chronic respiratory problem rats

Re: chronic respiratory problem rats

Mark Rowland — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 23:15:51 GMT

Nebulisation is very useful for breaking down the mucus film allowing better penetration of antibiotics and clearing of secretions. I like to use hypertonic saline.

Ive added a rat respiratory guide I have done for a rescue charity to the downloads page on my cpd website for you. it is aimed at vets so I hope you find it useful.

All the best

Re: chronic respiratory problem rats

Richard Fox — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 11:52:24 GMT

Is there any evidence to suggest Chronic Pneumocystis pneumonia (Prev. Rat Respiratory Virus)?

http://www.criver.com/sitecollectiondocuments/rm_ld_r_pneumocystis.pdf

Doesn't sound like it d.t. severity and duration? Just a thought :)

Re: chronic respiratory problem rats

Utlendigur — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 23:17:36 GMT

Baytril, Septrin, more Baytril, more Septrin, Pentobarb

Has anyone tried nebulising F10? Does it have any effect?

Re: chronic respiratory problem rats

Stephen Courtney — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 23:05:46 GMT

I find baytril useless for these cases. I tend to use septrin, and tend to find some success at least initially, but they always relapse and then septrin seems useless too.

Doxycycline can work well, but i have seen it cause terrible diarrhoea too. I would always be hesitant to use steroids in any small rodent or rabbit as it can result in severe immunosuppression.

Re: chronic respiratory problem rats

Mark Frost — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 16:23:49 GMT

I'm interested to see what others think on this too..

For the record I often use Septrin at 50 - 100mg/kg PO (much higher than rabbit/guinea pig dose), and if I see them early in the course of disease I think getting meloxicam (1 - 2mg/kg PO) into them reduces the ongoing damage to the lungs and increases the chance of long(er) term success. Whilst I think once they have become chronic the damage is done I still give meloxicam to help with the ongoing inflammation.