i have a rat called Dude... is he sick?

Question
ok Sandra...um... a few days ago i noticed that my rat (Dude) was sneezing and breathing hard just like a human with a heavy cold, but it went away so i didn't worry about it... however, when i went to get him from his cage after school he had the same problem except i think its worse... 1)do you know whats wrong with him? 2)does he have a cold? 3)will he die or is it not that serious? any advice would be greatly appreciated, im trying to find out as much as i can from the web but i have a feeling that this might be more reliable.

Answer
Hi Rhiannon

Sorry about Dude not feeling well. Let me first say that rats do not get the cold virus, so he does not have a cold. However all rats are born with a bacteria(dont worry, people cannot catch it)called mycoplasmosis and it can cause respiratory infections much like a cold and pneumonia.  You asked if it was serious and if it goes untreated, yes, it can be serious and yes he can develop pneumonia and possibly die. However, he doesnt have to be  sick. A vet that is experienced with rats can treat him. If he is allowed to go without treatment he will start to gasp and wheeze and suffocate from the fluids building up in his lungs. The vet can put him on medications. There are only a few types that treat mycoplasmosis due to the type of bacteria it is (lacks a cell wall) and most antibiotics are made to destroy the cell wall. The drugs to use for this type of illness are baytril and doxycycline and also gentocin injections and there are other drugs too that can help with breathing such as albuterol. For the first day, if he is really bad, he should be kept at the vets and put on oxygen while he is starting his antibiotic treatment. This way he wont struggle to breathe while his body is trying to heal. Make sure he is drinking even if you need to let him drink from a syringe. NEVER put medication in his water bottle. This leads to dehydration because if they dont like the taste of the water they wont drink at all. Rats are great at hiding illness since they are one of the most preyed upon animals out there...so they hide pain and illness so they dont fall victim to a predator sooner than they have to.  This continues even with the domestic rat. Once your pet rat shows he is sick, this means you must act fast and get him to the vet because on a scale of 1 to 10, once they show signs of illness, he is probably nearing at least an 8 or 9 with 10 being very sick.   If you need help finding a qualified vet, please email me at Sandyscrittercity@yahoo.com and let me know the cities that are near you.

Hope he gets better soon!

Sandra