Rat Health Care by Debbie Ducommun

Author:Debbie Ducommun
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: The Rat Fan Club
Published: 2014-08-28T12:00:00+00:00

Secondary Infections

Mycoplasma makes rats more susceptible to secondary bacterial infections from a variety of bacteria. These infections are usually opportunistic, taking advantage of a break in the immune system, and are not usually contagious.

In all rats, but especially in young rats, I recommend amoxicillin as the first treatment for any symptoms of illness. Amoxicillin tends to work best against most secondary infections in rats. Secondary infections tend to be acute and serious and can progress extremely rapidly—they can sometimes kill a rat in just 12-24 hours. It’s best to treat for this first because if the treatment doesn’t work, you still have time to try a treatment for mycoplasma, but if you treat for mycoplasma first and it doesn’t work, you may not have time to treat the secondary infection. All rat owners should have amoxicillin on hand so they can treat their rats immediately if they seem sick or “off.”

If a rat appears quite ill, then it is a good idea to give both amoxicillin and enrofloxacin at the same time. Both are bacteriocidal and work well together. Another good combination for severe symptoms is gentamicin and amoxicillin. Both of these combinations target secondary infections as well as mycoplasma. I recommend treating secondary infections for a minimum of 2-3 weeks or until symptoms have been gone at least a week.

Some of the bacteria that can cause secondary infections are Streptococcus pneumoniae, Cilia-Associated Respiratory (CAR) bacillus, Pasteurella pneumotropica, and Corynebacterium kutsheri. Strep infections can kill especially quickly.

There is controversy whether rats can get strep from a human with strep throat. The organisms are supposed to be different (Streptococcus pyogenes for strep throat, Streptococcus pneumoniae for rats) but there have been some suspicious cases. It is probably best for someone with strep throat to avoid rats.

Some books say that rats can get “colds,” but they mean respiratory infections. Rats cannot get the human cold or flu.

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