rat still sneezing after vet

Question
Hi. I recently purchased my first pet rat (Jellybean), about 3 weeks ago from a Petco near where I live. After I had Jellybean for about a week, I noticed he was sneezing quite a bit and that there were tiny red dots on some of his bedding. I called Petco, and asked them what I should do. They told me they warrantied the pets for 15 days after the purchase, so they took him back and gave him antibiotics for 10 days, 2x a day (which they told me was what they normally do). They also told me that his chest was clear and they thought he simply had a cold. However, I picked him up today, and noticed some sneezes about halfway home. Thinking maybe it was just the stress of moving so much, I've given it a few hours, but the sneezing continues. It is definitely less frequent than before, but I'm still concerned. Should they have medicated him for longer?

Thanks,
Emily

Answer
Jellybean needs a real exotic vet, not some generic treatment at Petco.  Rats dont get colds. Petco, again, is wrong. There are 200 plus viruses that cause the common cold and rats are immune to every single one of those pathogens.

Your rat probably has mycoplasmosis. The proper treatment is to use baytril and doxycycline for 30 days, twice a day.

If it is allowed to continue, it can cause damage to the lungs, from blistering to abscesses.  It starts as sneezing but can quickly go to the lungs.

Please let me know your location. I will happily give you names of real vets that know how to treat rats and you can send Petco the bill.

Read more about mycoplasmosis on my website:

http://www.freewebs.com/crittercity/mycoplasmosispage.htm