sick rat - runny eye, sneezing

Question
QUESTION: I have a pet rat, and she is my first pet rat and she is still under the age of 6 months.  

She had one runny squinting eye and she sneezes.  When I listen to her breathe it sounds normal and clear. She is eating fine, and drinking fine. She sleeps a lot though, but that doesn't seem to be anything unusual for her. (she usually plays for a bit and then naps beside me on the sofa when I have her out, and her and my other rat play at night.)  She still comes out of her cage and gets up in the morning with me like usual.  I use aspen shavings as bedding.  

I've taken her to the vet and she is on some medicine, and for the most part the sneezing and runny eye have cleared up (her eye only has gunk in it when she wakes up from sleeping for a long time and its no longer squints or runny), but I'm scared when the medicine stops that she will get sick again.

my house is rather cool so I keep her upstairs in my room where it is a bit warmer.  It also seems like my rat sneezes more when she is around me and on my things (such as in my blankets and my clothes)

I have another rat who is not showing any symptoms except for the very rare sneeze.  She is younger than my other rat

ANSWER: Hi Jen

Sounds like the little one has mycoplasmosis which is not uncommon.
The KEY to keeping her from relapse is to be sure she is on the right medication for the right length of time. For this, she should be on baytril and she should be on it for at least 21 days, I prefer 30. Anything less and she can relapse and the second time it can be a little worse than the first time. Is the vet you see an exotic vet?

The good news is that she has gotten better so the medication is working. Keep her diet low in protein and fats, plenty of water, offer her a warm place to sleep such as a hammock or little box with tons of paper towels, plus she can snuggle with her cage mate. You can always buy a heat lamp and put a heat lamp a few feet above one side of the cage to keep that side warm and if they want to be cooler they can simply go to the other side of the cage. Be sure the cords are out of reach of course! I have one on one of my rats that has gone blind and its best he is kept in a darker room in case he can see shadows so the bright light doesn't effect him and so I have him in my walk in closet (it sounds so strange, I know!) and I put  the red bulb in the lamp just so the closet has a red hue to it instead of a light always on.

Please let me know the name of the medication your rat is on and for how long is she to be kept on it for.

thanks

Sandy

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

QUESTION: my vet knows about exotics, but she does not specialize I think.  I don't live in a huge city so its the best I can do right now.

My rat is on batryil but not for 20 day.  I will go back to my vet and tell her what you said.  today was her last day of it

I thought it might be mycoplasm.

thank you so much for your help!!!

do you know any places where I can get a good diet for a rat like mine?  anywhere I can order the lab blocks off the internet or something?  I can't get that kind of stuff here... when I went to my local pet store and asked for a low protein and low fat rat food they thought I was crazy.

thank you again!!!

Answer
Hi

Your right to assume that just because the vet is an exotic vet she still may not be up to par on rodents. I usually tell people that its best to find an exotic vet that is also educated with rats etc...but it is SO HARD to find any....  sometimes exotic vets are more into birds and reptiles and some rodents. Some vets are not certified in exotics and did not take the specialty boards, but hold a "special interest" in exotics.  It can be so confusing. This is why its good for people to get as educated as possible about rats so they can gently suggest things to their vet. Most vets don't mind, but there are a few smug vets that no matter how little they know about rats, they don't want to hear any advice from you if you don't have a certificate on your wall. I have locked horns with one or two over the years. The vet I am talking about kept trying to pick my rat up by his tail and when I told him he should not do that and to please stop or he will cause his tail to deglove, we got into an argument. I had the glory of being told right in front of him (by another vet) that I was right and he was wrong because you can  indeed deglove the rats tail and should NEVER pick them up by their tail. That shut him up after that. :)

As for the rat food, you can order a good rodent block made by harlan teklad right from a place called Kims ark.
Harlan Teklad Lab Blocks #2014 are the best bet with the lowest protein, btw.

http://www.kimsarkrescue.org/content/view/35


Also, for rats over 4 months old, regal rat by oxbow is a great food too.
Here is the URL to that site:

http://www.oxbowhay.com/Shop/showProduct.sp?PRODUCT_NO=75