Surviving SDA
By: Tami George

Anyone who has come face to face with this disease will tell you that it is one of the most devastating diseases to hit a colony. In and of itself, it is somewhat self-limiting and usually is not life threatening. However, combined with mycoplasmosis or any other underlying problems, it is deadly as it weakens the immune system. Before we go any further, I cannot stress enough how critical it is to ALWAYS follow proper quarantine procedures before allowing any new animals to enter your colony.

Our first introduction to SDA, Sialodacryoadenitis, came back in 1998. We had purchased a rat from New York that, in transit, had unknowingly been exposed via a show in Illinois. Quarantine practices were not as well known then, and we were relative newcomers. I had never heard of SDA and hoped to never hear about it again. A few days after Kirby’s arrival, we knew something was radically wrong. Others on the rat lists were seeing the same symptoms and we immediately started everyone on panmycin (4 drops per 4 oz of liquid) per our vet and a mixture of Echinacea and goldenseal with strawberry Kiwi Kool-Aid. We gave no water, only this drink. Liquid vitamin drops were also added. It is important to note two things here. If you are giving panmycin, do not give any milk products and goldenseal root is a mild diuretic. You must provide plenty of fluids. This helps flush the toxins from the body. We were lucky and no one got anything worse than a swollen neck and some sniffles, which both quickly resolved themselves.

There was a great deal of discussion on the lists after this outbreak and it was decided that a 2-month quarantine for any rattery exposed was considered to be the way to go. These were experienced, respected members of the rat community and I trusted their
judgment. After quarantine was up, we imported several rats from two Illinois area breeders/judges. We “assumed” all was well and that the quarantines were followed there as well since they were the ones that were the most outspoken about the prior outbreak. We could never have been so wrong.

When the animals came to us, they were in very poor condition. The smell was horrible, and they were living on sunflower seeds as bedding in a cardboard box. Many were sneezing and had red around their eyes and noses. The animals were cleaned up and placed in clean environments but by then the damage was already done. Our rats were again exposed, not only to SDA, but now to Mycoplasma as well. I had never been so thankful that my son was an asthmatic as I was during the next couple of weeks. Because of this, we had the home nebulizer machine with Albuterol (a bronchodiolator) for breathing treatments. The rats were very good about this and most held their faces right in the steam while we held the mouthpiece up to them. You can also place them in an aquarium with a towel over it for a brief time allowing them to inhale the medicine. Be very careful with amounts and check with your vet first. Albuterol can speed up the heart rate and too much medicine can cause cardiac arrest. We did breathing treatments every 3 hours in addition to the above-mentioned treatment. With SDA it is more about aggressive supportive care. We did get through this horrible ordeal without a single loss, although we did have one younger rat that lost an eye due to the swelling as the animal scratched at it, and some with residual lung damage that remained intermittent the rest of their lives. We also learned some very, very valuable lessons. Quarantine incoming animals with no exceptions. Two months, in my opinion, is not enough after this type of outbreak. We closed our rattery for 6 months to any incoming or outgoing animals. I have heard many arguments about this being too long, and valuable bloodlines being lost. I am sorry, but if the life of your existing animals is not enough for you, then you are in the rat world for the wrong reasons.

We have learned a great deal since then and I think we, as a rat community, have come a long way. Not only should you quarantine your animals after an illness, but also any new rat(s) that you add to your colony MUST be quarantined (off the premises if at all possible) properly no matter where they come from. We learned the hard way and I hope by sharing our experiences, we can prevent others from going through it. We were lucky. Ours survived. A great many rats from a great many breeders were not as lucky. SDA is alive and well and the only sure way to survive SDA is to be smart, follow proper quarantine procedures and never allow your animals to be exposed in the first place.

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