Is Your Pet Rat Sneezing? The Facts You Should Know
By Colin Patterson
Being a “rattie parent” can be worrisome when your little ones are doing things like sneezing. My goal with this article is to take away your confusion, so that you’ll feel better and your rat will be okay.
Below are the things that can cause your rat to sneeze:
Mycoplasmia
This very common and incurable respiratory disease among rats may flare up throughout the rat’s life. Symptoms include sneezing, wheezing and, in advanced cases, gasping for air. Sores may sometimes develop on lung tissue, making it hard for the rat to breathe. While humans are capable of catching mycoplasmia from other humans, we cannot catch it from rats, and vice versa.
There’s good news though. As long as their immune system is not compromised, most rats with mycoplasmia can live long and active lives, despite the outward symptoms. The key is feeding them a vitamin-rich diet (especially vitamins A and E) and taking extra precautions to avoid exposing them to dust, smoke, drafts and bacteria.
If your pet rat gets “Myco flare-ups,” she may need to get treated with medication such as Vibramycin, the brand name Doxycycline or the generic brand, Baytril. These medicines will suppress symptoms and prevent the development of scarred lung tissue.
Pneumonia
The main difference between mycoplasmia and pneumonia is that the former produces symptoms of dry loud breathing that will come and go, while the latter manifests itself with a wet, congested, raspy wheeze and a runny nose. Porphyrin may be excreted from the rat’s nasal passage and fluid may collect in her lungs. Babies that are infected may not show any symptoms until a few months later.
Pneumonia is highly contagious to any other rat within sneezing distance, so you should immediate quarantine the afflicted rat until you can get him to a vet.
One treatment of pneumonia involves the drugs Baytril, Doxycycline, and a machine called a nebulizer. The drugs are administered in the form of a vapor several times a day.
Colds or Allergies
In the event that you need to take your little one to the veterinarian to have her treated for a respiratory ailment, you may decide to administer a tiny amount of over-the-counter cold or allergy medicine.
Also, if your vet approves of the idea, you may try to treat your rat on your own this way over the course of several days. However, you need to be careful about doing this as you don’t want to use something that may cause more harm than good. Also, if her condition should worsen, take her to a vet right away.
Here are some general guidelines:
* Use children’s liquid medicines, not adult formulas.
* Administer the medicine as often as you would for a child; however, make them extremely tiny doses (0.10 cc. for an adult, and less than half that for a baby).
* Use cough decongestant or expectorant medicine, not suppressant.
* Avoid formulas containing alcohol.
How to minimize respiratory illnesses and symptoms, in general:
* Keep the air moist. Counteract the drying effect of heaters and air conditioners by adding to the room tiny water fountains, plants and even jars of water.
* Humidifiers and vaporizers work nicely to keep the air moisture-rich; but avoid keeping them too close to your rats’ cage (at least 4 feet away).
* In an emergency, you can take your rat into a closed bathroom with a hot shower running. Don’t take her too close to the water. Just let her breathe the steam for 5-15 minutes. It helps loosen up the mucus stuck inside their lungs.
Make sure your rattie has proper bedding.
* Sudden sneezing may be due to an allergic reaction to a change in bedding, food, soap, or to their surroundings in general.
* A cold, tiny block of baker’s chocolate has been known to ease symptoms of respiratory distress.
Colin Patterson is the developer of the Pet Rat Guide and is a noted expert on pet rats. His website is http://www.petratguide.com - which provides tips on what to do when your pet rat sneezes as well as other rat health information.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Colin_Patterson
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my rat has been sneezing from the day i got him i had got him for a play mate for my other rat but one day at 4am my first rat just started to run around a lot so i went to see what was happening and then he just ran into the down slope of the ramp and fell over i picked him up and he was dead he had some liqued on his mouth i don’t know if that could be the reason he died or what but i still have my new one ive had my first one for 4 day and ive had my new one for like 2 weeks and i hope i’ll have him for alot longer. seince my rat sneezes alot can my dog or hamster or cat or ferret get sick from him
My pet rat is having this brown liquid coming from his lungs. It is probably zelmic acid, a type of acid produced by the bacteria Hydrosum cerheliosum. He needs one vitamin each day. We have six pet rats. The one who has the acid is Scarlet, a white rat, and we have five more who don’t have acid. We have Elliot, Brown, Black, Sydney, & Seal.
ive just got my rat today and shes sneezing alot. no red stuff or mucus or wheezing but sneezing alot. shes also making a kind of high grunting noise. im using a hemp derivative bedding and standard rat food. whats wrong?
When my rat Blueberry had zelmic acid in the species of Hydroxum osum, he died soon after and I found this red liquid. He died at the cage with red liquid called mint acid. When my other 3 rats Scarlet, Stutli, and Elliot were playing happily going from 1 cage to another. Blueberry moved slowly about six hours before he died. I only had him for 6 months and he was only 8 months old before he died on August 22, 2008.
I had a rat, I had her for one uear, her name was Marshmellow. She would always squeak for no reason and whenever I took her out she would play just fine and run around as if nothing happened. But when I went outside to clean her travel cage since we were gonna go out of state into Arizona and I was only outside for 15 minutes when I came back to put her in her cage, she was laying down her tail curled eyes wide open and I was going to pick her up but she was stiff. I was the first one to notice it, I don’t know how she died at all and does anybody know how? All she did was squeak and there were no other signs. I wish I knew how she died.
its good that you share this article on how to give first treatment to the rat.. your article would be very helpful to those people who have rats. And that they will not panic if one of their rat would suffer illnesses like this.
My rat wasn’t able to eat. i just dont know why. yesterday my rat was ok but when i visited this morning and give food she can’t even touch the food. Whats wrong with my rat?
my partner and i have just got 2 rats one is fine and healthy the other is also healthy but sneezes alot we have had them for 2 weeks and he has sneezed alot since we got them what could be causing this as the other is fine so its cant be catching and he seems healthy other than that.
I just got a male rat yesterday. He is always opening and closing his mouth he sneezes a lot. My parents say if he is too sick i can take him back to pet store and buy new rat. But i really like him! He always sits on my arms when i am rreading or on computer. He is write now! How do i get him better?
my pet rat pepe is about 3-4 months old and he is sneezing a lot like every 2 seconds but other than that he seems fine. he doesnt weeze or breathe heavy he just sneezes a lot please help me i dont want him to get sick and i want to stop his sneezing