Secondary infection?

Question
QUESTION: Hi,

 I have a 1yr old spayed female rat. I took her to the vets in April and gave her Baytril for 4 weeks, it did the trick and vet said she is very healthy and hears no real congestion or distress in her respitory tract or lungs.

I travelled 2,000km by train with my 4 rats in a cat crate, it took 23 hours (they needed to come, as iam visiting my family for 3 months) and all three of them got over the ordeal except Pingu (the 1yr old female).

She has no energy, she is sleeping 24/7 and is puffed up, and looks weak. I checked her lungs and airways and she sounds clear. When she wakes up she has porphorin around her nose (not around eyes).

Iam asking for your help because the vet here is not rat friendly and would only suggest Baytril.

Should i wait a few days and see if its just stress from the move? I checked her over, nothing has changed, no lumps, skin colour, scratches, breathing pattern. Just low energy, puffed up, porphorin on nose. Her appitite as not changed.

Thankyou for your time.

ANSWER: Hi Kerry


Do you have access to the baytril now?  If so,  would start her on it  now.  

She has some signs of illness already such as low energy, porphyrin and piloerection (fur standing up/puffed up) so something is going on.  Keep in mind that stress from the trip may have weakened her immune system and in turn it may have caused her to fall ill like you suspected.   

If you want I can locate a decent vet just in case you think she needs seen.  let  me know your area and I will start my search.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Also,

I noticed her symptoms getting worse, her breathing has elevated and she seems very lathargic, and clumsy, and her body aches (she squeaks when i pick her up.)

I had similar symptoms last week: high fever, swollen throat, body aches, tired, rapid heart beat. I was tested for strep and mono but came out negative (doc still thinks i have mono and wants a 2nd blood test).

Do you think i passed on this virus to her?

Answer
Hi

No, you are not the reason your rat is sick.  The viruses we get are non pathogenic to rats and vice versa.  There is a huge myth on the rat sites found on the net where some misinformed people have spread around that if we have strep throat, we can give the infection to our rats and in turn this will cause a dangerous form of pneumonia. This is untrue. The pathogen of strep that causes strep throat in humans is unable to be sustained in rats so they cannot catch it. They do not get the common cold virus, flus or anything else like that. They are prone to an organism called mycoplasmosis (*we cannot catch this from our rats) and myco is the main culprit of respiratory disease in our rats.