Rat diagnosed with lung tumors?

Question
QUESTION: Starting Tuesday night (today is Friday), one of my rats refused her yogurt treat, which she has never done before.  Weds she was lethargic, but still drinking water.  Thursday she would drink or eat, so I called the vet, but in the meantime I fed her yogurt and gave her water via an eyedropper.  Today, he told me she had tumors in her lungs (she was gasping and the stress of the visit made it worse), so he gave her a steroid shot and some antibiotics.  He said he couldn't tell me how long she might stick with us, but to give her the meds and watch her.  She drank out of her water bottle when we got home, and her breathing seems easier, but I still worry.

He really didn't tell me much, so any further information you can give me would be great.  What can I do for her?  Every 30 minutes I give her some yogurt, love on her, and make sure she's drinking water.  I have her in her house with her sister (not blood, just cage mates), and I wonder if that's ok?  Mimi won't infect Elizabeth, will she?

Mimi is probably about a year old and was healthy before.  She's kept in a clean cage out of drafts.

Thanks!

ANSWER: Hi KImber

Thats a real shame about young Mimi. I must ask, is the vet you use an exotic vet? Not that I doubt the vet, but she is so young to have something this unusual. Lung tumors are not common in rats.

First things first, it is fine, in fact, its a good idea that she remain with her cagemates. Keeping her alone will stress her further and make matters worse.

Is she congested alone with this gasping?

Did the vet give you steroids to give at home? Steroid shots in rats don't last very long due to their fast metabolic rate. She should be on
baytril for antibiotics for the first 3 days. If she gets worse after 3 days they should be switched to another drug.
Also she should be on daily dose of prednisone which will help lung inflammation.
As for food...rats with respiratory infection cannot exert their energy to open their mouth and chew which is why she stopped eating..Its better to lick instead, because she doesn't have to chew and this way she wont lose  her breath. You can offer her baby food, strained, any kind really, from squash and peas  and carrots to strained  bananas and peaches or pears etc...
Also, you can buy a can of ensure or even boost and let her drink that from a syringe, putting the syringe sideways in her mouth and let her suck it out so she doesn't  aspirate.
I would think about a second opinion though, just to  safe.

If she gets really bad, unfortunately, you may need to put her  to sleep. This type of tumor can cause her to suffocate and that would be very  inhumane  and i know you don't want that for her, but on the other hand, it could have been infection the vet saw and if given the proper medication she can recover fully and I have seen this mistake made over the years many times .

Please let me know what else I can do  to help.....

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

QUESTION:
Thank you so much for answering so quickly!!

The vet was for exotics (while I waited a guinea pig and iguana came in).  He didn't give me any steroids for home, but he did give me cefadroxil and I'm to give her .10 twice a day.

I refresh her yogurt every thirty minutes and she is eating it up!  She also munched a bit her normal food, as well as drank from her water bottle.  She's not gasping at all anymore!  I even got her happy chirps when I snuggled her a minute ago.

What do you think about keeping an eye on her for the weekend then getting a second opinion if she starts gasping again?  She's made a remarkable comeback in just a few hours. :)

And if she does start to suffer, I will be able to help her "over the bridge."  I love her too much to see her hurt.

Thanks again!


Answer
I agree....give the meds time to work for 3 days before seeking a second opinion....Cefa drops are awesome btw...and again, it may be pneumonia instead of a tumor on the lung....X-rays on rats are pretty weird to read.

Hopefully this is infection and that she will respond to the cefa drops!!!!

Keep me posted!