Vet today-- what should I expect?

[Tdyans]

Mugby and Snaffer have an appointment at the vet's office this afternoon because of the sneezing fits and occasional nasally noises that I've been hearing at night.  I was pretty sure it was all from Mugby, but then Snaffer sneezed a few times during play time last night. *sigh*

So anyway, I'm pretty confident that this is a good vet, but I'd still like to know what I should be expecting.  What should I expect her to check out and do-- what signs should she be looking for, what questions should she be asking?  What possible diagnoses might I expect her to make?  What medicines might she prescribe?  Any help that you guys can give just so that I'm not going in blind would be helpful.  Thanks.

[Marybelle]

She should do a full exam, including looking at eyes and ears, checking teeth, listening to heart and lungs, palpating the abdomen, checking for lumps, etc.  Just because they're there for possible respiratory problems doesn't mean she should ignore the rest of the rat...

Most likely, she'll diagnose a respiratory infection, and give you antibiotics.  There are several kinds that are good, and you might even want to bring this chart with you.  It was put together by the RMCA vets, and has doses, and common meds that are rat safe.  

She shouldn't be asking if they've been vomiting...  Her techs might ask, but rats can't vomit....  Although that's not a deal breaker if she's great in every other way.    

I hope she's good.  It's so hard to find a vet that's willing to treat rats.  I'm in the process of training my vet now...  

[Tdyans]

Thanks for the advice.  She did check all of those things when I took them in a few weeks ago, so that seems like a good sign.  And she's actually at the same clinic as one of the doctors who wrote that drug chart, who unfortunately wasn't taking any new patients but the girl on the phone told me that she had two rats herself and would definitely trust them with her, and I'm pretty sure the breeder recommended her as well.

And thank you for linking me to the drug chart.  I've seen it before, of course, but never took the time to look it over really thoroughly, and now I see an important bit of info-- rats under 3 months of age shouldn't get baytril.  And my boys are just under 3 months, so I'll definitely keep that in mind.  But if they do have a respiratory infection, what other drugs besides baytril can be used?

[Tdyans]

All right, change of plans.  I had asked if I could speak to the doctor just in case it was possible to avoid putting the boys through the stress of bringing them in.  She finally got a hold of me just now and I described to her what's been happening.  She said that since she just saw them a few weeks ago and since respiratory infections are fairly common, I could just pick up a prescription for them without bringing them in, and she just asked me to let her know if it didn't seem to help.  

Does that seem okay?  I didn't ask what kind of antibiotic she was going to prescribe, but I'll definitely find out before I take it home and maybe hopefully get a chance to talk to her a little more as well when I go in.

[Marybelle]

Yeah, that should be fine.  Just keep in mind that if the antibiotics haven't made an appreciable difference in 3-4 days, you'll want to get the kids in to see the vet as soon as possible.  It's nice to have a vet that will do that for you.  

edit to say:  She'll need accurate weights to get the doses right.  Unless you have a scale at home, you may need to bring them in to get weights regardless.

[Tdyans]

edit to say:  She'll need accurate weights to get the doses right.  Unless you have a scale at home, you may need to bring them in to get weights regardless.

Hmmm... She didn't mention anything about that.  She just said that she'd have a prescription ready for them when I came by later today.  I assume she must be basing it off of their weights from a few weeks ago then.  Do you think that's something to worry about?

[Marybelle]

If they're less than 3 months, they'll have put on quite a bit of weight since she saw them 2 weeks ago.  You might want to ask her about that.  The worse thing you could do at this point is undermedicate them, as that will only make the bacteria resistant to that medicine.

[Dearpie]

I guess it would depend on how much weight the rats have gained since she last saw them.  You surely don't want to underdose them.

In terms of baytril, it's not been proven that young rats have stunted growth from baytril. Personally, almost all of my rats have been put on baytril as babies, between 5 - 7 weeks, and NONE have had stunted growth.  In general, I believe that's a myth, the same as wire causes bumblefoot.  It's unfounded.

The TYPICAL drug used is baytril and then if after 3 days there's no significant improvement, then either amoxi or doxy is added.  

Good luck!

[Marybelle]

In terms of baytril, it's not been proven that young rats have stunted growth from baytril. Personally, almost all of my rats have been put on baytril as babies, between 5 - 7 weeks, and NONE have had stunted growth.  In general, I believe that's a myth, the same as wire causes bumblefoot.  It's unfounded.

Just about all of my kids have had baytril, too, at a young age, and never suffered from it.  I personally think that it's the illness itself that stunts the growth.  Our smallest kid was also the sickest.  She was on the verge of death when we brought her home, so she got the strongest meds we could give her.

[Tdyans]

Thanks for the advice on the baytril.  I agree they'll have probably put on some weight since she last saw them (certainly seems like they have to me), so I'll do my best to talk to her about that when I go there.

[Dearpie]

If it were me, I'd go ahead and take them in with you when you pick up the meds ..... just so you won't need to make a second trip to get the weight on them.

[Tdyans]

If it were me, I'd go ahead and take them in with you when you pick up the meds ..... just so you won't need to make a second trip to get the weight on them.

Well, the problem with that is that I would have, but by the time the weight thing had been brought up here, it was already too late for me to be able to leave work, make it home to pick them up, and make it back to the vet's office before it closed.  Otherwise I would have.

Here's what happened: The prescription she gave me was for .10 ccs of Baytril, twice a day, for each of them for 14 days.

I brought up the weight concern, and she said that that's the amount she generally prescribes to all rats, unless they're over 1 lb., which I'm pretty certain my boys aren't, and she felt pretty confident this would prove effective, but of course, I'm to let her know and bring them in if I don't see an improvement within a few days.

I also said that I'd heard at least 21 days was recommend, not 14.  She said if they were showing improvement after 14 days, we could go another week, but if not, she'd want to switch them to something else.

All that sound okay?  She was nice enough to discuss it with me and take a look at the drug chart, which I brought along, and seemed pretty sure of everything, so I'm inclined to trust her judgement.

Now, just a few more questions: Baytril usually has to be mixed with something to get them to take it, right?  Should I even try giving it to them straight from the syringe, or just offer them a spoonful of something with it mixed in right off the bat?  Will babyfood work?

[Tdyans]

Sorry to be bumping this so soon, but I could really use some answers on the baytril questions in the last post.  I just want to be sure before I give them their first dose tonight.

[squeaky]

I can't work out the time difference thing on these posts so I don't know if this reply is too late or not - sorry.
My rat took Baytril straight from the syringe but only once (they're too smart). I've found he takes it easily if you use a small piece of doughnut/bread to soak it up (or whatever you have).
I've read a lot of people use baby food too though.
Good luck to you and your rats.  

[Marybelle]

You can mix the Baytril in yogurt.  Or, my favorite (and my kids love it) mix it with pancake syrup.  Never had one turn it down.  

[ckhs]

Just wanted to add that two weeks (in my opinion) is much to long to wait to see improvment. Like Dearpie stated about three days is the longest i would wait without consulting back with the vet.
Good luck.

[Tdyans]

Oh, she didn't mean to wait two weeks before getting back in touch with her if I didn't see any improvement.  She said to let her know and bring them in if I didn't see any after a few days, like you guys said.  The thing about the two weeks was just in response to my question about keeping them on the baytril for longer-- she only wants to if it's been helping them up to that point.

[ckhs]

Great.