My 2 pet rats passing.

Question
Hi, unfortunately yesterday I lost two of my pet rats, Ori and Kenny. They were both about 2 years 4 months old (which I know is about average for a rat), sisters and were the only two occupants of their cage. They both died in the same way: they were lethargic for about 2 days then in the end they began to dart around in panic and gasp for air very shortly followed by them passing (mercifully). Kenny also had 2 lumps on her abdomen, Ori didn't. As soon as I noticed they were lethargic I put their food and water where they could easily get to them, though they didnt seem to eat only drink a little. They died 12 hours 30 minutes apart.

I recently bought 4 new baby rats (22 days ago) kept in a separate cage near Kenny and Ori's cage. One of the new rats, Caprica, a short time after I bought her developed swelling on the left side of her face and a nasty sneeze, she was put on antibiotics 16 days ago and is healthy now. None of the other new rats developed symptoms.

I find the timing both of the proximity of them passing and the short time ago I bought new rats hard to ignore. Is it possible that Kenny and Ori contracted the infection from Caprica and thats what caused their passing, was it simply old age or was it something else?

Thanks.

Answer
The swelling is what concerns me, as swelling of the face (particularly, throat & jaw) is a huge warning sign of SDA and Sendai virus, notably it's the lymph nodes swelling. This can be highly contagious. However, normally rats affected will have the swelling and its very hard to beat, so I would think Caprica would be extremely sick still.

That being said, it may be that something set off Ori and Kenny's mycoplasmosis and caused a bad flare up.. it may have in fact been something brought in on the new babies.. but it could have just been a coincidence. Everyone else is healthy, however?

I'm so sorry for your loss.