Oreo

Question
QUESTION: I have a little rat (not quite full grown) who used to be very active and healthy.  This last month she has deteriorated, becoming lethargic and losing weight.  She rarely comes out of her tube now and is skin and bones (150 grams).  She has a yellow discharge coming out of her vulva and she makes weird breathing sounds.  I love her dearly and would like to do what I can to help.  I have a bottle of cephalexin left over from my son's infection a couuple of weeks ago.  Can I give this to my rat, Oreo to help with whatever is going on with her?

ANSWER: Hi Rebecca


She sounds pretty sick and 150 grams is very small (how old is she?)

She CAN take keflex (cephalexin) but I am not sure what type of bacteria she has and if she has mycoplasmosis, it wont help her and she may get worse if we wait too long without seeing a vet.
You can go ahead though and start her on the meds as long as they didnt expire.  Can you tell me the strength of the medication so I know what to dose her?  If anything this will help with a secondary infection and if she doesnt improve in a few days she really needs a vet to help. As long as you realize that if she has myco, the keflex will be useless and if you still want to use it in case its a secondary infection, I will go along with that and help you dose her. Its better than seeing her go without anything tonight and it wont hurt her, either.

Let me know the strength of the meds and I will check back in a bit...


Sandra

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

QUESTION: Thank you so much for replying so quickly.  We got Oreo in January.  She was not newborn, but she was pretty small. The strength of the cephalexin is 250 mg per 5 mL.  Again, I appreciate your help.

Answer
Your welcome...hope this helps tiny Oreo. I had an Oreo once, the little lady lived to be over 3 and weighed over 900 grams. Yes, she was huge but she was healthy!

Anyhow, dose her (my syringe is marked 0.1 down to 1.0)
so going by my syringe you will give her  0.05 mls which really to be easy is one DROP of this stuff since it is potent at 250 mgs per 5ml.

Hope this helps. If you have any questions about the dose, just ask, but remember it will be one tiny drop of this stuff basically since 0.05 is really a small amount.