Friday, February 5, 2010

Is this true? Rat related question.?

';Mycoplasma (Mycoplasmosis)is a disease that effects almost every rat, it is basically impossible to find rats that are not born with it.


Mycoplasma, is a Respiratory infection that is not contagious, since you can not give a rat something it already has.


Most Rats are infected with Mycoplasma, but not all rats are effected by it. ';





I always thought that it was infectious to other rats and is airborne. Or is this person basing her theory solely on the fact that most rats already have it, therefore cannot catch it?Is this true? Rat related question.?
Mycoplasma is a bacteria that 99% of pet rats carry normally in their systems. It normally doesn't do anything as it is under control, but stress, bad bedding, and other illnesses can cause the bacteria to overgrow, causing a respiratory infection. Antibiotics can get it back under control but they never actually 'cure' it.





It is contagious in the fact that if one rat has an overgrowth of it it can make another rat's worse, and also if the other rat happened to not have it (very rare) then they can catch it that way. Baby rats are born with it if their mothers have it. Usually the only way to get a myco-free rat is to have them surgically removed from their mothers by C-section in a laboratory, many lab rats are myco-free as this would interfere with other studies.





For more information about rat care please visit my website at http://careguide.evergreenrattery.com or feel free to email or IM me by clicking the link in my user profile. Good luck with your rats!Is this true? Rat related question.?
Basically it's assumed all rats have it in the pet trade, but it lays dormant. It can be aggravated by stress, other illnesses, dust and bad bedding, etc. The only time I've seen myco-free rats are ones that were adopted from laboratories who take great measure to remain myco free.. You can always get an ELISA test done on your rats at the vet, mine charges around 70 dollars per test, but it'll probably be positive regardless (although you can see all kinds of other things they may carry on top of it).





It's highly contagious, but I assume that the person means since other rats already have it (in dormant state) then they cannot ';re-catch'; it from a rat who has it in it's active state. It's still good to quarantine 3-4 weeks for other diseases such as SDA.
It is infectious, and not all rats have it. When I adopted my rats, they'd already been tested as Myco-free.





When getting new rats, it's a good idea to have a vet test them and keep them separated from existing rats until you know if they are infected or not.
I believe that is true and that the cells lay dorment until something happens (I'm not really sure what) and it becomes active.


I'm not sure though, it's just what I've read around here and on information sites about rats.


Mine hasn't had problems yet and he's about half a year old now. Just make sure your rat is inside your home and it doesn't get to cold or too hot for him/her.

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