Question
some of my rats
i've had my rats for a couple of months now nearly 6 months now and they both keep sneezing i thought it was due to the saw dust i was using for thier flooring so i changed to geass nd paper they were still sneezing after a while they started to get like red stuff around thier noses i asked people who also had rats they said that normally its smells like cigarett smoke that can make them sneeze and after a while i bought a few more rats and i'e noticed i have got all my rats from the one shop and they all seeem to have this sneezing and i am a bit woried about them beacuse they do it quite a lot
AnswerHi
First of all, you dont use saw dust,grass, paper for litter. You should use rodent bedding such as ASPEN or CAREFRESH purchased from the petstore. Never buy cedar or pine and never use cat litter either.
How often do you change the cage, how big is the cage and how many rats do you keep in the cage?
What you need to learn about quickly is a disease called MYCOPLASMOSIS. This disease is common in rats.They are born with a bacteria called mycoplasmosis and it can cause respiratory infection in rats very very easily if you do not follow the exact things I discuss in the article I want you to read.
When you expose them to a cage that doesnt have the proper bedding to absorb the pneumonia that is found in the rats urine, this irritates their lungs. When the people that told you that smells such as cigarette smoke can irritate their lungs they are right. Not just that but spraying air fresheners, burning candles, using hair spray or perfume in their room, using powders around them and keeping them in a glass tank when the air circulation is poor will cause mycoplasmosis to start up.
They will need a vet for antibiotics and need to be kept on them for the next 30 days. If not, they will get pneumonia the next time and end up with scarring of the lungs which can claim their lives early.
Also, they must be kept in same sex because they will mate at 6 weeks old and have dozens of babies.
Also when you first buy new rats they should be in quarantine for 3 weeks. Not sure if you know about this but if not, please read here:
Proper diet is essential if not vital to ensure a long happy life. Seeds and seed mixes from pet stores and just unacceptable for their diet so its best to feed them a lab block low in protein since high protein cause kidney disease later in life.
So that said, we need to evaluate all of these things to pinpoint what is going on with them so we can get them on the right track. Please look over the info on my sites I gave you about diet and mycoplasmosis etc.... and let me know what is happening now.
Sandra Todd
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