Correct dosage?

Question
QUESTION: I recently bought a rat from a small pet store. she was in the front alone, away from all the other feeder rats. she should be around 7 to 9 weeks old now. She seems really healthy and curious. There is one thing that bothers me though, she sometimes goes into fits of coughing. I know she is coughing because I can hear tiny squeaks and her sides go in and out very fast. She does this as much as 5 to 2 times a day, and it doesn't seem to bother her. She has never had any red discharge from her nose or mouth, and only sneezes occasionally.I use newspaper for her bedding and dust free Back 2 nature for her litter. I'm going to start giving her alcohol free Echinacea to see if that helps. I really want to now whats wrong and what I can do to help her.

ANSWER: She is probably starting to develop symptoms of mycoplasmosis. Echinacea will not do anything to kill mycoplasma bacteria as it is an herb used to build the immune system but doesnt kill bacteria.  She should see a vet and be put on the proper antibiotics for the next 21 to 30 days. First she should be started on Zithromax and doxycycline reserving the baytril for last due to her young age.  If she doesnt improve within 3 days, stop the zithromax and start the baytril and doxycycline, both given twice a day. The three day rule applies to antibiotic treatment because if they dont respond in that time frame it means its not going to work and you need to change to something else.Being a feeder rat, she was not bred for health so she probably has a weak immune system which would leave her wide open for mycoplasmosis to develop. Usually it isnt seen this early since it is a slow growing but again, with feeders, its not unheard of.   Please see my site about mycoplasmosis here:

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

She will need to see a vet right away. If myco is allowed to continue it causes lung scarring or blistering of the lugs which is why its important it is treated properly the first sign of illness.  You should have a good vet that is an exotics vet not just a general vet that sees exotics or they usually are not really up to par on the "dos and donts" of myco treatment.

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

QUESTION: Hello again, thank so much for your help.
We did what you said and took Yumi, (the first rat) and the new rat, Miyo, to the vet. Just to clarify, we got Miyo because Yumi was getting rather lonely (when we got Yumi they were no other females available).

We bought Miyo from a different pet store which had better reviews, but turned out to be worse. At the time we didn't notice she had lice, or that she was wheezing because of how loud the store was.

We took both of them to a vet a couple of days ago. Here is their website. http://www.westgatepetandbird.com/474457.html

He said pretty much the same thing I read online, that both of them could have Myco, or a secondary infection. We told him we already had amoxicillin capsules and was wondering if they would work for them. He said yes, they might, and to call him to confirm the dosage. He also prescribed something called Revolution for Miyo's lice.

The amoxicillin we have is a product that is called Fish Mox, and each capsule contains 250mg, with 100 capsules in the container. My sister had previously ordered it for her rat, but didn't ever use it.

Before I call the vet, I would like to know the correct dosage to give my rats, because he seemed very unsure.

Yumi should be 8 1/2-10 1/2 weeks old, she is a little bit bigger then my hand and weighs 144 grams. She has sneezing and coughing fits several times a day and scratches a lot, but is very healthy other then that.

We aren't sure how old Miyo is at all, but she is almost as big as my hand and weighs 102.5 gr. She wheezes slightly every time she breathes, makes wuffling noises when she is scared, sneezes alot and has lice (or at least nits, we havent found any adult lice on her yet).

They both eat a lot and are very active and friendly (Miyo is very shy though).

I found these two links that have estimations for dosages, but they dont make sense to me.
http://ratguide.com/meds/antimicrobial_agents/amoxicillin.php

and

http://ratguide.com/meds/figures/compounding_medications_figure_1.php

Is the Amoxicillin a good thing to give them for what they seem to have? How much should I give them each day? And how do I give it to them?

Is Revolution okay to use on Miyo to treat her mites (and maybe actual live live that we can't see)?

Sorry for how long this is, I just want to make sure I'm doing everything correctly. Thanks again so much for your help!

Sincerely,
Madeleine

Answer
Hi


Revolution is fine to use on the parasites, but to be honest, amoxil is not the drug to use on mycoplasmosis. The vet should know this. They mycoplasma organism has no cell wall and amoxil can only fight bacterias cell wall, so this renders amoxil worthless for myco. Baytril, zithromax and doxycycline are the three main drugs that attack the cell of the organism directly. Your rats are a bit too young to take baytril and although the vet should also know this, they still continue to give baytril if the benefits outweigh the risks. Baytril is known to generate the wearing away of cartilage in the weight bearing joints in young animals of various species. This is incorrectly believed to affect puppies only, but it is proven that it also pertains to rats. I have sources if needed to back up my statement, so basically I am saying that baytril should be reserved for rats older than 3 months unless benefits outweigh the risks. Instead of baytril, zithromax and doxycycline can be used. Amoxil should be used for secondary infection only.  As for the dose, I do not feel comfortable telling you the dose in such young rats. I am not a vet and if the vet doesnt know the dose, that makes me feel really uncomfortable telling you rather than he be the one. I checked the creds on this vet and they are all professionals that should have given the proper medication for these young pups along with safe doses of medication for them and the proper medication for the proper ailment.

Read about myco here:
http://www.freewebs.com/crittercity/mycoplasmosispage.htm


Here is what I have for the pups as far as amoxil goes, just off the top of  my  head:

You would take the capsule and add 12.5 ccs of distilled water to it, shake very well and dose the pups at .10ccs twice a day.  I usually dont mix up medications unless I am told how to do it so this may even be too strong, but if the vet really wants to use amoxil, see what he thinks about this dose.