[Millie & Daisy]

Does anyone have a dosage chart for common antibiotics and for nebulizer treatments? I found this on the rat report about building a nebulizer chamber for your rats, and it says you can use albuterol diluted in a saline solution, which I have along with a nebulizer since I'm an asthmatic myself. I would just need to make the saline solution and know exactly how much I need to use and how to mix it. I also don't know if the albuterol I have in the viles already has the saline solution in it.

http://ratfanclub.org/nebuliz.html

I see all sorts of medications on the list but no dosages, and I wouldn't want to give them proportionately too much albuterol - because the dosage I take even makes ME shake and my heart race. I don't want to give them a heart attack. Daisy's on Baytril and her breathing seems to have gone downhill even since seeing the urgent care vet today and taking her first dose. However, I just put her and her sister in a carrier with a water bottle and their food so that they can sleep next to the cool mist humidifier tonight (I have no outlet on the side of the room that their cage is on and my humidifier is small. It also doesn't hurt for me to be able to keep a close eye on them by putting them beside my bed). I tried to make it as much like their usual sleeping area as possible; I put their hut in there with their chew sticks and all. There's also an air purifier next to it, hopefully that helps some with air circulation at least. She actually seems to be slightly improving with this, but I'm still worried.

By the way, I just wanted to be clear that I'm not going to give them anything until I'm 100% sure that it's okay. If Daisy gets really, really bad I will have to act urgently, but I really do plan on talking with the vet beforehand. I would like some sort of reference to share with the exotics specialist when I see them next weekend. I will also call tomorrow to ask if nebulizing is an option so that I can have everything ready beforehand.

Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

 

[MinorRobot]

Hopefully someone else chimes in that can answer your question better, but I HAVE nebulized squirrels and rats (both with albuterol and with homemade saline solutions) with good results. Most of my experience is using this with squirrels, but I always just used the vial and didn't bother diluting it. However, I don't know what the dosage was.

 

[MinorRobot]

Just wanted to add... If you need to take quick action but don't get an answer re: albuterol doses- I have nebulized rats with just saline solution. Probably not as effective as albuterol but it definitely helped. Unfortunately in my case with the homemade solution the rat didn't make it- it was a very young baby with pneumonia who was in all honesty probably too far gone. But I've raised many rats and other small mammals I see how quickly pneumonia can put them down and I've seen the difference nebulizing, even just saline, can make. Especially if you are just trying to relieve symptoms until they can get to a vet.

 

[Millie & Daisy]

Hey, sorry it's late - but should having my girls sleep next to a cool mist humidifier have similarly relieving affects as nebulizing? Daisy is sleeping at the very top level of the cage - a place where she rarely elects to go - and it's right in the path of the vapor so I assume she's there because it's relieving her in some way. Could I possibly put a saline solution in the humidifier? Or would that work differently? Thank you so much for your help.

 

[MinorRobot]

Honestly- I'm not sure but I think it's going to be pretty similar in effect. The big difference between a nebulizer and a humidifier, as I understand it, is that a nebulizer can disperse medications and it's not meant for a whole room the way a humidifier is. Aside from the medication aspect, both nebulizers and humidifiers break up liquid into droplets so that it can be inhaled, so if you're comparing a nebulizer w/o medication and a humidifier I think they are going to give similar results. A nebulizer may be better because (I think) it breaks the liquid into smaller droplets and it's more concentrated (rather than meant for a whole room). This is totally me just guessing, though.

However, I did find some info on albuterol for rats, including dosage info. Honestly if it was me I would do the nebulizer with albuterol, but do what you are comfortable with.
http://www.rmca.org/Articles/albuterol.htm