April 2009

SDA Virus

We may have had the SDA virus, but it's confused by the fact that we have had neck abscesses in some rats for the past year.

29th March 2009

We lost Pringle. He'd been to the vet several times over the previous fortnight as he kept looking really ill, then recovering. He also had a mass in his side which could have been inflamed kidneys, but seemed to the vet to be in the wrong place. We tried treating for heart problems because the variability suggested that could be the problem, but it wasn't working. Then his eye swelled up and popped right out, and the next day he died.

2nd April 2009

We lost Mystique. She'd had a neck abscess coming and going for over a month. It came up again and then she died. We decided it had probably caused blood poisoning. Because I'd had two deaths so close together, I withdrew my entries for the upcoming MRC show and didn't handle my rats on the morning of the show.

20th April 2009

Caliadne had a swollen right eye. This in combination with the previous two deaths made me suspect we had SDA. Her sister Phoebe also had a swollen neck. Three other rats were slightly wheezy. I treated everyone who showed any symptoms with antibiotics, and the wheezes all went. No further signs.