Poor Elmo! Last night I noticed him sneezing and breathing audibly, and this morning he was much worse. I can feel his breathing, it rattles and is very loud, and he's lethargic. He's seeing the vet tomorrow but I wanted to check here and see if anyone has any advice about what I should discuss with her.

He's only 3 weeks old so Baytril isn't an option; after looking at the (somewhat outdated) Drug Interaction Chart, I was thinking Doxy or possibly Zithro. She is a good vet but has only prescribed Zithro once for a rat; it was Anubis, and at that point he was just too far gone. Any ideas?

Anyway, wish him well; I'll keep you updated on what happens. I still can't believe that he seemed perfectly healthy yesterday when I took this picture:

When we dropped off Cephie today the vet wasn't in, but I asked the receptionist to tell her I wanted Zithro if possible, and she sounded very receptive about it.

what a cutie! I hope he gets better soon  
can I ask why baytril wouldnt be an option? I checked the drug chart but it didnt give a reason.
(I ask because my old vet put my 5 week old on baytril)  

*kim whispers again that it does not stunt the growth, it affects the cartilage formation***

Hoping for the best for your little guy.
He's aorable by the way.

We ended up going with Doxy. The vet didn't want to use a stronger med if we don't need it, because if he turns out to be a chronic sickie there won't be any big guns in reserve. She thinks it may be a virus, but the purpose of the antibiotics is to suppress the myco so the immune system can fight back. (TMS doesn't directly attack myco, which is why it wasn't an option for him.)

I'll keep you all updated on how he fairs. Thank you, everyone, for the advice.

That's just it, Roger, there isn't any documentation. Only speculation. The documentation only exists for dogs & cats.

as scout mentioned there is none - i honestly do not believe that there has been any actual problem with the drug in young rats at all - because the people thought it was "stunting growth" because someone thought they read that (which is not what the studies say, as we posted). and i am not sure if it was causing any damage to the formation of the cartilage in the joint that we would see the effects - because it was most damaging to large breed dogs during their growth spurt - and rats do not have a big growth spurt

that being said, i have used baytril when i needed to on younger animals that required it, to no ill effect. all the rats i used it on are normal sized if not extra large, and happy and relatively healthy. almost all my personal rats were on it as youngsters due to an unexplained death (taht ended up being congenital) -- i put all my rats on it immediately just in case, and none suffered at all

so wish i could be of more help, but i have used baytril and will use it in the future if called for on youngsters if i need to.

however, i DO opt for SMZ over all other meds for youngsters (or ANY rat) beacuse i have had the best luck with it over any medication, it tastes good, is very inexpensive, and works for me!! i love it!

i have personally not used doxy (i actually used the premade vibramycin) in awhile, and did not have amazing luck with it on my young ones (the adults seemed to respond a bit but nowhere near as much as when combined with baytril).

myco is actually not a virus, but a bacterium (though modified and does not act like a normal bacteria). and remember, no antibiotic is really active against viruses -- they can only treat secondary infections. so no matter what you choose, if the rat has a viral infection, you arent treating that actual VIRUS 99% of the time - you are providing supportive care and working with secondary opportunistic infections (think SDA).

i use SMZ because it seems to kick out any secondary infections much quicker than other meds i have used, and it has the added bonus of being widely active and very penetrating (i love it for skin problems too!). it tastes good, i do not have to give a lot, and its just been a heck of a lot more effective than other meds. i do not like to use baytril (since i think it is largely abused now by the rat community/vets as the "end all") and when i use doxy i usually use it with baytril to get it to be most effective -- hence, i stick with SMZ

and i am sure you are doing it already, but soy milk, soy milk, soy milk

Ok, stupid question. What are SMZ and TMS?

Thanks.

Suzanne

LOL, the vet doesn't know how to differentiate either. I suppose she could do a culture or something, but it seems like overkill for a pretty run-of-the-mill URI. That's why she prefered to attack the myco, because if the secondary infection is viral then treating it wouldn't be very effective.

we used baytril with my snuffy when he developed pneumonia at about 6-7 weeks. he's 20 months old now and has suffered no noticible effects. he was very sick though and i am glad that my vet didn't mess around trying less potent drugs.

6-7 weeks is also a good bit different than 3 weeks.

i hope you can find something that works for your tiny guy. he's adorable!