Rat not moving and breathing hard

Question
QUESTION: I have a 3 month old rat that we have breed from two other rats we own. I just took him out of the cage to play with him on the bed. He was running around and went under the covers then I went to get him when I found him just sitting there not moving. Now he is not moving doesn't respond to anything and breathing heavily. What is the matter? Is he dying?



ANSWER: This could be MANY things such as heart failure, cardiac arrest, mycoplasma ect... I am not a vet so I really can't diagnose him from these symptoms. I say get him in to see a vet ASAP.

This is why I try to stress to people all the time that it's a VERY bad idea to breed your rats, especially if they have unknown backgrounds. If you don't know about the parents parents and their health and their personality and other things like that, you could be breeding a litter of babies with many genetic disorders. It's dangerous and not a good idea at all. This isn't a lecture, but sometimes people just are unaware of these things.

As a breeder myself when I put a male and female together to breed I think to myself, "will these babies be healthier, stronger, sweeter, longer living, and prettier than their parents???" If the answer is no, I do not breed them. A breeders goals tend to be to extend the life of the rat by trying to eliminate diseases that are genetic like cancer and tumors, myocplasmosis and megacolon. This makes a rat with a healthier more full life. But also by pairing together two rats with great personalities, no aggression or shyness or skittishness, and you are going to come up with some very sweet little babies.

There are just so many things to breeding, and I know you didn't come to me to hear this but it is still very important to know.

I say get your little guy to a vet ASAP before things are much more serious. I wish you the best of luck.

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

QUESTION: We own a total of 7 rats. 3 females and 4 males. Two of the females are not related and came from a breeder. One male rat is also from a breeder. We love our rats and try to take care of them as much as possible. We monitor and restrict who breeds with who. All of our rats travel with us and is always around us and our two dogs.

We have put him into a cool bath and dipped him into the water up to his neck. We pulled him out and now he is moving around now but still stumbles and is lethargic. Also, when we listen to his chest we can hear his heart beating fast and and also congestion in the lungs (maybe?) Unless thats just his heart beat. He did eat a little piece of bread but we cant seem to get him to drink. Any ideas?

ANSWER: The only thing you can do at this point is get him in to a vet ASAP. The symptoms he's showing sound like a respiratory infection and if it is not treated it will lead to a slow painful death by suffocation. He needs antibiotics. For temporary relief try putting a towel under the bathroom door and running the hot shower and sink water to get the room steamy. If he is having difficulty breathing this will help open his airways but he still needs to see a vet or the outcome will not be nice.

I'm glad you are taking good care of your rats. But if you are breeding, where do these babies go when they are 4 1/2 to 5 weeks old and need to be separated from mommy and by gender?

Try the bathroom trick and call around to find a vet to get him to. He might also need to be put in an oxygen tank, mention that to your vet. He needs treatment.

Also, I was just reminded that a rat under 4 months when being treated for a respiratory infection should not be given Baytril (which is the common med used) but instead given Zythromax, be sure to mention this to your vet as its very important.

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

QUESTION: We have separate female and male cages. We bred our first male with 2 females (not related). We kept 2 babies and the rest of the two litters went to a very good pet shop. We visited at least every other day, but they were bought within a week. Then we bred the youngest male with his mother. That's the litter that we lost 2 pups. I dont know if it was because of the inbreeding, but we were told it would be ok.

Speedy (our sick rat) is 1 of the 2 survivors. When I went to take him out of the cage today, he was alert and greeted me like normal. He came right up and into my hand. I brought him into the bedroom and set him on the bed. He ran up to my husband like normal and played for 10 minutes while I walked our dogs. When I came back, I noticed he had hid under the blanket and when I went to play with him, I noticed his body was lifeless and he was breathing rapidly. He wouldnt respond to sound, pain or movement. Like he was in a come. Then we read about younger rats having heat strokes and his tail was really warm. So, we did the bath. He is also drinking Gatorade now.

If he had an infection, why did it hit him so hard and so quickly? Could he have had a stroke and we were too late to cool him off? Could the stroke have injured his lungs and that's the sound we're hearing. We really cant afford to take him to the vet. I am very worried and I dont want him to suffer. He seems to be improving slowly, but I dont know if he is in any pain. I just dont understand what would make  his health deteriorate so quick like that.

Answer
I guess it is possible that it's heat stroke, but the fact that he is not responding to pain worries me. He could be having seizures (caused by any number of things). I know that when my pet rat Pixie had an ear infection she started having seizures from the swelling. After each seizure I was certain she was dying because she was lifeless and breathing rapidly. But just minutes later and she would be back to her old self again.

But honestly, there are SO many different things- with a mystery illness like this it's unlikely that I, or anyone else could give you any life saving advice other than to get him to a vet quickly.

Also, PLEASE don't take this the wrong way because I don't want to anger you or make you feel bad. But it's very likely this is a genetic neurological disorder. This is why it's so imperative to know ancestry on your rats, about their health, temperaments ect... It's wonderful having babies around but in the end, if something goes wrong like this I would hope you think twice before breeding again. Genetics are tricky- I had to study them for years before I even thought of venturing in to breeding because I didn't want to take any risks with my rats health. Even if rats have pedigrees, they could still be "faulty" in the genetics department. A great example is a beautiful siamese dumbo female I got from a breeder down south. When I brought her home she was amazing, sweet, talkative, and licky. She loved people. But the second she reached puberty she took a turn for the worse and now she is attacking anyone that comes near her or accidentally has their hand in the cage to get a food bowl. It wasn't something I expected and thank god she never reproduced successfully because her babies would have a huge chance of the same personality coming out. The breeder swore up and down that all the other siblings were perfect and that the parents were perfect ect.. But I know of another woman who adopted 2 boys from that same litter and they are the same way, proving that the attitude was genetic and could be bred in to future litters.

I have to say one more thing, hopefully again without making you angry so please try not to take it the wrong way... But, first of all- you will never gain money in breeding rats. You will always spend more money on their care and vet needs than you will ever make back in breeding. Rats do need vet care, especially when something like this comes up. You have to be prepared. And I hate to say this, but if you can't afford to take one rat to the vet when something is seriously wrong with him, what happens when an entire litter pops up with a problem? Megacolon can show up in every single baby in a litter and it's painful, life threatening and terminal. They have to be put to sleep or they die and live suffering like you wouldn't believe.

I don't want to be that person that lectures another person about not having pets if you can't afford their vet care, but here I find myself doing just that. Because as a rat owner, dog owner, and cat owner, I know how important it is to have the ability to take your animals to the vet, especially in an emergency situation as you have found yourself in. So as a little bit of advice, I always keep $300 to $500 in the bank in my savings specifically for my pets. This way if something bad were to happen I have emergency funds to get them there.

Think about getting a loan, car loan, title loans, check in to cash loans. There are so many ways to get loans now- it's impossible to never have any money. We have a title loan place near us that takes the title to your car and gives you a loan for what the car is worth, or less if you need less. I have gone in there periodically and gotten a $50 to $100 loan just to tide me over till I get paid that next week or so, and I pay it off in full with my paycheck and only spend about $5 in interest charges. It's very helpful.

I'm not sure I can medically give you any more advice and I don't want to continuously lecture you because I think it sounds like I am and I am trying really hard not to sound like that... But if you still are needing medical advice, I would go to the other expert on here. Her name is Sandra Todd and she is a good friend of mine and works along side an exotic vet. She knows quite a bit when it comes to the veterinary needs of pet rats. Sorry i couldn't be of more help, but good luck to you and your little guy.