smilez_n_hugs
Senior Member
Glad to her he's ok!!
Choking!
- Thread starter froxen
- Start date
Help Support The Rat Shack Forum:
mamarat
Well-Known Member
:happydance: Great news!!
Tarah
Well-Known Member
:joy:
LA
Well-Known Member
:joy: Glad he's ok... probably bruxxing because he's happy he finally got the food out.
Moon
Well-Known Member
It can take quite a while for them to work it out, and all that saliva is scary but they do get through it. Great news!
Fidget
Senior Member
That's got to be the scariest thing to have your kid go thru! Anything else you can get on here and be assured an emergency vet can help now, or it can wait for your regular vet and can be fixed. To be told to do nothing and see your kid in distress has to be the hardest thing in the world for a parent. (where's that little blue guy running back & forth icon?)
If not for this place I'd have been in there with tweezers making it worse I'm sure. So good for my kids & me & all of us that Rat Shack is here.
Just so freakin' happy your loverboy is a-ok!
If not for this place I'd have been in there with tweezers making it worse I'm sure. So good for my kids & me & all of us that Rat Shack is here.
Just so freakin' happy your loverboy is a-ok!
jorats
Loving rats since 2002.
No it's not normal... and could be indicative of a bigger problem like a lump in his throat. Unless... you can find a pattern like linking it to certain foods or if they aren't usually free fed and they rushed to eat something.
Fidget
Senior Member
I'm gonna go focus on Scotch and ask anyone else who believes in the power of prayer to do it for Scotch.
But first I'm suggesting stuff I haven't heard is effective and anyone feel free to give better advice for the kid's sake please!
If we don't know if it's a one-time object choking or if maybe the kid is having a recurrence of asthma or some other respiratory condition that we aren't familiar with - I'm aware people say not to stress him, but what about filling the bathroom with steam and then taking him in on your lap and petting him and giving him a chocolate chip? No stress there, just a possibility of alleviation if it's a respiratory problem with him rather than a choking..
But first I'm suggesting stuff I haven't heard is effective and anyone feel free to give better advice for the kid's sake please!
If we don't know if it's a one-time object choking or if maybe the kid is having a recurrence of asthma or some other respiratory condition that we aren't familiar with - I'm aware people say not to stress him, but what about filling the bathroom with steam and then taking him in on your lap and petting him and giving him a chocolate chip? No stress there, just a possibility of alleviation if it's a respiratory problem with him rather than a choking..
It lasted about an hour and a half, then he seemed really out of it for the rest of the night. He is back to normal this morning though.
Is there anything the vet can do if it is a lump in his throat? He was just neutered three weeks ago (same week as his first choking fit) -- we mentioned the choking to the vet, but she didn't notice anything abnormal on his pre-op checkup.
Is there anything the vet can do if it is a lump in his throat? He was just neutered three weeks ago (same week as his first choking fit) -- we mentioned the choking to the vet, but she didn't notice anything abnormal on his pre-op checkup.
jorats
Loving rats since 2002.
Did he produce lots of saliva? Was he setting his ears back trying to dislodge something?
It could be that he's an eager eater and must learn to not be to quick about it.
Are you sure it wasn't gasping or open mouth breathing? His lungs sound clear?
It could be that he's an eager eater and must learn to not be to quick about it.
Are you sure it wasn't gasping or open mouth breathing? His lungs sound clear?
It was definitely choking -- lots of saliva dripping out of his mouth, and he was pushing his neck in and out. He has never really had respiratory problems before (at least none we've been able to pick up) - no sneezing, wheezing, nothing. I'll try to monitor his feeding patterns a bit better, because yesterday it did happen right after I put fresh food in the cage. He is a bit of a chubby boy who loves his food!
jorats
Loving rats since 2002.
At least we know for sure it's not a respiratory infection. Now it's to monitor his feeding.
When you feed the little guy, can you put him away from the others with his personal little dish in a quiet corner?
When you feed the little guy, can you put him away from the others with his personal little dish in a quiet corner?
Joanne
Well-Known Member
*EDIT*
Sorry, didn't get to the next page....
Sorry, didn't get to the next page....
Debbie
Well-Known Member
I'm coming in really late on this one. Sorry. But noticed by your posts that this has happened a couple of times? We have seen several ratties choke over the years, and I have to disagree with others to some extent (sorry guys, don't hate...just want to give my advice based on my experience).
We have an older girl who has choked several times over the last couple of months too. She has advance respiratory problems and a life long heart condition. We simply cannot let her work it out, or I doubt she'd still be with us. Her nose is pretty plugged up all the time, so choking comes kind of easily and gets scary fast.
Anyway, my first bit of advice might be to ask if you can tell what Scotch was eating before he started choking? You might be suprised how many ratties choke on some of their favorite items. Let me tell you....pizza crust and soy milk..BAD combo.
Matter of fact, I've had a few ratties choke on pizza crust, until we started to let it dry out over night before giving it to them. It's just too doughy and they love it so much they scarf it down! Mashed potatoes or even cooked sweet potato can be pretty sticky and cause choking. Peanut Butter is a HUGE no no (yet many people still give it). It's super sticky and they can choke very easily on it.
As for what to do when they are choking....if you just leave them be, you risk the chance they will choke to death. There is the Rat Fling (noted in Debbie Duccommons booklet and on the Ratguide website), but that really should be used if they are no longer breathing.
If the rattie is still getting air, but either gasping, or doing the "this is hard to swallow" thing, where you can see their ears go back, and eyes close every time they try to swallow, I will gently rub their throats a little and see if that alone helps. It often does. If they are drooling, I will try to gently swab out their mouths. Of course, you have to be very careful not to push something down in further, so tweezers, sharp objects etc aren't really a good idea. We go with a q-tip, but swab out just the mouth.
If they look like they are ok, other than just trying to get something down (and this is hit or miss), I might offer them something "slimey" to eat. Canned peaches are pretty good, because it has slimey juice to help whatever else is in there slide down, yet can come back out quite easily if it causes more trouble. I've heard of vets trying a syringe load of water...but that's a hit or miss too....I've tried it when I was at the "do or die" point :sad3: It worked once, and didn't the other time...and came right back out.
I do still recommend at least rubbing their throat. Because the longer they go trying to sort it out themselves, the longer the risk they might not make it, or the stress can cause them respiratory problems. I had one boy that had a very scary bout of choking....the next day he was wheezing. We had to put him on Baytril as the choking stress threw him into a respiratory illness.
Hope that helps...and sorry to go against what others have said. But I got home from work JUST last night to find Sophie choking. I helped her and had her breathing normally within 5 minutes. Who knows how long she was choking before I got home. :sad3:
We have an older girl who has choked several times over the last couple of months too. She has advance respiratory problems and a life long heart condition. We simply cannot let her work it out, or I doubt she'd still be with us. Her nose is pretty plugged up all the time, so choking comes kind of easily and gets scary fast.
Anyway, my first bit of advice might be to ask if you can tell what Scotch was eating before he started choking? You might be suprised how many ratties choke on some of their favorite items. Let me tell you....pizza crust and soy milk..BAD combo.
Matter of fact, I've had a few ratties choke on pizza crust, until we started to let it dry out over night before giving it to them. It's just too doughy and they love it so much they scarf it down! Mashed potatoes or even cooked sweet potato can be pretty sticky and cause choking. Peanut Butter is a HUGE no no (yet many people still give it). It's super sticky and they can choke very easily on it. As for what to do when they are choking....if you just leave them be, you risk the chance they will choke to death. There is the Rat Fling (noted in Debbie Duccommons booklet and on the Ratguide website), but that really should be used if they are no longer breathing.
If the rattie is still getting air, but either gasping, or doing the "this is hard to swallow" thing, where you can see their ears go back, and eyes close every time they try to swallow, I will gently rub their throats a little and see if that alone helps. It often does. If they are drooling, I will try to gently swab out their mouths. Of course, you have to be very careful not to push something down in further, so tweezers, sharp objects etc aren't really a good idea. We go with a q-tip, but swab out just the mouth.
If they look like they are ok, other than just trying to get something down (and this is hit or miss), I might offer them something "slimey" to eat. Canned peaches are pretty good, because it has slimey juice to help whatever else is in there slide down, yet can come back out quite easily if it causes more trouble. I've heard of vets trying a syringe load of water...but that's a hit or miss too....I've tried it when I was at the "do or die" point :sad3: It worked once, and didn't the other time...and came right back out.
I do still recommend at least rubbing their throat. Because the longer they go trying to sort it out themselves, the longer the risk they might not make it, or the stress can cause them respiratory problems. I had one boy that had a very scary bout of choking....the next day he was wheezing. We had to put him on Baytril as the choking stress threw him into a respiratory illness.
Hope that helps...and sorry to go against what others have said. But I got home from work JUST last night to find Sophie choking. I helped her and had her breathing normally within 5 minutes. Who knows how long she was choking before I got home. :sad3:
jorats
Loving rats since 2002.
When the rat builds up extra saliva, that's for the lodged food, to break it down faster. So don't swab it all away, rattie needs it!
