Pet rat - URI?

Question
QUESTION: My rat Strutter is a Norway rat, about 1 and a half yrs, and for roughly the past month I've noticed his breathing being a little scratchy.  Its very quiet but he didn't do it before.  For the past maybe week and a half he'll make a sort of rythmic squeaking every now and then... sounds kind of like grunting/wheezing.  He looks fine, he's not scratching more than normal or sneezing, but just now I heard him cough.  He seems to be eating/drinking fine and I have a Dumbo rat that's doing okay, but they don't get along so they're kept separated.  What could this be?

ANSWER: Hi Jessie

Is Strutter a wild hybrid by chance? When you say Norway, I am assuming he is (or was) at one time a wild rat till of course he came to live with you. I only ask because I also had a wild hybrid named Holly that lived to be close 4 years old. She also lived alone since wild and domestic rats just don't jive. Holly absolutely despised the other rats. I can still hear the little brat hissing and spitting at them through the cage bars!

Ok that said, it sounds as if he has an upper respiratory infection for sure. Probably mycoplasmosis which is typical at this age and possibly a secondary infection isn't too far behind which may turn to pneumonia, hence the wheezing and grunting. He needs to be on baytril and doxycycline for at least 21 days, although I prefer 30. Keeping him on it for 21 days is the only real way to prevent relapse and the second time he has another infection that is linked to myco, this is when the lung scarring occurs and he can end up with chronic lung disease.
Myco, unfortunately, attacks both wild and domestic rats since they are introduced to the organism in the birth canal(mycoplasmosis is found in the uterus of females, the urinary tract, and  the nasopharynx which is why they  get ear infections often caused by myco and also why it is sneezed out and even found in their saliva.
Anyhow,Strutter should see a vet so he can get on medications. Its good he is still eating and acting ok which indicates to me that he is not seriously ill and should recover without incident but treating him now before he gets worse is better because should it turn into pneumonia it cant  leave scar tissue or cause long term problems such as chronic lung disease etc...
If you do not have a vet and  don't know where to go, let me know and I can help you find someone that treats rats and is educated to do surgery on rats and to treat and diagnose all ailments etc...

hope this helps!

Sandy

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

QUESTION: He is a domestic rat, we got him from Petsmart.  He just doesn't like my Dumbo rat, Vamp because they were introduced as adults, and we didn't have any idea at the time that introducing adult rats is a slow and delicate process.  Should we make sure and keep them extra separated now, wash our hands after handling one before the other?  And no, I don't have any idea how to find a vet, we called one before though once when he started choking on a food block, but he was okay a long time after that before this started going on.  Your input helped alot, thank you.  
-jessie  

Answer
Ok I understand now......

Your other rat is probably black or brown like a norway...that threw me since norways are wild rats.  However, domestics are related to them indirectly.

As for hand washing, I advise that no matter what just to prevent passing anything around.

Let me know where your located and I can find a good vet for your rats.