HAPPY UPDATE - HELP PLEASE!!! - Chronically Sneezy Rattie

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rattikins

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2008
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Lily was doing so much better this morning and last night, now she's choking!!!! She keeps going to the top of the cage and looking up and choking....

Is this unrelated to her sickness? What do I do?

Update - She seems to have worked it out on her own, like I know I'm supposed to let her (hardest thing to watch ever) but now she's sitting there with her eyes half closed and keeps having little boughts of three sneezes in a row. Does it take a lot out of them to choke?


I don't know what to do beyond taking her to a 24 hour emergency which is $150 and I will do if it comes to that, so please don't just say "take her to vet".

What can I do here, right now for her??

Please help. :sad3:
 
Most of the time, rats can work a piece of food through themselves. So long as she's still breathing, hopefully she'll be ok. It is very hard to watch :( :(: ( Just keep an eye on her, make sure she is still breathing but otherwise there's not much you can do. There is a heimlich maneuver for rats as well as a 'fling' move but it should be used as a last resort.
 
Thank god it's eased up for her. Likely it's either a choking incident in which case the object has been eradicated and it's all done with, or else it's a respiratory thing and she could have one again. I expect she's already on antibiotics after surgery? Cause any stress can cause the kids breathing trouble.

I know you have previous posts about this kid - but that's why it's good to continue in that post - so we can read the history and have a better idea what is going on. Always post in the previous one if it has anything to do with the new one, ok? Nobody knows what was happening with your kid before surgery here - if you posted in the previous we'd all know the history and someone might recognize something....
you do understand that ifyou posted 'help' in a post that told of what came (and you can add help to the post title later you know so it stands out - ask how if you don't know) before we'd know why she was in surgery which we don't know from this post....

I hope all is ok. You're sure being a good mom and doing all you can.
But next time, keep everything about Lily (or whoever) in one post ok? So you get the best help for them. I do understand a "help now' post but you can do that in the title and still have all the important info available to the helpers.
 
It really is a scary thing to watch when they choke. But also part of pneumonia, if indeed a rat has pneumonia, they will climb to the top of the cage and put their heads looking upwards and they usually gasps when they do this. That would mean something is seriously wrong with her lungs.
You might have to consider your sweet little girl is underdeveloped and she may have a hard time all her life. :sad3:
If she gets back to normal, then it was just a "normal" choking, not that choking is ever normal but at least it's not pneumonia.
 
Does/Did it look like this?

Video of Rat Choking Courtesy of Steph/sasinsrq0969 and Elmer

http://s56.photobucket.com/albums/g194/ ... hoking.flv

You can see that Elmer is drooling, which is normal, it helps break up the lodged food item.

Rats choke easily on things like bread, peanut butter, anything super sticky. Rats have been known to choke on lab blocks too though. They usually work it out, but its a scary sight I know!

Let us know how Lily is today?

And yes you really should just continue the Lily thread and change the title in the original post. Just click on Edit and change the title and then submit :)

Its awfully confusing keeping up.
 
First of all, thank you all so much for your help. She is "fine" today, so I'm hoping it was just an incident, HOWEVER with her history of small size, URI like symptoms her whole life, etc. I'm assuming she's not going to live long. :sad3: I'm just going to give her as much happiness and care as I can while she is with me.

Second, I made a new thread because it was related to her choking, an immediate issue not about her previous URI stuff, which when written I was emotional, panicking, and not willing to waste the time to find the old thread while she was in my opinion, dying.

Third, is it just me or is it true that this forums posts don't bump? I thought that they stay where they are when edited, and with this emergency, I wanted the post to be on top and seen. I hate when posts don't bump...


From now on, I'll be much more courteous and follow your rules about the posting. You're all so wonderful and I can't thank you enough for all your help.
 
jorats said:
When editing, it won't bump up but when you post in your thread, it will bump up.

I'm so glad she's doing better now.
Click to expand...

Thank you Jo. :)

I hope that she pulls through all this early life sickness and lives a long time. She's such a sweet rat!
 
lilspaz68 said:
Post your new dilemma, question or good news (and there is your "bump" to the top of the pile), then go in and edit that Title for us :)
Click to expand...

Gotcha, now I'm on board with this bump difference. Thank you!! :)
 
I'm so glad she was able to work it out herself. That would be a scarey thing to watch.

The only other suggestion I can make is when you make a title you can definately type in Help Please but also maybe put in there what it's about, chocking etc. That way we all know exactly what the post is about AND it can help find it for future reference if need be.
 
Okay, so I'm getting frustrated.

For those who don't know her whole story, Lily came home somewhere between 3 and 6 weeks of age. She weighed an ounce (28 grams).

She was sneezy so I immediately took her to the vet. He put her on amoxicillin for two weeks.

After two weeks with no improvement, I brought her back. He put her on 22.7mg baytril 0.02ml and doxy 0.05ml combo.

Now it's been one week of this combo and she's STILL sneezing!!

I'm at my wits end. I've never had to put out so much money in vet bills before.

Is she EVER going to get better, or am I fooling myself??

:sad3:
 
lilspaz68 said:
Is it JUST sneezing?
Click to expand...

Yep! No propryin anywhere, she eats, plays, drinks, comes out, takes treats, popcorns, and bruxes.

That's what's so frustrating, she constantly sneezes and cleans her nose of the snot. But that's IT! No other signs besides the occasional squeeky breath now and again.

What does this sound like to you?
 
Miss Sofie said:
What do you use for bedding in the cagebottom??
Click to expand...

Nothing. They are in a huge bird cage that has a pull out drawer so there is not bedding of any kind.

They lay on hammocks that are made of fleece and washed with fragrance free detergent.
 
Does anyone else find this strange - even though Lily has grown since she started her antibiotics 3 weeks ago (she has doubled in size again, I'd estimate 4 ounces at this point) the vet has NOT raised her dosage of baytril or doxy.

When I asked him why it was still for what he calculated her size to be at 4 weeks, not now at 7 weeks, he said "it's about the same dosage still"

:? :? :?

Also, wouldn't a course of amoxicillin, and a course of baytril doxy combo take care of a URI?? What else could possibly be done, I feel like this would have to have worked, yet she's still sneezing.... is there some OTHER antibiotic that would help her?

Sorry for all the Qs, just SO SUPER frustrated right now. :sad3: :sad3:
 
4 oz now?
and your baytril is 22.7? and your doxy is 5 mg/ml?

sooo 113 grams now.


Now I am getting .05 of baytril and .11 of doxy

How long has she been on the combo now?
 
She has been on the combo for about a week now. I asked him to up the baytril given that she has grown, and he said she was still "about the same size" so it would be fine.

I don't know, seems funny to me....
 

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