I hope this is the right place. I just recently decided to litter train my rats and still had a HUGE bag of carefresh available. I filled their brand new litter boxes with that. But I've noticed their sneezing has gone up ever since I put that in their cage. They have been pretty good about useing their potty, but I just am starting to believe Carefresh isn't good for their health. I'm worried that it will start another myco flair up which I'm in no position to afford atm after the HUGE vet bills of Odin recently and the HUGE vet bills of Joshu right when he died.
Well, today I noticed Bert woke up with porphyrin stains and periodically would shake his head. It's not a tilt shake, it's almost like he's shaking off something. He's VERY active still and it lessened when I got him away from the cage and he woke up a bit. Could this be the start of an ear infection or something? His ears don't smell, he's not dizzy and his head isn't tilting, he just shakes. He just started this today and has been sneeze/porphyrin/headshake free until then. He did shake his head when he was attacking my hand before, it looks like he gets so excited he shakes his head agressively with play. But this time he did it when he wasn't playing.
I don't know, gah I wish I felt more comfortable with my current vet. She never seems to give me enough antibiotics, only a weeks worth at a time and always charges $20 for a weeks worth/rat on top of the $48 checkup fee. Also with current vehicle situations I can only go back there when she's open on a saturday, the next one being the ninth. And THAT was when I was planning on taking Gidgett in for showing signs of adrenal disorder (a six year old ferret I have) That is probably going to be anywhere from $100-$200 and I know I will only be able to afford the medicine to treat it right now until I can save up for her $600 surgery.
So I geuss what I am asking is, do you think Bert is fine and that this is just his thing? Do you think it's the carefresh's fault? Or do you think I should rush him into the vet A.S.A.P. Like I said, he's only sneezing in the cage and he was doing the head shakey thing more in the cage. Right now he's cleaned off all the porphyrin and hasn't sneezed at all since he's been playing with me. I havn't even seen the shakey thing but once. In the cage when he just woke up, he sneezed and shook his head more.
Well, today I noticed Bert woke up with porphyrin stains and periodically would shake his head. It's not a tilt shake, it's almost like he's shaking off something. He's VERY active still and it lessened when I got him away from the cage and he woke up a bit. Could this be the start of an ear infection or something? His ears don't smell, he's not dizzy and his head isn't tilting, he just shakes. He just started this today and has been sneeze/porphyrin/headshake free until then. He did shake his head when he was attacking my hand before, it looks like he gets so excited he shakes his head agressively with play. But this time he did it when he wasn't playing.
I don't know, gah I wish I felt more comfortable with my current vet. She never seems to give me enough antibiotics, only a weeks worth at a time and always charges $20 for a weeks worth/rat on top of the $48 checkup fee. Also with current vehicle situations I can only go back there when she's open on a saturday, the next one being the ninth. And THAT was when I was planning on taking Gidgett in for showing signs of adrenal disorder (a six year old ferret I have) That is probably going to be anywhere from $100-$200 and I know I will only be able to afford the medicine to treat it right now until I can save up for her $600 surgery.
So I geuss what I am asking is, do you think Bert is fine and that this is just his thing? Do you think it's the carefresh's fault? Or do you think I should rush him into the vet A.S.A.P. Like I said, he's only sneezing in the cage and he was doing the head shakey thing more in the cage. Right now he's cleaned off all the porphyrin and hasn't sneezed at all since he's been playing with me. I havn't even seen the shakey thing but once. In the cage when he just woke up, he sneezed and shook his head more.