My rat koko has mycoplasma, which we have been treating for 10 months. As soon as I heard her start to make the breathing noises I got her some medicine. We have tried several different medications but none of them have gotten rid of the noises. She has made these noises for most of the time for the last 10 months. When we stop a medication it does seem to get a bit worse (louder, more frequent), but putting her back on the medicine never gets rid of the noises, just brings it back to a lower level.
Also, Other than these noises and a bit of sneezing she has no other symptoms (her activity level and weight are good, and she doesn't have any porphyrin around her eyes or nose).

She is 1 year and 9 months old, and has been making these noises for 10 months, but hasn't gotten much worse or better. Is this normal?

Here is a video of what the noises sound like. It's not my rat, but she is making the same noises:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AENGkenek4I

I have this same problem. It could be that your girl has a bacterial infection or some other thing that is compromising her immune system. I've spent a fortune on vet visits and meds over the last year and conclusively, 3 rats are dead and 2 are incurable (as in, I got the last deceased rat necropsied and his lung tissue tested and the results came back inconfreakingclusive!) So, not giving up, now I'm trying another vet who's interested in looking at my husbandry....what ever I learn, I'll share with you.

Thank you so much! Did you have to pay for the necropsy even though you didn't get any results? If you did that must have been so frustrating.

My rat makes this noise, or something like it.... but only once in a while for a short period... almost more of a: "O: I am interested." kind of sound. Should I be really worried? D:

I hate to say it but its probably her myco entering the advanced stage. Myco almost always gets worse as they get older, especially if they had problems early on.

I'm no expert, but if she has no other symptoms the noises might be because of the permanent damage done to her lungs by the myco. It doesn't sounds like she is having too hard a time breathing, but keep your ear out in case in worsens.

It's not your fault in any way, its just how the disease progresses. If she happy and eating well then you will most likely have more happy months together.

Thanks. Yeah I figured it was probably just cuz her lungs got scarred so they will never go back to being normal. Its kinda weird though because we started treating RIGHT away. I had just lost a different rat to mycoplasma (which was the first time I had encountered the disease) so I knew right away when Koko starting showing the signs, and got her medicine right away. I think maybe the first few meds just weren't very effective so she got worse through those first few months, but has now stabilized at this level. She seems very happy and it doesn't seem to bother her at all, but we are still keeping her on her meds so it doesn't get worse.

The one (and only) good thing about the noises she makes is that I never have to worry about her getting lost in my house cuz I can always hear where she is haha.

It's not always about how fast you treat, the disease progresses differently in each rat and a lot of their susceptibility is due to genetics which you can't fix.

You've done all you can for her and she's lived a long time with the noises so far and will probably continue to thrive so you must be doing something right.


I'm sorry to push this topic on you so soon after losing Koko's sister. But have you considered getting her a new pair of friends to keep her company. It will probably lift her spirits and might even work in a therapeutic way to have a couple of youngins to look after.

Yeah, we are thinking about adopting one older rat (about the same age as her) The spca said they would call us if they got one in; they said they do sometimes. Is it way better to get younger rats, though? I don't really know where I would get more younger rats though because there are no ratteries or rat rescues near where I live. There is a pet store in my town but I don't want to support the rat mills, and they probably won't be all that healthy (my other rats came from a pet store too (a different one), but at least they bred them there in the store and got handled a little bit from birth). Plus, I'd kinda prefer to adopt an older rat because there probably aren't that many people who would want to adopt a single older rat, so it would be nice to give one a loving home.

We have to wait at least 2 weeks more before we adopt another rat because we are giving Koko a mite treatment and I don't want to expose a new rat to mites and then have to bathe 2 rats.

But yes, I definitely don't want Koko to get lonely and depressed. So far she has been really good, and we have been spending alot of time with her, but I imagine it must be lonely for her to be sleeping all by herself:(

I just thought some young rats would get her up and moving, but a cuddle buddy is just as good.

If you got young rats you'd have to get a pair so after... you know... they wouldn't be alone. An older rat seems like just the ticket (yes I'm bringing it back;))

The SPCA sounds like a good idea, I definitely support your not supporting rat mills, but if you wouldn't mind a drive there has to be another shelter somewhere relatively close to you that has rats in need of homes. Maybe the SPCA could give you some shelters that need a good rat owner.

Yeah, I would like to do that but I don't have a vehicle right which makes getting to another shelter pretty difficult. If we can't find her a friend here in the next month or so then I will definitely consider some other options. Thanks for all the advice:)