Can I treat my pet rats for rat bite fever to protect my family?

There is nothing to be done to prevent Toby from developing rat bite fever if he has been exposed. You will need to monitor him for lethargy, fever, loss of appetite or anything else out of the ordinary. An exam with your veterinarian would be recommended if Toby develops any symptoms. A course of antibiotics can be used to treat infection.

A check up, appropriate disinfection and possibly antibiotics (oral, topical or in a shampoo formulation) are usually needed. Disinfection may be started at home with very diluted hibiscrub or betadine or salted water baths. Buster collar may be useful as well to avoid any licking/scratching. Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

If this is a rat bite there is a risk it will get infected, and it may turn into an abscess, or the infection may spread elsewhere, which can be dangerous to Bini’s health. Rats can carry a number of diseases that can be dangerous to humans as well, so I advise you to have Bini seen by a vet to address the potential bite. The area is likely very sore, and Bini will probably not let you clean it appropriately at home. Although rabies transmission from a rat bite is uncommon, it is not impossible, so your vet will need to address monitoring/vaccinating Bini accordingly. She may also need antibiotics, which can only be prescribed by a vet. Good luck!

Poor girl. Rats can carry some nasty diseases unfortunately, so it is best to wash this area with betadine diluted 50:50 with warm water for now and then I would go to your local pet store and rinse it also with an oral rinse that contains chlorhexidine. Ask the pet store employee and they should be able to point you in the right direction. This should be washed daily and then I would recommend scheduling an appt with your local vet to have her wounds checked out further. She likely will need a short course of antibiotics and pain meds if needed. I hope that your furry friend Chullie turns out ok. Best wishes and take care.

Thanks for reaching out about your new family members. Amoxicillin will not treat the typical infectious organism that causes respiratory problems in rats (Mycoplasma). Either return to the vendor or seek a veterinary visit for recommended treatment. If is not the place, nor is it legal to prescribe medications or recommend medication treatments from this website. Good luck.

Hello. It sounds like Yuki would benefit from the antibiotics, too. Baytril is a very good, broad spectrum medication. Ask your vet if you can start giving Yuki the medication. The unknown here is whether this is viral or bacterial, or if this is even something more insidious like a fungal infection or even cancer. You might try some steam therapy or nebulization with saline. The next step would be to obtain chest x-rays to evaluate what is actually going on in the lungs. A change in antibiotics is a possibility & I would recommend Doxycycline possibly with the addition of azithromycin, & especially for Dambo, you might need to add theophylline to open up the respiratory passages. Personally, I would try to stay away from steroids for now. Contact your veterinarian to discuss what other options are available for your little pets. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Mycoplasma pulmonalis infection is a common problem in rats and it is very hard to get rid of the infection. Only a few special antibiotics will work so you will need to make a class trip to the vet for an exam and a prescription of an antibiotic that works This would usually be something like tylosin, tetracyclin, enrofloxacin, etc., all of which are prescription antibiotics.