Oscar sneezing and sometimes making "turkey" noises

Sorry for starting another one of these threads - it seems everyone's babies have some respiratory issue or other at the moment

Well Oscar has been taking fits of sneezing lately, sometimes lasting a minute or two. Sometimes it sounds like he's coughing at the same time. Also once or twice in the last 2 weeks I've heard him making a kind of gobbling noise like a turkey or pigeon. It's like he's hiccuping but the noise just doesn't sound good. I've held his chest up to my ear to listen, and I couldn't hear any rasping. What I'd like to know is if I should bring him to the vet for a full check-up, x-ray, the works, or if I can get a course of antibiotics to put him on and see if it clears it. I am thinking of bringing him to Bairbe O'Malley in Bray, a friend of mine did work experience there and said Bairbre is very good with rats. However, I'm absolutely terrified of bringing him to the vet as the last two times I did this (with Lenny and Mike) I was told they were dying The antibiotics didn't help them

As scared as I am of what I'm going to hear, I think I need to bite the bullet and make the appointment. It might be something small that we've caught early... (hopefully) Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated, thank you x

Update: I've booked him in to the vet for tomorrow evening. He was curled up in my lap sleeping when he took a fit of chesty sneezing, so I just picked up the phone straight away. Hopefully a course of antibiotics will sort him out. Fingers crossed x

I had the exact same problem with my rat Gary last year, He was put on Baytrill and it cleared up after about 3 days and he was grand afterwards.

I would say a good course of antibiotics should hopefully clear it. The thing is this time of year for some reason resp issues are more prevalent. I'm guessing it's the cold and damp.

xx

Just back from the vet - happy to report that although Oscar is a bit sick alright, it's nothing too serious. He has a respiratory infection, and the vet thinks his windpipe is inflamed and that's why he's been making the odd noises. He was none too happy to be poked and prodded (his first time at the vet ) but he's fine now. She gave him a jab of Baytril in the scruff of his neck, and has put him on a 10-day course of Baytril 2.5%, 0.3ml daily. She also gave me Meloxydil, an anti-inflammatory for his throat/windpipe - on the bottle it says 1.5mg/ml per ML, 0.4ml once daily.

Hopefully he'll be back to his normal healthy self in a few days Oh, and he weighed in at a rather chubby 700 grams

Sounds good! although he needs to be on double the amount of baytril really but certainly I would give him 0.2 twice a day, as twice a day is better than once.

xx

Haha, we had the most hilarious - and frustrating - experience giving Oscar his medicine this morning! He's never had medicine before, and he's quite fussy, so I knew it wouldn't be easy. I decided to try the anti-inflammatory one first (as the vet said it's sweet and rats usually like it) and then trick him into taking the Baytril. But he was too clever for that. When I tried to squirt it in his mouth he scurried away and started wiping his mouth furiously on the sofa, then glared at me in rage from under a blanket. I put him back in my lap, where he sat still but kept his mouth firmly closed, scowling like a bold child. Then my boyfriend put a dab of it on his finger and Oscar licked it off - success! But after a few more licks he realised what we were up to... foiled again! I had no yoghurt so I put a tiny bit of manuka honey on my finger mixed with the medicine - this worked, but only until he copped what it was. So, it was time for a last resort. I went and got his favourite naughty food, which he isn't usually allowed - cheese - and dipped a sliver into the medicine. He gobbled it up in glee. But of course, it didn't last long - he outsmarted us again and started taking the cheese from the end that hadn't been dipped! (it was grated cheese) Sigh. It took over half an hour of disguising the medicine in various ways before it was all gone. At this stage I was late for work so had no time for breakfast - but he's too cute to be mad at!!!

Oh forgot to say thanks for the advice Laura, I'll give him the two doses if you think it's better. It won't last the full 10 days then, is that ok as long as he gets it all into him? x

Well - really she should give you more, worth asking, just say the rest got lost along the way when he wouldn't take it! If she really won't then it'll have to suffice - but definitely two doses a day, makes it easier to dose and it actually works better.

xx

Ok, thanks, will do. They were really nice so I'd say they will give me a bit more if I ask nicely... I'll definitely need more if he continues to be such a brat about it!!

Just reading the thread, here's hoping that all goes well for the treatment, so sorry but I smiled when I read about trying to give the antibiotic, who said rats are stupid, they are more intelligent than we think, or even can imagine. Sometimes I do think that they are streets ahead of us humans, Steve

Haha you're right there Steve. I always give mine baytril on a small piece of white bread, spread with butter then dab that in a pile of sugar so it sticks to the buttter, then drip the medicine onto that so the sugar soaks it u, adding any extra so there's no trace of the yukky medicine left, they always gobble it up and are none the wiser. For metacam unfortunately, I've found nothing yet that works to disguise it - the vet told me they usually love it too - I just squirt it into their mouths, I used to end up covered in it after Monty would clamp his jaws shut so most of it went on his fur then wipe his mouth on my clothes and clutch at my hair with sticky hands trying to escape All I could do was treat him with doggy chocolate after to say sorry If you find anything that works please post about it

Don't feel bad about smiling Steve, I was giggling the whole time I was typing Haha that's hilarious Katherine! Most of it has ended up on my legs and sofa - mixing it into a little bit of yoghurt worked a treat this morning but then he copped what I was up to and scurried away. I'll definitely try your bread trick tomorrow! Thanks for the tip!

katherine wrote:For metacam unfortunately, I've found nothing yet that works to disguise it

Just put a couple of drops onto a small piece of 'ginger nut' biscuit. Never fails for me.

OOH thanks Lew

I've made a new sticky thread where we can post tips for getting rats to take various medicines.

https://irishratclub.forumotion.com/t241-tips-for-giving-medicine-to-rats

Thanks Lew!

xx