It never ends! Rat choked last night . . .

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BrendaLee

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I just lost my baby Remi four days ago, and now I'm afraid I'm going to lose my sweet little girl Mizzy. Last night, I found her choking. I don't know what the culprit was, but she was in pretty great distress trying to dislodge it. Eventually, she settled down, though her breathing still sounded off. Today, she is breathing, but she sounds congested and labored and is definitely not acting herself. I phoned the emergency vet on call who admits he knows little about rats, but he gave me some generic advice.

I don't know what to do to help her. I syringed a little warm water into her mouth and massaged her throat. She made one sneeze sound and brought up a little brown gunk, but there was no improvement. I'm worried she aspirated ground flax or that it globbed up and formed a mass that is partially blocking her airway. Her regular vet will be available tomorrow, but this doesn't seem like it's going to resolve on its own at this point. I read as much as I could about rat Heimlich and the fling, just in case she stops breathing, and I'm not opposed to manually trying to suck whatever's in there out if it comes to that point!

What would you guys do? Losing two babies in less than a week may just put me over the edge.
 
post on facebook group Real Rat Lovers Want To Know

Glad that she is still alive
The advice I have always read regarding a rat choking is to let the rat resolve it on their own because doing anything can make it worse.

However, according to Debbie D. (health care book), if unresolved after 4 hours, there may be other issues (inflammation, resp infection etc) and she suggests trying an anti-inflammatory, amoxicillin and doxy - However, she is not a vet and has no medical training

I have read of other choking rats that tool a couple of days to work out whatever they were choking on.

You do not do a rat Heimlich or the 'fling' etc unless she has stopped breathing

Hopefully someone else who has gone through this will respond
 
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Usually they do resolve it on their own. However, if she is still getting stuff up there is obviously something down there. I HIGHLY recommend she is put on antibiotics to prevent pneumonia infection.
 
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