Mycoplasma, An Incurable Disease Affecting Pet Rats

Mycoplasma is a very common rat disease and almost all rats have it. The most visible symptoms are sneezing and wheezing. If left on its own for long enough, the disease also causes gasping for air. Mycoplasma is also called mycoplasmosis . It is an incurable respiratory disease that easily spreads from rat to rat but never from rat to people. It can move from an infected pet to another pet through direct contact, via the air, or through an owner touching an infected pet and then proceeding to touch a healthy, uninfected pet. Deficiencies in vitamin A and E can increase the severity of the symptoms, so do repeated exposure to cigarette smoke and ammonia accumulated in the cage from rat's urine.

Mycoplasma causes blisters on the surface of a rat's lungs. Left untreated, it can also cause lung abscesses, emphysema, and uterus infection for female rats. Besides the sneezing, rats that have the disease usually looks fine. They eat well and show nothing wrong during their activities as if they are completely healthy. However, when the disease reaches an advanced stage, they begin to show signs that all is not well.

To slow down, or halt the progress of the disease, antibiotics are required. The usual antibiotics used are doxycycline, erythromycin, tylosin, baytril, and sometimes, although it's less preferred by many pet rat owners, tetracycline. You can tell if the treatment is successful when your pets stop sneezing. For infected pets where the disease is already in a very advance stage, it is best to seek the help of a veterinarian. They can help you combat the disease and stop its advance.

According to some owners, the antibiotic tylosin can completely cure a pet rat suffering from mycoplasma if the infected pet is still under 10 months old. So far, this report has not been properly documented yet. It is worth a try however, just to see if it really works. If it doesn't eradicate the disease from the rat's system, at least tylosin might be able to stop it's spread to stop the symptoms that may be bothering your pet.

Mycoplasma to rats is like the common cold to people. It spreads easily like a cold, and it is also incurable. The symptoms however can be treated. It is best to give rats some antibiotic the moment you notice them sneezing more than usual. This way, you prevent the disease from going into a more advance state and causing more damage to your pet rats.

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