[Vermilion]

Hello new rat owner here,
I got my rats about three weeks ago-ish? (I bought them from my local pet shop, I know, not great) One of them straight off the bat was making a sorta honking noise every now and again (Mercury). I thought It may be the bedding they had been in (the pet shop used wood shavings) Initially, I was using paper pellets but I've recently changed to fleece.

However the noise still persisted albeit not very often now. It only happens very, very scarcely but as soon as I heard it again I took Mercury to the vet. She sorta took my word for the noises she didn't really inspect him if that's even a thing you can do for rats but I thought that was a little strange. She did give me medicine for a URI (Vibravet 100 paste) and I've been using that twice a day as instructed and I haven't heard the noise since (it's been almost a week on meds).

My other rat, Zephyr (btw I've separated them since the vet check-up) made the exact same noise once a couple of days ago it was loud and only lasted about thirty seconds but I'm now worried he's gotten the same thing Mercury has. I've been monitoring him the last couple of days and I've noticed a sorta faint whistling noise coming from him. He's also been acting a little lethargic as well since the cage looks as if nothing really lives in there.

So my question is, is it time for another visit to the vet? or should I leave it for another couple of days for more convincing signs of illness?

Thankyou

 

[SonicRat]

Rats are very vocal and make a very wide variety of sounds in ,just in and way beyond our hearing range,and some rats are noisier than others.Young rats often have the sniffles on and off can be due to the stress of settling .Rats have very sensitive respiratory systems and can snuffle around smells and dust.Also some rats honk on and off all their lives due to scarring from previous URI and I have found this type often cope with it very well despite the alarming sounds coming from them now and then.The cause of most URIs is mycoplasma,a bacteria that is present in only rats and mice.It is there all the time and infection occurs when the rat is stressed and it overgrows.Therefore,it is not infectious as such and there is no need to separate your rats.So,to sum up,in my opinion there is really no need to rush off to the vets or dose them up with antibiotics at every coughing fit.Drugs are only needed if the rat is obviously sick,porpyrin oozing(red tears) from nose and mouse,sunken sides with laboured rapid breathing,eyes narrowed ,weight loss,coat dishevelled,continuous noisy breathing like a pigeon cooing,generally hunched up and very miserable looking.