Problem...

[lillyorchid]

Okay so it's been in the mid 90's here for the last week. All of my breeder and feeder rats live down in my area way out side of my basement. It's all concrete, so it does stay pretty cool down there.

I've actually not had any rats die except for some babies that the moms rejected or didn't take care of. All 50+ rats of mine were perfectly healthy.. OR so I thought. Everyone gets new fresh water and refilled food daily. They get their tubs & tanks cleaned out every 5 days.


Two days ago I noticed that my pet rat CC went from looking bright eyed, hyper, healthy looking to looking like she was on deaths door. She had that "death hunched up back", wobbling around, real lethargic acting. She had her own cage up here in my room. So I found it odd but tried to help her out. By Sunday night she was so bad off that she was no longer moving around, laying in one corner and just looked horrible. I put her down right then and there to end her suffering and any pain she was in.


Today I just went down stairs to clean all of the rats tubs and tanks and about 30 of my rats adult to two weeks old looked and were acting exactly just like CC was a few days earlier. Most of them all look like they are old, sick, weak, etc. I don't understand why they all have gone from great looking, non sick rats to just about dead rats in a few day period? Looks like I'll be putting a lot of them, if not all of them down in the next few days.

All of my african rats seem to be doing just fine.

Has anyone else seen or had this happen to their rats? I'm not added any new rats in to my rat colony, so it's not an outside new rat sickness. I'm baffled!

[SatanicIntention]

Being in a woodsy area, it is pretty possible that you might have brought in something on your shoes or clothing. I have heard of people bringing SDA and Sendai viruses in on their shoes(comes from squirrel feces I believe).

If you haven't brought in any outside rats, then Sendai or SDA is very possible. What were their symptoms? Just poofing up and looking poorly in general? How long did ago did the symptoms start and how long did the disease progress until you saw deaths from it? Did they have swollen lymph nodes or rattling in their chests?

[muddoc]

Becky gave some great info. I just wanted to put in my 2 cents. When I read your post, the first thing that popped in to my mind was dehydration. I have seen this 2 or 3 times in our colony, when I inadvertently leave a valve closed on the water reservoir after cleaning a bucket. This could also happen if they ran out of water, possibly from a flooded tub lower in the rack, or if one of your tubs has a clogged water nozzle. If it is your entire collection, and they are spaced out between two different racks, then the possibilities are less likely that you forgot to water two racks (I don't know your exact setup). As I said, this is what I thought when I first read the symptoms. Hope you can find a fix for your problem.

[lillyorchid]

Becky, what is SDA or Sendai?

I know we have thousands of feeder and breeder rats at my work, but I don't work with them. I also know I do a lot of out door, woodsy stuff with friends and my dog. CC was fine on Saturday when my b/f and I had her out playing around with her. Sunday morning she was on deaths door. I put her down Sunday evening. Sunday and Monday all my other rats were fine and acting normal. This afternoon a lot of them look to be on deaths door. None of them have died, yet. Sunday night CC sounded horrible, like there was a lot of fluid in her lungs. A few of my other rats sound the same as of today.

It's very weird how this has come on out of no where.

Do you know if African rats can get SDA / Sendai?

[lillyorchid]

Tim: I don't have a watering system, but use 32oz water bottles. Everyone has fresh water daily. I also do a water bottle check to make sure the ball in the spout isn't clogged daily too since I did have that happen once in of my African rats tanks. So I don't think dehydration is the problem.

[muddoc]

Tim: I don't have a watering system, but use 32oz water bottles. Everyone has fresh water daily. I also do a water bottle check to make sure the ball in the spout isn't clogged daily too since I did have that happen once in of my African rats tanks. So I don't think dehydration is the problem.

Cool. It's just one of those head slappers sometimes. How can I forget the water? Just wanted to eliminate one possibility. Now I'll let Dr. Becky take back over.

[SatanicIntention]

www.ratguide.com There are some very good articles on pneumonia, Sendai and SDA.

Rats just don't all of a sudden get sick like this without an outside vector bringing something in, especially since it's such a large group that is getting sick. It sounds respiratory in nature since CC had congestion.

Where are the rats kept? Is it possible a wild mouse or something could have gotten in the basement? Wild rodents are known to carry alot of disease and parasites.

Have any new, unquarantined rats been brought in at where you work?

[lillyorchid]

Thanks for the link!

I don't believe so on the mouse thing since it's built pretty air tight.

We do get in new live rats from time to time at work. I know we got some adult lab rats in about two weeks ago that we gassed and put in the freezer later that day. I guess that is a possibility that I picked something up from work since I do make a few trips back there daily to the dumpsters or to ask someone something.

[lillyorchid]

HOLY COW! I just read the Sendai Virus page and the Clinical Signs for it. THAT is what it has to be. CC had a lot of those signs. Now that I just read over the signs, I can say that most of my rats are showing those same signs.

Most being:
# Sneezing
# Hunched posture
# Respiratory distress
# Labored breathing
# Porphyrin discharge from eyes and/or nose
# Lethargy
# Partial or full litter loss
# Failure to thrive in surviving babies and young rats
# Anorexia

I have a few rats that were fat but now are nothing but skin and bones with a very hunched up back. The litters that were healthy at two weeks old but now look very sick and skinny. Also with other younger rats look very old and sick. Some of the rats are sneezing and have porphyrin discharge from their nose/eyes also.

WOW this sucks. Should I just put them all down since it seems like they aren't going to make it and I just read that there isn't a cure for SV. This sucks!

[xdeus]

This sucks!

That does suck. I'm really sorry to hear about your rats, Allison.

BTW, How difficult is it to get rid of this virus? Are your African rats immune?