Blanche just back from vet

Just back from vet with Blanche. Vet noted how her fur is getting a little patchy and she is sneezy, but he says she is otherwise fine. Says it's a respiratory infection, probably Mycoplasma pulmonis. Gave him advise kindly offered to me by Zoundz. One antibiotic was given to me today (Baytril 2.5% Oral per ml) Its been put into a syringe with a needle on end. Says I should inject it into her food 3 times. He's ordering another antibiotic for tomorrow, think Doxycycline.

Hoping she begins to feel better. Perhaps I should seperate her from Dorothy altogether whilst she's poorly?

Got her a McDonalds on the way home to cheer her up. Chicken nuggets, chips and ice cream went down well! Excuse quality of photos. Were taken with Blackberry.

Mcdonalds! Goodness, my poor rats must hate me! I'm so ocd about their diet!

Hope she gets better soon id say the best thing would be to avoid stress,so i wouldnt seperate unless its contagious but you would have to ask someone like zounds about that...i find plain white kitchen towel,shredded can make a nice snuggly bed esp if they're under the weather

lol! I should be better about their diet! I do give them plenty of fruit, veg and fish. But I have been known to given them macaroni cheese, pasta, even chocolate very occasionally. They love porridge and honey on toast, and yes they get fast food as a treat as well! Prob why my Blanche is overweight!

The place Blanche loves best in the world is MY bed, but only in I'm in it too, so it's a really early night for me! So I've put a hot water bottle in my bed, popped her in it and shes curled up and fallen asleep tucked up between the hot water bottle and me. The things I do for my rat!

She's a lucky ratty!
Mine have never had fast food or chocolate or anything tasty! I'm very strict with their dry mix and rotating fruit and veg and I weigh all their food daily

Yeah I really need to sort out their diet ... Because Blanche is ill and I don't want her losing weight, I'm letting her eat what she wants atm. But when she recovers, all being well, I'd like to put her on a healtier diet. I tried giving her hamster muesli and rat nuggets last week and she lifted a nugget up, nibbled it a teeny bit then threw it down with disgust. Suffice to say she never tried it again! But I am going to try to get her on a healthier diet. Dorothy is underweight and Blanche is overweight so trying to get the balance for them is not easy!

Dark choc is good as an broncodialater if a rat has got a resp issue but thatd be the only time ours would be lucky enough to get it

Look into the Shunamite Diet if you're interested in improving diet,i did it this year and have never looked back.it looks more complicated than it is,there should be a link to it here somewhere...and Alison Campbells The Scuttling Gourmet book is great for tips on weight and health issues and yummy,healthy treats

I didn't know that about dark chocolate. Ty! I'll buy some for Blanche tomorrow!

I've heard of the Shunamite Diet, will look into it. I see The Scuttling Gourmet on Amazon, out of stock now but I'll preorder it cause I could potentially be feeding my rats something toxic and not even know so yeah I really need to educate myself on how to improve their diet.

Well i think its more as almost an emergency thing if they are in resp distress,before you take them to the vet and the darker the better,but its no harm to have it in the house just in case.Mine have a Green and Blacks in the cupboard just in case but you do have to be carefull as tooth abcesses,which can be caused by too much sugar in the diet are no joke..I love the book to be honest,still havent gotten round to baking some of the recipies included in it but the general info is great and the pics are really cute

If you're looking into healthier food, can I recommend the ratrations website. They do complete dry mixes and then you just add in fresh food to it. I get the adult complete no 7 mix, a 5 kg bag lasts me about 3 months (between 8). It's a little expensive to ship over, shipping is usually around £12 to NI, but I think it works out worth it, by the time you try and source all of the grains etc.
I've just ordered the scuttling gourmet too, off the ratrations site (they have it in stock so it may be cheaper to order from there if you were ordering food at the same time). Looks like a good read, I can't wait.

Also, if you're worried about her losing weight, here are some things I give Albie. He gets an extra (sometimes 2 extra) meals at night time (the rest get fed between 11 and 12. He usually gets cous cous with senior aid, cereal, malt paste, baby food, or any concoction of them. I basically let him eat as much as he can. I've also heard of bread dipped in olive oil, but Albie was never fussed on that..

GillianK wrote:Because Blanche is ill and I don't want her losing weight, I'm letting her eat what she wants atm. But when she recovers, all being well, I'd like to put her on a healtier diet.

Remember healthy foods don't always = low in fat, there are some very healthy high fat foods like coconut milk, but unlike things like fast food they're not empty calories and will do her good in many other ways too However, if she is overweight that is going to be the biggest risk to her health, especially respiratory related stuff. Without meaning to sound preachy (so sorry if it comes over that way) he best thing you can do for her is swap treats for healthier alternatives, like the foods rache suggests. It will be the best thing for her health. Also try to stick at it, a lot of foods are an aquired taste and if she's used to high salt, sugar and fat foods (the tastes rats and humans crave) healthier foods will be a little bland to her at first. Good luck anyway and I hope she's back to her usual self soon

Completely agree with the others! I really hope the antibiotics help her out!

xx