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

[wolfy-hound]

That's what I assumed as well. I wasn't up to going to the store(or further than the laptop honestly) today so in the morning I'll pick up the fruit baby food.

[JohnNJ]

Update:

It's been three weeks since starting the Tylan and all of the rats are thriving. No sneezing, everyone looks healthy, very active, eating and drinking well. Even the new babies are fat and happy and all the litters were large (16+). Females are pregnant so breeding is continuing.

The pet rats on Baytril and Doxy were better within a few days and are now back to normal. I do not think it was worth the money for those two medications. The Tylan would have done the same thing.

I think culling sped up the recovery of the entire colony. I also think that the Tylan 200 was a better choice than the Tylan 50. I mixed 3ml per gallon instead of the 2.5ml recommended. I will continue with the Tylan for another week (4 total).

I hope this thread helps. Thanks.

[janett]

A key point I made is that all rats already carry the bacteria. That includes rats from private breeders, pet stores, online frozen dealers.

I didn't cull to eliminate the bacteria. I did it to reduce the suffering and reduce my work going forward.

Rats hide their symptoms so by the time you see that they're ill they are pretty far along. URI's cause lung damage and scaring which leaves them open to another round of problems. I simply improved my odds by removing tubmates of visibly ill rats.


I had a similar thing with me. I had purchased rats from a breeder (mom and pop shop) here in my area. Got them home and they were sneezing etc everywhere. Def. had RI. I knew right away. My mom has pet rats and the symptoms were the same as the 2 girls she had that died from RI. I took them to the vet to see if I could 'save' them because I was hoping to get them to be my breeders for my feeders. Anyway, the Vet said that they were to far gone that it wouldn't be worth the expense. So, I asked him what to do with them. He said that I could feed it to the snakes. Supposedly, that if the rat has an RI and gets eaten by the snake then the snake will NOT get it. That SUPPOSEDLY the snake can only get sick by eating a Rat that has parasites or eaten rat poison. Also, that a room full of rats with an RI will not get the snakes or MICE sick with RI because of the fact that snakes and mice have different immune systems and the RI that rats get do not do anything to snakes or mice.

Any truth to this???
The vet assured me that the rats are fine for reptiles. He is taking some for his snakes.

[wolfy-hound]

9 days of Duramycin in the water(I just treated the entire rack of breeders, 10 bins) and 10 days of the dual antibiotics(Baytril/Doxy) in yogurt, then in applesauce and I've lost about 5-6 adult rats total.

I've had several litters born, weaned off two big litters. The rats that died were all from the breeder group I bought originally. Poor condition to begin with, maybe?

AND... the original rat at death's door that went to the vet and all but died getting an Xray taken... doing fine. Whatcha gonna do? Sometimes they're just tough buggers.

[aldebono]

I am dealing with our only pet rat who is sick and I found the dosing recommendations for Tylan as that is the easiest antibiotic to get. I will post the original and then the non medical terminology one.
http://ratguide.com/meds/antimicrobi...ts/tylosin.php

4.5 mg/lb , PO, SQ, IM , BID (as recommended on RMCA Drug Chart)
4.5 mg/lb , Oral, Subcutaneous, Intramuscular, Twice Daily

or

10 mg/kg , PO , SQ, IM, q24hrs
10mg/kg , Oral, Subcutaneous, Intramuscular, Once every 24 hours (Once daily)

or

Tylan injectable 4.5 mg/lb BID (can be mixed in liquid or food and given PO)
4.5 mg/lb Twice Daily

or

Tylan Soluble 1/8 to 1/4 tsp. in 1 c. drinking water mixed fresh every 3 days

or

1/64 tsp. in food BID
Twice daily

Safe for use in pregnant does and rats under 4 months.


If mixing in water change every three days and remove moist foods from diet to encourage drinking.

This site allows you to calculate the Tylan dose in the drop down toolbar menu. It only calculates for ONCE DAILY so if you want to dose TWICE DAILY you need to cut the dose in half.

http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/rx/drugcalc.html

There is also conversions and terminology on that same page! So glad I found it.

[RichsBallPythons]

Too many pages to read up though all the posts.

But when Myco shows up dont FREAK OUT. its not contagious unless its let get out of control.

When you notice a lot of sneezing,red fluid and wet noises, give them Tylan ASAP and clean the tubs/tanks EVERY 3 days and disinfect the cage with a cleaner like Chlorohexidine. DOnt use bleach as its too strong and will irritate their lungs.

I already do this on a weekly basis. I clean tubs every 3 days and disinfect every 6 days.

[aldebono]

We weren't. And we already talked about disinfecting. I wipe down my tubs every cleaning 1x week.

This was mostly about what meds were prescribed and what is working/not working and dosing amounts.

I know a lot on this page may be a little redundant but I was able to refer back to it for medicine names and dosing amounts. Good little thread we have hear.

[aldebono]

Ok, the calculation for Tylan is calculated for twice daily, sorry. No need to split the dose.

Also, I picked up some Ensure, and although is is pretty gross to me, my sick rat loves it and has gained weight with it.

[JohnNJ]

I used the Tylan 200 from TSC and mixed 3ml with a gallon of water.

Quick update: 100% fine. Breeding continues, big litters, babies are healthy.

[wolfy-hound]

I used the duramycin on some and the doxy/baytril on some. Both groups recovered, with the exceptions of about 7-8 rats, almost evenly split between the two groups.

THe duramycin was MUCH easier to dose, with the water bottles, as opposed to the "by weight" mixed in applesauce(since it said no milk products) given to each rat for the doxy/baytril.

I mixed the teaspoon/8oz into small water bottles. The rats seemed to drink slightly less than normal(assuming it doesn't taste good). No other effects were seen by me, during treatment or after.

All the rats that died were of the original breeding group I bought(32 total bought, about 10 have died since I got those, 7-8 died in the RI outbreak). I don't think I lost any of the younger rats, nor lost pinkies or weanlings in litters even in bins with sick adult rats.

I think that I would use the duramycin again, for $5 the price difference is huge(about $100 for the doxy/baytril combo) and the ease of dosing is also huge.

Granted, I couldn't be certain the rats given the doxy/baytril combos actually got their full dosing. I couldn't seperate rats into individual eating bins to dose, so I did the best I could. Also, some rats were almost force-administered the doxy/baytril, which no doubt contributed to their stress levels.

Hopefully the RI stuff is over and everyone will be okay now. That was no fun for me or the rats!