My pet rat is sneezing.

Question
QUESTION: I recently bought a rat from petsmart about 3 1/2 weeks ago. When I first brought her home she was sneezing about every 2 hours.Now some days are worse than others. She is a perfect weight and acts completely normal. I have read a little on respiratory problems but she doesn't fit the profile. Could she be allergic to her bedding? Or cigarette smoke? Could anything else other than respiratory promblems be causing her to sneeze?

ANSWER: Hi Molly

Its normal for new rats to sneeze a little bit when they first come to their new home but if it is getting worse that means something is going wrong.  It sounds like it could be the start of mycoplasmosis and this can be brought on by several factors.  
First let me start by asking you a few things.
Is she in a spacious cage with good air circulation?
What type of bedding do you use?
Is she exposed to any of the following: Excessive dust, pet fur such as cats or dogs, any air fresheners or any sprays such as hair sprays etc... candle smoke or cigarette smoke.

Does she live alone or does she have a cage mate?

A few things about mycoplasmosis is to keep it from starting up in the first place which can be difficult for many people.

Once I know the answers  to the questions above I will know better as to what is troubling her and we can go from there.  Hang in there, we will get her on the right track soon enough.

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

QUESTION: Hello, thanks for replying. She is in a medium size cage with alot of air flow. It is kind of like a wire cage so she is getting all the air I am. I try to keep her out of her cage as much as possible though. The current bedding I'm using is Carefresh. I use it with my rabbits and it works great, so I figured it would do great for her as well. She is around two dogs, and two rabbits, so pet fur is a definite. I'm a big fan of candles and air freshener, but do not use it on a daily basis. She is around cigarette smoke most of the day. Her cage is in the living room, so somedays she is getting my smoke and guest. I made a vet appointment yesterday while waiting for your reply. Hopefully I'll hear back from you before I take the hour trip ha. But if she needs it, I already have one set for this Friday (tomorrow). Thanks for all your help.

ANSWER: Hi

I would move her to a room where there is no smoke. This can be one of the problems.  My husband smokes and when we went to Florida last week we brought two of my rats (they are special needs rats; one is blind in both eyes and the other has only one eye losing the other eye from bad infection, and he just lost his cagemate so I didnt want him to have to deal with not seeing me for a few days plus mourning losing his brother) Anyhow, although he put the window down some in the car when he smoked, the rats started to sneeze like crazy!!  I kept scolding him that it is from the smoke so finally he stopped at a nearby store and bought the nicotine patch to wear for the rest of our 11 hour road trip (my hubby is cool that way, he loves animals and didnt like the fact he was causing them problems) I think he also was thinking LARGE VET BILL if both rats ended up with some kind of respiratory infection from it too, though.  heh!

I dont want to tell you to cancel the vet appointment just in case she has infection. She very well could have something now if she became real irritated from the smoke which in turn could have sparked off the mycoplasmosis.  No matter what, this problem will continue if the rat stays around the smoke so if you can, I would move her cage for sure.
You can read more about myco here on my website:

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


Also, if the vet you are going to see is not really up to par with rats, I wouldnt bother going. I hear from so many people that have such bad experiences with their rats vet because they were not well educated with rats so I thought I should tell you just in case. Being you have a bunny, you may have an exotic vet already.  Oh, I have a bunny too. A black rex who bites. LOL!  I do rats well, but Bunnies? He stomps at me and bites, although its playful, I am hopping..err...hoping, that is.

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

QUESTION: Thanks alot. I will move her right away. I just dont want her to feel isolated. How about when I have her with me throughout the day? I love taking her for car rides and riding on my shoulder throughout the house. Should I just simply not smoke at all when I have her around me? It can be done hah but it will be hard, it might even help me quit. As far as vets go, I have taken my bunnies several times and they are wonderful with them!It Took me a while to find a vet in my area that had experience with animals such as these, but the look was well worth it. So, I guess I will be making a trip to the vet tomorrow. Thanks again for all of your help, and I hope Ratatouille (that's her name) gets better soon.

Answer
I would refrain from smoking around her, period. Her lungs are tiny as it is and think of how it is  bad for humans to be around second hand smoke, it is just as bad around little critters, especially for those that have problems with possible repiratory conditions in the first place.  I am glad you have a good vet, too.  Cherish him!

Let me know how it goes at the vets!