Success rate of rats surviving URI/pneumonia???

[Nunya13]

Hello all! I'm new here. I own a white and cream colored rat named Kitty (I know, morbid right?). Actually, she loves to play with my cat Stella. My cat Maddy doesn't care for her too much though so they just stay away from each other. Anyhoo....

Unfortunately, as of last night she developed breathing problems rather suddenly. I came home from dinner with my mom for Mom's Day and decided to say hi to her. I wound up waking her up by accident, noticed she was very lethargic (even though I just woke her up), had Prophyrin in one eye (I cleaned it up for her though) and then I noticed her breathing was very laboured. I was extremely worried. So I put her down on the floor and she barely moved. I held her on the couch and all she wanted to due was curl up in a dark, small spot and stay there. So I took her to the e-vet right away.

I got there and they put her in an oxygen tank and determined that she must have pneumonia. She gave me the options for treatment. I wasn't able to afford everything they wanted to do which I feel very badly about (it would have cost $500). that was for an x-ray, overnight oxygen (which was charged by the hour), initial visit fee, doctors exam fee, nurses exam fee (to check on her through the night I guess), a shot of antibiotics, and antibiotics to take home.

I wound up paying for the initial visit fee, 1 hour of oxygen, the antibiotic shot, and take home antibiotics for $145. Soooooo....I have a couple questions, if you don't mind (more like a few) so here we go...

1. They gave me 14 syringes with 0.1 mg of an antibiotic called Sulfamethoxazole to be given twice a day. This seems odd as I have not seen anyone on here with this type of antibiotic given for their rat.

2. I heard that you can give a rat childrens decongestant as long as it is non-drowsy (and as my bf pointed out, it shouldn't have any sudafedrin in it) and it has no alcohol. I read that I should give her 0.1 mg of this. Does this sound right? Has anyone ever actually used it on their rat.

3. How long does it take symptoms to improve assuming that the antibiotics work?

4. My most important question is how many of you have had a rat with a pretty serious URI and come out of it okay? I'm really concerned about this.

I originally adopted a rat from my bf's old roommate and it was sick from the first day we got her. She died three weeks later and I'm not exactly sure what of. It was absolutely horrible to watch her die. She didn't go silently. We were somewhat attached to her and sad that she died. Neither I nor my bf had ever owned a rat and we realized what great pets they are so a couple weeks later we got Kitty. We've had her for about 10 months. She maybe a year old tops. She's been a very active, fun loving, playful rat and I can't bare to lose her. I can't help but watch her almost every moment of the day to see if there's any improvement at all. I took all the old bedding out and only put a cut up t-shirt in there for now. I just recently switched to Carefresh bedding from pine shavings cuz I heard it can cause infections like this. I find it ironic that she got it after I switched to Carefresh.

Any thought/advice are greatly appreciated.  thanks so much for your time.

[Bekah]

Dana started having respiratory problems when she was about a year old.  She had pneumonia for quite a while, and I thought she wouldn't make it.  She turned 2.5 late last month.    Her pneumonia finally cleared up, but her URI issues have been chronic.  She ended up on meds permanently after several attempts to take her off of them or use them periodically caused her to get sick again.

So far as decongestants go, I've had a lot of luck with Mucinex.  Some studies have shown that the "fake" pseudophedrine on the market doesn't work for a lot of people, so I never bothered with it for her, either.  I make sure she gets plenty of fluids when she takes the Mucinex.  When she was really ill, holding her with her rump above her head for a while helped stuff drain so she could sneeze it out. 

Good luck with your girlie! 

[Nunya13]

Mucinex...I didn't think of that. I'll look into it and possibly try it.

I'm sorry about your rat. That's got to be very trying to have to worry about that all the time, but it sounds like you do a great job taking care of her. I wonder if I'll have to worry about her being on meds permanently. Sounds expensive. I'll look into that to so I can be prepared if that's what it comes to.

Thanks again.

[zoocrew26]

I'm sorry to hear about your ratty!
I got my boy Ryley as a feeder, when he had a really bad case of pnemonia. He was open mouth gasping in the feeder tank, and he was lethargic. He was only 4 weeks old. I was unsure if he would make it through the night. It was touch and go for a couple of weeks...
After a month of meds, he is now a perfectly healthy, crazy man-rat!!
I hope that your ratty makes it through. 

[Dearpie]

When my girl, My Olivia, had pneumonia, she was on baytril and zithro twice a day for 3 weeks, along with being nebulized twice a day.  She came through like a champ.   However, I've lost a couple other rats rather quickly (2 - 3 days) to pneumonia.  It's a very difficult illness, and every rat will respond differently.  URI's are not nearly as life-threatening, provided they're treated properly.

And as for declining the extra tests/procedures, I would have opted for the same things you did.

[Nunya13]

Dearpie: Thank you for the piece of mind about the tests. That makes me feel a lil better.

I'm pretty stressed out about Kitty. She's no better, but she's no worse either so I guess that's a good thing.

I don't have a nebulizer or anything like that. I have been taking her in the bathroom after I take a shower (not during cuz the noise scares her and with the force feeding baby food and antibiotics I don't want to stress her out any more than I have to). Even after I get home I run the shower for about 10 minutes and let it steam up (I found that a shower steams the bathroom better than a bath. Less water too) and stick her in there for a lil bit. Not too long cuz I know it gets hot in there.

She's been drinking water fairly regularly and I did notice she pooped once and peed a couple times so that's good. I hope that means she's been eating at least something and I haven't noticed.

[Nunya13]

here's a little update on Kitty. She's a tiny bit better. she still has labored breathing but she doesn't have that clicking sound when she breathes anymore. I've been giving her her meds regularly.

Unfortunately she's lost so much weight it's scary. I've been having to force feed her baby food. I also bought some ensure and sometimes I mix then together and I just use the syringes the doc gave me. I'm not sure what is the right amount to feed her but I've been giving her about .6mg 3 times a day. Is that enough?

what's strange is that as of last night, she's not wanted to be in her cage at all. When I put her in there she's hightails it to the door and jumps up (the most energy I ever see out of her). If I keep her in there she just sits on top of her house and stares out the cage.

this morning when I picked her up she seemed really cold. She only wanted to cuddle up with me. I figured it was for the warmth. right  now she's huddled up in the blanket on my bed. I'm still really worried about her.

Any ideas on food? body temperature?