in her nose. The vet said thats preferable to it being deep down in her lungs, which makes sense.
Her sneezing seems to be reducing and hopefully she'll be sneeze-free in a few days.
Regarding hayfever/alergies, I dont know about you, but I dont get it every single day, so perhaps if that was a factor you might expect to see sneezing fits one day and all clear the next. Id still say its more likely to be upper resp, but it will be interesting to see what your vet reckons.

It can be hard to be certain of symptoms sometimes I know, but try to remember going to ground and fluffing up is reserved for when they feel physically ill so that they can conserve energy and heat - its like us staying in bed wrapped in the duvet. Whilst fluffing is a pretty clear sign of illness, its certainly better to catch the early symptoms as you have, so try not to worry too much.
Give her a scritch from us.

[Neotoma]

Looking fluffy is, like not eating etc, a sign of serious ill health. I wouldn't usually expect it in standard resp disease, except in serious acute cases, and near the end. My respy lads usually look normal, and behave normally through out. It is possible to cure resp problems, although it is more common for a rat with that tendancy to have reccurances throughout their life. However, with well targeted antibiotics (which covers dosing with the best option when necessary, and not dosing when not necessary) they live pretty normal life spans. Of my respy rats,in 12 years, I've lost two at 15 months, one at 24, one at 26, and the others have all either died of something else, or died of resp disease but in advanced old age (i.e. over 30 months). And tbh, the two 15 month olds were early in rat keeping before I knew about advanced ABs and before I had a vet who would try them - I think if I owned them now, at least one would have had a fair chance at recovery.

I discussed the whole hayfever thing with my vet yesterday, and his view (exotics specialist of sufficient standing that he's written the rodent sections in new textbooks) is that while not impossible in any particular rat, as allergies do occur (although most commonly to identifiable things like bedding, rather than generic hayfever), it is 'vanishingly unlikely' in most cases, compared to the likelihood of it being normal resp disease. General view was that it was something to be considered only after resp disease had been comprehensively ruled out - particularly since delaying giving appropriate antibiotics can harm the chances of getting an infection beaten with minimial scarring.