Diagnosis and Treatment of Common Diseases in Muskrat Farming
1. Common Cold
[Diagnosis] Listlessness, unwillingness to move, reduced appetite or even complete loss of appetite, often lying in a corner of the enclosure. In severe cases, nasal discharge, labored breathing, elevated body temperature, damp and foul-smelling fur, and some lie motionless in the water pool. [Treatment] Inject penicillin, inject analgin.
2. Constipation
[Diagnosis] Poor appetite, indigestion. Feces are hard, small, and scanty, sometimes with no feces for several days. Some show abdominal pain and restlessness. Affected rats frequently turn their heads to look at their abdomen. Urine output decreases and is brown in color. [Treatment] Provide clean drinking water. Administer an enema with castor oil (or cooking oil) and warm water, or feed honey mixed with warm water in the feed.
3. Diarrhea
[Diagnosis] At the onset, feces are strip-shaped or in piles, then become pasty or watery. Affected rats eat less or stop eating entirely, gradually become emaciated, with feces sticking to the tail base and around the anus. In severe cases involving young rats, the mortality rate is high. If mixed or secondary bacterial infection occurs, symptoms worsen and mortality increases. [Treatment] Attach a syringe to one end of a urinary catheter, insert the other end into the anus, then slowly inject a chloramphenicol or syntomycin aqueous solution into the rectum.
4. Heatstroke
[Diagnosis] Often occurs suddenly, with extreme listlessness, unsteady gait, fainting appearance, or lying collapsed in a corner. In severe cases, convulsions occur, body temperature rises above 40°C, the abdomen becomes distended, and shock and death follow rapidly. [Treatment] Move to shade, pour cool water to lower body temperature. Subcutaneous injection of camphor oil.
5. Muskrat Colibacillosis
[Diagnosis] In the early stage of an outbreak, because the animals are active in the water pool, prodromal symptoms are difficult to observe; most rats (mainly growing rats) often develop sudden onset and die quickly. In the middle and late stages of the outbreak, affected rats show complete loss of appetite, lie on the bank unable to move, and have diarrhea, with severe cases exhibiting bloody stools. [Treatment] Inject gentamicin or kanamycin or chloramphenicol. Administer olaquindox orally, and inject gentamicin every other day.
6. Muskrat Paratyphoid
[Diagnosis] Young rats mostly present with the acute form, with sudden onset and elevated body temperature, often dying within 1 week. Subacute cases show listlessness, refusal to eat, huddling in a corner, conjunctivitis, diarrhea, hind limb paralysis, and progress to death. Chronic cases show dullness, inactivity, reduced appetite, emaciation, mild diarrhea, with a course of several weeks, ultimately dying of exhaustion. [Treatment] Administer tetracycline or oxytetracycline orally. Or feed furaltadone mixed into the feed.
7. Muskrat Pasteurellosis
[Diagnosis] Acute cases show listlessness, inactivity, anorexia, nasal discharge, difficulty breathing, and in severe cases diarrhea, hind limb paralysis, dying after 2 to 3 days. Chronic cases show progressive emaciation, conjunctivitis, diarrhea, and difficulty moving. In addition, there is a subcutaneous abscess form, accounting for about 40% of affected rats, with a course of about 2 weeks, mostly resulting in death. [Treatment] Inject sulfadiazine or sulfathiazole; or intramuscular injection of penicillin and streptomycin, and administer chlortetracycline or chloramphenicol orally.
8. Muskrat Tularemia
[Diagnosis] Superficial lymph nodes enlarge, then suppurate and ulcerate. Body temperature rises, appetite is poor, breathing is difficult, and some cough. Cases in the late stage of an outbreak mostly present with the chronic form, with reduced appetite, progressive emaciation, and occasional enlargement of superficial lymph nodes. [Treatment] Use streptomycin, or oxytetracycline, chlortetracycline, tetracycline, and chloramphenicol as secondary options.
9. Klebsiella Infection
[Diagnosis] Mostly follows a chronic course, with reduced appetite, progressive emaciation, and abscesses on the neck, shoulders, and back; lower body abscesses account for more than 90% of affected rats. Then difficulty swallowing and breathing, movement disorders, abscess rupture, or symptoms of metastatic septicemia appear. The course is 15 to 20 days, mostly resulting in death. [Treatment] Incise the local abscess, drain the pus, disinfect with hydrogen peroxide, then apply anti-inflammatory powder and bactericidal medication. Inject gentamicin.
10. Muskrat Enterotoxemia
[Diagnosis] Most cases develop suddenly; affected rats show extreme listlessness, squatting alone in a corner, refusal to eat, abdominal distension, and in severe cases hind limb paralysis or bloody stools, mostly resulting in death. [Treatment] Administer chloramphenicol orally, and use antibiotics and antiserum for emergency prevention.
11. Muskrat Tyzzer's Disease
[Diagnosis] The younger the rat, the more obvious the symptoms and the higher the mortality rate. In the early stage of an outbreak, sudden death often occurs, with occasional diarrhea and listlessness. Chronic cases show diarrhea and emaciation, dying after 1 to 2 weeks. [Treatment] Affected rats can be treated with cephalosporin or tetracycline.
12. Muskrat Chlamydiosis
[Diagnosis] Listlessness, reduced or complete loss of appetite, then emaciation, unsteady gait, nasal discharge, and diarrhea. Symptoms fluctuate in severity, with a course of 6 to 18 days, ultimately resulting in death. [Treatment] Administer tetracycline orally.