Please help. I need fast help.

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Michellerattiemom

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My baby boy was fine this morning. I feed them & took a nap, cause I'm prego so I been very sick. I sleep from around noon till 5 and woke up & looked in my boys cage and Georgie was sleeping, so I petted him like I always do, and he made a weird noise! It scared me so I picked him up & under his chin was SOAKED in drool and it scare the hell out of me. He is breathing and seems like he just wants to lay there , so I laid on the bed with him & hes just laying in the pillow case and not moving, he is pushing his ears back and pushing his head forward and making a weird faces. Omg please help. My rats ARE MY CHILDREN. he just has to be ok. I will do anything and everything in my power for him! oh God please help me. what is wrong with my Georgie? This isn't him, Hes a VERY VERY LOVING AND RAMBUNCTIOUS lil fellow! Please help me & Georgie.

Edit to say: georgie lives in a critter nation with his 7 brothers. When I feed him this morning, I gave him a new food that I bought them just yesterday called, tiny friends farm reggie rat and mimi mouse. And I added a few cheerios in his bowl for a treat cause he loves them every now and then. I usually give themox bow food & fresh veggies as supplements but we were a lil strap for cash this week so I bought him that food. God I should have just spent the extra 5 bucks & bought there normal ox bow. This is all my fault. I won't be able to live with myself if Georgie isnt ok
 
I believe Georgie is choking. Www.ratguide.com should have info on it, or one one of the threads on here. They will drool, and do weird things with their head. Watch him, and try to give him water through a dropper. Rats don't have a fag reflex, and can't throw up, but will eventually work it out. Usually. If he's breathing, let him do his thing. He will be really wore out and tired when it's all over, so let him sleep. Those mixes aren't good for them, and have things in them they can choke on. Oxbow was $10 a bag on petsmart.com the other day. I bought 3 bags. That's about $5-6 cheaper than normal. I did site to store pick up. But sometimes they can even choke on that. If worse comes to worse, there's something called the rat fling, but I've never done it. If he's still doing the faces, and drooling in the morning, if take him to the vet straight away. Maybe someone else with more info will chime in.
 
Dena said:
I believe Georgie is choking. Www.ratguide.com should have info on it, or one one of the threads on here. They will drool, and do weird things with their head. Watch him, and try to give him water through a dropper. Rats don't have a fag reflex, and can't throw up, but will eventually work it out. Usually. If he's breathing, let him do his thing. He will be really wore out and tired when it's all over, so let him sleep. Those mixes aren't good for them, and have things in them they can choke on. Oxbow was $10 a bag on petsmart.com the other day. I bought 3 bags. That's about $5-6 cheaper than normal. I did site to store pick up. But sometimes they can even choke on that. If worse comes to worse, there's something called the rat fling, but I've never done it. If he's still doing the faces, and drooling in the morning, if take him to the vet straight away. Maybe someone else with more info will chime in.
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Dena said:
I believe Georgie is choking. Www.ratguide.com should have info on it, or one one of the threads on here. They will drool, and do weird things with their head. Watch him, and try to give him water through a dropper. Rats don't have a fag reflex, and can't throw up, but will eventually work it out. Usually. If he's breathing, let him do his thing. He will be really wore out and tired when it's all over, so let him sleep. Those mixes aren't good for them, and have things in them they can choke on. Oxbow was $10 a bag on petsmart.com the other day. I bought 3 bags. That's about $5-6 cheaper than normal. I did site to store pick up. But sometimes they can even choke on that. If worse comes to worse, there's something called the rat fling, but I've never done it. If he's still doing the faces, and drooling in the morning, if take him to the vet straight away. Maybe someone else with more info will chime in.
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I have been reading everything in my power to figure out what could be wrong & I think your right. I have never had a rat choke so this is very new to me. In all my years of raising ratties I have never had this happen! So needless to say it scared the living hell out of me and it is still scaring me. It's been about 2 hours since I noticed this, But I was asleep for about 4 hours prior to noticing this, So who knows how long it was happening before I noticed, Ya know. I'm just so so scared. About 20 min ago he kept trying to jump off the bed and go to a lil corner he likes to nap in, But it's a corner that it's kinda hard for me to check in on him at, so I didn't let him go and instead I put him in his hammock and now he's sleeping And Im literally checking on him like every minute! God I pray he's ok. Thank u for your help❤
 
I really hope he's OK and recovers fast! Don't worry momma, this happens with babies too, but you'll need to step in more for them! ;) I've got 3 grown kids, and my youngest, thank God, would puke as soon as he started choking. Doesn't hurt to know the heimlich maneuver, and cpr either! ;) I just wish it was so definitive with rats. I'd be freaking out too!
 
I'm freaking out. He was drooling all night. I haven't slept, I been keeping an eye on him. Hes still breathing but is moving very lil. Hes basically just laying there & every 2 hours or so he'll move to another location or stand up and clean his mouth and rub his chin on a blanket. He is breathing tho. The liquid was clear up untill about an hour ago, Now he's droolimg huge huge amounts and it's all like a brownish liquid. Looks like chewed up food saliva. I dont want him to die! but he is breathing and he made it threw the night. He seems like he really just wants to be left alone. Am I doing eberything right. What do I do?
 
I have never had a rat choke, but have read it plenty about ones who have. I'd maybe call a vet and see what they suggest. But if you're told by chance to PTS, I'd get a second opinion. Not sure how good your vet is, but it just seems like many give bad advice lately, or can't pinpoint what is really going on. I wish SQ or Lilspaz would chime in. Or someone else who has had a rat choke. Has he been drinking? How old is he?
 
choking looks terrifying but happens a lot. The drool is normal as it helps break up the stuck food item, the retching motion also helps bring it up. It usually resolves with no help or issue. Rats generally prefer to work it out on their own. Don't offer food or water until they are done, stop drooling and will start to swallow normally. It can take 10 mins or up to a few hours to clear.
 
Could he still be choking 12 or so hours later? I would assume the brown stuff means the food is breaking down and getting dislodged slowly? I have also read they will be really tired and worn out from all of it once it's over...
 
I do not have a vet that will take my animals. I live in a really small town and no one around here will touch my babies. So I haven't had a vet for them and thank God I haven't needed one at all. Untill now. I been looking for vets and the closest one to me is 2 hours away and my husband is at work right now so I can't get there. Georgie is almost a year old. And he doesn't wanna drink. But like I said, He is breathing just fine. He wants to be in his cage with his brothers but he don't wanna play. He just wants to lay with them and he's letting his brothers lick his face and his drool, Lol gross I know, But so precious too. He wants to eat but I'm afraid to let him as it may worsen his symptoms. I read a ton about rat choking and everywhere it says as long as he's breathing to let them be. Some articles even have the words "let them be" in big bold letters. They say as long as he's breathing he will dislodge it with his movements & all the excess drool will dissolve it over time and loosen it up. Then when he's over it, he will be extreamly tired and will want to sleep. As I said, at first the drool was a ton and it was clear. Now for the past 2½ hours it's been a lot of brownish drool, like as if he chewed up food and spit it out. That's what it looks like now. My husband and my common sense tells me that he's starting to dislodge it and get it out cause the drool is all brown now. So I'm just keeping am extreamly close eye on him and God forbid if he stops breathing or goes limp or blue I'll attempt the rat fling , cause I've read up on that as well, just to be prepared. God willing my Georgie will be ok and we will never EVER EVER be buying this dam food again! Please pray for my Georgie and thank u for the talk. It feels good talking to someone about this. It's making me a lil at ease cause lord knows I'm stressed to the max because of this scare.
 
lilspaz68 said:
choking looks terrifying but happens a lot. The drool is normal as it helps break up the stuck food item, the retching motion also helps bring it up. It usually resolves with no help or issue. Rats generally prefer to work it out on their own. Don't offer food or water until they are done, stop drooling and will start to swallow normally. It can take 10 mins or up to a few hours to clear.
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Thank u so much. This is scaring the crapn outta me to put it nicley
 
While I think this will resolve itself, you really need a vet that will see your rats because, eventually, something is going to happen. Also, you might choose to neuter your rats and for that you'll need someone who is experienced in rat surgery. You live a little over an hour from the third largest city in the US--there is someone, definitely, between you and there who will see rats. It might not be in your town, but since rats are specialty patients, it's sometimes necessary to go outside your normal comfort zone to get them seen. Look around, contact a few, and go with one you feel comfortable with.
 
Dena said:
How is he doing now?
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Hes doing much much better now Hes walking around & hes was drinking water like a mad man. He ate a few bites of food & now hes walking around on the bed and giving me all kinds of kisses He still seems a lil weak, but that's understandable considering what he just went threw over the last 24 hours. Hes still drooling a lil but no where near what he was doing. And he is still weak and kinda wants to find a place to just chill. But it seems like he is very slowly starting to get better Thank u so much for talking with me threw all this. Your were kinda like an angel to me I appreciate u so much.
 
Not too long ago I had a rattie who was choking and I freaked out because it was the middle of the night heh.. Luckily she is now fine so I'm hoping its the same case for your lil one.
 
I went through a similar experience and came here to find an answer also - https://www.ratshackforum.com/threads/emergency.36674/

My boy was literally dripping wet and it scared me so bad. I was crying my eyes out and ended up having a panic attack and did all the research I could before turning to the forum (as it takes a while to get responses). I took him out and just sat with him for the first few hours until he was starting to improve. I did have something to do the next day which I had to get up super early for but I didn’t care, my pets me the whole world to me. I tried to stay up as long as I could, I put him back in the cage and checked on him every ten or so minutes to make sure he was okay because I was still extremely worried and he wasn’t acting like himself still. I ended up staying up until later than 3 AM and fell asleep by accident. It was draining for sure. I am so happy that there were no complications and he pulled through.

Sorry for invading your thread. I hope your boy is doing good.
 

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