wheezing rat?

[justinO]

Hey.. we recently cut down on our rodent breeding, so we closed up our rat room and kept a few breeders and pets in the living room. one of our hairless rats has developed a wheezing noise.

I'm wondering what caused this, and if there is anything we can do to fix it?

thanks,
Justin

[Linds]

Secondary infection as a result of mycoplasm. I'm currently debating on keeping one of them (intended as pet), as it is going through the same thing, only it's sneezing and clicking instead of wheezing. I don't know a great deal about it, only what I've been able to find online and find out from other people. I looked through my vet books and couldn't find anything useful. Myco is incurable, but the secondary infections are treatable with antibiotics. It is highly contagious and most of the general population do carry it. I've had the odd breeder start wheezing, but it never interfered with their breeding. They still produced large, viable litters, regardless.

[mice4you]

It probably has SDAV. Most rats from pet stores have it. The only real "clean" source is labs.

Rats are natural carriers of SDAV and seem to be able to live and function normally with it. SDAV is also commonly known as "the sneezing disease" although it is actually a virus.

You can do a search engine search under SDAV and get a lot of info on it. Bottom line is that if it is SDAV, the rat will still live fine as most seem to have been exposed to it at one point or another.