Pneumonia

Question
Hello Sandra,

I have a little boy rat who is very ill. My little Scout has always struggled with mycro since I first brought him home. He had a fairly severe URI 10 months ago and was treated with tri-sulfa and he responded nicely. Now, 10 months later he has another URI. I took him to the vet this monday due to his wheezy and bubbly breathing. My vet listened to his lungs and told me that he was developing pneumonia so he sent Scout home with Baytril and Doxycycline. On Friday morning (after about 3 days of doses) he's breathing started to worsen and I could hardly get him to take his medicine. It seemed like it was more of a struggle than what is was worth. I then called the vet back and they told me to bring him in for hospitalization. I Dropped him off yesterday morning and they had him all day and over night. They gave him fluid injections and made sure he received his medicines.

I got a call from the vet this morning saying that he was still in horrible shape and that they wanted to do x-rays and bloodwork. I told them to go ahead and do the x-rays for now and hold off on the blood work. What exactly would bloodwork rule out? I then went to pick Scout up to take him home and when I spoke the the vet she said he was still in critical condition and that they had to inject 48 hours worth of Baytril/Doxy into him because he would not take it orally. The vet said that the x-ray showed nothing terribly serious, which I was thrown off by. I have scout with me now and he is struggling to breathe. His mouth hangs open as he tries to catch some air. He absolutely will not accept any food (baby food# or even water. I have him in a single level cage, with a fleece liner and a warm heating pad underneath. I don't know what to do right now. Is it too late for the antibiotics to start working? Should my vet have tried to at least alter the anti-biotic combinations? I am so worried right now. My vet said he'll either start to show serious improvement or go down hill fast. I'm so worried about my little scout. What do you think needs to be done? Did my vet do the right thing with him? How can I help him further? #The vet is closed until monday).

Thank you so much Sandra, you always give such great advice.
Sincerely,
Skye and Scout.

Answer

Your vet did NOT do the right thing....no.  There is so much more that can be down that wasnt done. Just  the fact that the  vet is missing the evidence on the x rays is scary to me.
Your vet is not even touching base with this infection.
He needs to be on medcitaions that will kill both myco AND other bacteria such as strep.
I suggest this be done ASAP:

Nebulize the baytril and also add gentocin. Dont let he doctor whine about how it is nephrotoxic and can hurt the rats kidneys.  We dont have time to worry about something that takes a few months to occur!!!!!
If he  doesnt have gentocin, amakacin should be used.

Do you think  you need the proper dose or do you think your vet can figure that part out?

He needs kept on oxygen while the medications get into his system.  Does he have heart disease on top of lung disease/infection?  Any fluid in the chest or around the heart?