[gipped]

I just brought Oliver home earlier this evening, and before 6:30 P.M. today I've never had pet rat. He seemed fine earlier, but when I began handling him he starting sneezing. Mildly at first, but it's gotten worse and more frequent over the past six hours. About ten minutes ago I was sitting with him, and after I put him away he had one of his worst little sneezes yet, and being ignorant, I thought the red stuff was blood until I looked at some sites and saw it was probably porphyrin.
I'm still worried though, is it jsut because of the new smells? He's not trusting enough yet to let me hold him to listen to his breathing, and my mum already made it clear that because priority goes to our three cats, she will not take the 'new rat' o the vet. Not to mention it's 12 am here.
Sorry for the long post, but I just want to alleviate anything that's bothering him, if I can.

 

[kaylaface]

It might be allergy's. what bedding do you have him on? I hope that it isn't a URI starting up. Thats what happened to me. I got my rats like two weeks or so ago and they both had URI's, so they are on baytril right now and it's clearing up. I wish you the best of luck.

 

[Darksong17]

Rats often become a bit sneezy for a little while when first brought home but porphyrin is something you should not be seeing. It definitely sounds like more than the usual "new home sneezes". You NEED to get him to a vet before he becomes sicker. You should not have a rat if you cannot provide it with proper care. It seems you also did not do much research before getting your rat or you might know that rats do best in same sex pairs and groups. Oliver will require a friend once he is well.

I wish you luck with him.

 

[cjshrader]

Just so you know, URI means Upper Respiratory Infection.

How often is he sneezing, could you be more specific?

I was originally going to say Darksong was being a little harsh, but actually they are quite correct. Unfortunately, if you can't afford to take the rat to the vet then you shouldn't have gotten the rat. I won't get on your case about not doing much research, at least you came here and that shows you're willing to learn.

Where did that rat come from? Many pet store rats will have URIs as they are not kept in good conditions. If the sneezing continues after a few more days (Or if it's really bad), then some baytril really will clear that up but you have to get it from a vet.