Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ziggy had to see the vet today. He was having a hard time breathing last night. The vet took an x-ray of his lungs and found that he has pnumothorax - both lungs have collapsed! She said she doesn't know what could have caused it, and it's really not treatable. He's on antibiotics just in case he does have an infection. She had never heard of this happening in a rat before, so she looked it up online and could only find one other documented case. Poor guy, either his condition resolves on its own, or I could lose him any day. His appetite is still good and he still wants to get out and play, so it's hard to say what will happen. I personally think it's a defect he was born with. He has always been sneezy and sometimes he made noise that sounds like he was really congested but it went away after a few minutes. Of coarse right now that sound is constant. Has anybody else had this happen to their ratties? I'd like to know if this is as rare as the vet thinks or if a lot of cases just aren't reported.

Oh I am so sorry to hear about this.
No I've never heard of it happening in rats. I know in larger animals or people it's a surgical procedure to fix it.. I really don't know if that could be done to a rat without killing the rat.
Gosh I hope he makes it.
If I can find any info on this I'll post it.
Good luck with him... the poor baby!
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PHRatz