Rats Sneezing/Dying-Vet Visit Results-Going Forward-NEED HELP

[KLMuller]

The dosage and what to use was told to me by the rodent breeder I sell most of my extras to. I did just take him at his word at that point, and he said a small pinch, but I have done some research since I have a print out at home for dosing rats on the same antibiotic under a different name, I think it's teramycin. But would have to check at home to be sure

I have read that if you black out the bottle it can last three days but I don't have experience with it in gallons.

I use 8 oz. water bottles for medication and the biggest I would go is 32 oz. and I don't have a watering system in my quarantine area

My experience with it has been the sneezing and wheezing stops around day three or four.

Has anyone tried the F10 via nebulizer just to wonder, I have read this being used for rabbits

~ Karl

[wolfy-hound]

With the duramycin 10, you should have the bottles at least half full when you add the powder. If you dump the powder into just a wet bottle, it turns into concrete.

I'm treating any rats with true symptoms with the dual antibiotics and the ones that I think I heard sneeze, etc, with the Duramycin. I lost another adult female today. Most are looking less poorly.

My vet disapproves of "shotgun" treating groups of animals. I prefer treating a colony/herd, but he's pet-oriented. I'd rather treat a healthy rat unneeded, than wait until a sick rat gets sick enough to look terrible, THEN treat it. I wouldn't treat healthy rats just because, but since many only show some sneezing then look fine, while others sneeze then look terrible, I'd rather treat the colony of breeders.

[JohnNJ]

My vet disapproves of "shotgun" treating groups of animals. I prefer treating a colony/herd, but he's pet-oriented. I'd rather treat a healthy rat unneeded, than wait until a sick rat gets sick enough to look terrible, THEN treat it. I wouldn't treat healthy rats just because, but since many only show some sneezing then look fine, while others sneeze then look terrible, I'd rather treat the colony of breeders.

Unless your vet is giving you a great discount on his prices, I would look for another vet. He disapproves of the "shotgun" approach yet he dispenses medication that requires the weight of the animal to calculate the required amount without weighing the animal. Brilliant!

FYI - There are foods available for rodents, and many other animals, that contain antibiotics. It's more expensive than regular food but not by much. It seems that farmers use this type of food for livestock that won't be alive too long but has a good chance of getting sick like cattle, chickens, hogs. They make pet versions for small animals and birds.

[chondrogal]

Wolfy, I'm really bummed for you that your rats are exhibiting these symptoms. There's currently an outbreak of Sendai in an Orlando rat breeders colony that I know of...... it sounds suspiciously like what's happening with yours.

This is a link to the formulary for most drugs and their dosage for rats:

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

Sendai can wipe out a lot of rats quickly in a colony, the ones I know of are being treated shotgun method WITH her vets blessing. They're nebulizing in addition to Baytril/Doxy cocktail.

[wolfy-hound]

Thanks again.

With my vet, I do get a discount, since I work next door. He's a decent vet, he just isn't always super up-to-date on exotics. He's willing to work with me though, which is more than I can say for most vets. He even understands that these rats are breeders to make feeders, etc, so tries to take into account they are eventually supposed to be food animals, instead of insisting they be pets and not considering which drugs are administered.

I appreciate the link to dosing/meds on rats. I'm not sure if any of these rats have been anywhere near any colonies in Orlando, but of course, it's entirely possible, since Orlando is not far at all.

If it's Sendai, is there a way to diagnose other than just symptoms, and what's the prognosis overall? Is there a write-up somewhere about it?

With the Duramycin 10, I have to dump/wash out the bottles each day, right? With the 8 oz bottles, they did not drink all of it(some did) and I'm dumping whatever was left and re-mixing and re-filling. The whole bag of med at TractorSupply only cost about $5 btw.

NO dead rats today. I'd also like to say, only adult rats have died. None of the babies, none of the young ones, not one of the new rats. Only the older breeder rats. I still have pregnant rats that look due, litters of pinkies and I weaned a litter of 10, with another litter of 15 that's getting closer to weaning. Does this sort of thing usually kill adults instead of babies?

There is some sneezing still, but no rats look horrible. I'm going to dose the same as yesterday. Duramycin in water bottles and then certain ones are getting the double Baytril/Doxy doses(in yogurt).

[KLMuller]

With the Duramycin 10, I have to dump/wash out the bottles each day, right?

I dump and rinse the bottles daily,
I have accidentally left a bottle siting out for a week or so and it seems to coagulate a little so I would continue rinsing.

I have treated a bin with three females a male and their babies, another female and a new comer male that is in quarantine right now, so my experience is pretty limited.

Hopefully it continues to get better for you

~ Karl

[wolfy-hound]

I looked up the doxy on that site and it says specifically "no milk products" with it. Is it really bad to give it in yogurt then?

[chondrogal]

Grrrrr...... I am guilty along with many others too of using yogurt/milk products for administering drugs. Going to do a little more research. Here is the link on Rat Guide for the Sendai Virus info: http://ratguide.com/health/viruses/sendai_virus_sv.php

No matter what kind of rat breeders people are, if for feeders or pets the Rat Guide site is awesome and most inclusive care sheets online anywhere.

[wolfy-hound]

Thank you for the link.

As far as the milk, I was thinkiing perhaps a fruit baby food? The rats might like that just as much but no milk products.

[youbeyouibei]

I think the reason milk isn't recommended is because it essentially coats the stomach/intestine walls and would prevent them absorbing the medication like they should. That's why on a lot of human prescription pill bottles, depending what it is, they say either to take with or NOT with milk, depending on how the medication is meant to be absorbed/ingested. Good luck on getting them to pull through...pulling for you. I just started raising my own feeders too and have my first two litters, so I can understand your misgivings/frustrations at the thought of having to start over from scratch. Hopefully it won't come to that and they'll all pull through none the worse for the experience. Good luck and take care!