Rats suffer from 2 major health problems. Respiratory issues and tumours. Here I will talk about what you can do to keep your rat healthy, how to figure out if they are sick, and how to treat them.
Keep in mind that rats are very short lived, only 2-3 years most of the time.
Respiratory Issues
Nearly all rats have a bacteria in their lungs called Mycoplasma. If your rat becomes stressed in some way the symptoms of respiratory distress will start to show, including sneezing, red around the nose (this is Porphyrin, not blood) and raspy or crackly breathing.
In most cases, you take the rat to the vet, they will prescribe you one or more antibiotics for a period of a week to 2 weeks, and after this treatment the symptoms should settle down. Baby rats seem to overcome the infection faster than adults. Some rats may be left with symptoms for the rest of their life.
The vets in Tasmania usually prescribe an antibiotic called VibraVet.
It's a brown paste in a squeeze tube.
I have figure out 3 ways to administer it.
Squeeze some onto a rice bubble, most rats love rice bubbles and will gobble the whole thing up.
Some rats will slurp it straight from the tube.
If a rat refuses to take it, I smear it all over their mouth so they have to clean it off, and thus ingest it.
Sometimes if the infection is pretty bad or stubborn, the vets will also prescribe the antibiotic Enrotril.
This is an oral solution you will have to measure out with a tiny syringe and squirt into the rats mouth.
I find the best way to do it to to pull their lips back and put the end of the syringe in one side of their mouth, behind their teeth, and quickly squirt.
Tumours
Some tumours are benign, but its hard to tell. Rats are prone to cancer.
Feeling your rats body each day will help you catch any early signs of lumps, giving them a better chance of being removed.
However, operating on rats at all is dangerous, and they might not survive the surgery, plus it will be expensive.
Be prepared to have to euthanize a little friend before you decide to keep rats.
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