RatPalace.com - Pet Rat Care and Discussion

Sat Feb 11, 2006 10:43 pm

Hi, my girl pebbles is on combo. meds. (doxy and bay) right now for a mayco flare up but i've started to notice that her breathing problems are occuring at the same time everyday. Every morning around 8am we begin to hear wheezing and then at 2pm in the afternoon she begins again except she usually makes little clicking noises and gasping. I clean the girls cage every day and have changed beddings too. Just wondering if anyone else has had a rat with breathing problems that occur at regular intervals. The bedding was changed from aspen to ultra carefreash. Sad

Sun Feb 12, 2006 1:49 am

Hmmm...I know that aspen bedding has tons and tons of dust in it, so if they were recently changed, they might have dust in their lungs still. I've never heard of wheezing only at certain times of the day, however. I would call the vet and ask about it, to see if you need to take them in. Good luck!

Sun Feb 12, 2006 3:31 am

What time do you clean the cage out? How do you clean it?

What is the schedule of a day - can you think of anything that happens within an hour or so of these times that might account for it - perhaps the same thing, perhaps different things. Such as - does the air conditioning or heating kick in, and possibly blow dust or mold from vents (even the best spotlessly clean place has the odd bit of dust or mold in pipes!)? Do you clean them just before or just after the wheezing begins? Do you medicate her near those times? Do you feed her something special around those times? Do you hoover or clean or open the windows near those times? Anything that happens regularly within an hour either side of her wheezing? You might find it helpful to keep a diary for a few days of absolutely everything you do - sounds silly, but it might help you see a pattern that's hard to see without being able to compare minute by minute when you do things during the day.

You could try putting her onto tissue paper or newspaper for a few days to see if bedding plays a part. You could also try extra rinses of fabric things, hypoallergenic washing products, no conditioner etc.

_________________
Andy & The Rats

~ Darwin ~ Maisie ~ Ella ~ Zak ~

~ Finn ~ Malachi ~ Azrael ~ Newton ~ Charlie ~

Sun Feb 12, 2006 8:06 pm

Hi, I will start keeping a log (great idea - why didn't I think of that?). Off the top of my head I really can't think of anything that is done differently during those hours. I began to feed them a new diet I found recently on the net but the wheezing was happening before I introduced it and they have lab blocks availably at at all times. Yesterday I picked of yesterdays news cat litter, so I will blend it with a little of the carefresh until its all gane. There girls get doxy at eight in the morning and then again at eight in the night along with the bayt. I usually clean the cage around six pm when I get home from work.