weird rat noise. no i mean really weird.

[RatsDrawBlood]

She just made a sound three times, with a pause after the first one, then a few seconds pause after the second. Each time is a second or two of constantly repeating gurgle like liquid sloshing? Way louder and different than bruxing or myco. Then she did a fourth time quieter and more squeeky but still squishy. She's lying belly down on her hammock which is tilted, so her head is much higher than her stomach. When she does the noise, she bobs her head forward repeatedly. Is she throwing up in her mouth? And swallowing it?

 

[Sheldon]

It sounds like coughing? I’m not sure. Can you video or get a sound byte?

 

[Fidget]

They can't throw up so that's out. Have you held her chest to your ear to see how her chest sounds?

 

[RatsDrawBlood]

Can you video or get a sound byte?

Couldn't record it because it went by so fast. In the future I might get it if I had a webcam constantly on her.

It sounds like coughing? I’m not sure.

Hmm ... well probably just because I'm not describing it right, or maybe it's that it was the first time she's coughed, so I didn't recognize it. And sounded wet because there was mucus, or food she couldn't vomit but was trying to cough up?

 

[RatsDrawBlood]

They can't throw up so that's out. Have you held her chest to your ear to see how her chest sounds?

No, but so far, I had, a while back, been able to hear possibly myco sounds, from having my ear 6 inches away or so, and so to keep sneezing or mucusey sounds away, I started giving the remedy from someone else's post. (If it turned out to not work, I would've had to take her to the vet.) Actually, this NEW sound was like some sort of violent churning - I'm assuming there's that throat flap that keeps vomit from coming all the way out, yet it tries to?

 

[Fidget]

Could she be choking on something? Here is info on choking http://ratfanclub.org/firstaid.html

 

[RatsDrawBlood]

Thanks sooo much for that amazing article, what a must-read!
The hammock sides blocked my vision of the bottom half of her head, and only now know to notice ear position, but maybe she was trying to dislodge something.
Will not again put a bit of food on the bars, causing her to swallow while her head is thrown back, in case it nullified the function of that protective mouth flap.
Not sure if her squeak just now was in waking from a nightmare.
I know six hours later what she ate would've left her stomach, but how long till it'll have gone all the way through & be out of her tract - if anyone knows rat transit time?

 

[Fidget]

Sorry nobody got to you sooner, it had to be scary, is she ok now? As long as it's cleared her airway all should be good. Couldn't be that big a piece of bone if you didn't notice when you put it on the bars, maybe no bone at all, no need to blame the chicken either, it could happen with anything that just went down the wrong way..
(Thanks always to Debbie Ducommun who will always be there for us & our kids).

 

[RatsDrawBlood]

18 hours later she's playing our favorite game with me, which is how I can tell that when she's freaking out the excitement is happiness, rather than her attempt to get air into her lungs.
One day she laid with her mouth open, which scared me till I realized the edge of the hammock was what was pulling it that way.
The other thing she had for the first time last night, was cauliflower & leaf, is that bad for them? All she really liked of that was the green part of the leaf.
She just now while laying down, made the sound again, so I went over and she jumped up going about casually hoping for more of her beloved bok choy, with no signs of distress at all.
Oh there it is again softer, it's like an echo-ey scratch of a record player needle.
I now think it's her trying to cough mucus out of her lungs, so if it continues, it's off to the vet we go. Maybe she's auditioning to be a DJ.

 

[jorats]

It does sound like severe respiratory distress. I'd get her on meds asap.

 

[RatsDrawBlood]

Actually if there was anything different about the times it happened, it was that she'd just eaten a lot of raw greens, but it's happened only twice, for a few seconds each time, so I'm still not even sure it didn't sound like she's just scratching a toy in play or something.

 

[lilspaz68]

Choke is pretty immediate and often unmistakeable. It can be confused with a respiratory attack, so determining which one it is, is very important. The sounds you are describing sound like congestion and she's brewing an infection. The "treatment" you used probably didn't work. Hold her sides to your ear like a phone receiver and listen to her breathing once she stops squirming. Listen for roughness, congestion, anything other than a gentle whoosh of air in and out

 

[RatsDrawBlood]

probably didn't work.

Hard to explain in a post but it's more like when I first got her she sneezed, so I got close enough to hear the almost inaudible whooshing air and assumed it was mucus, because I'm brand new, so force myself to be paranoid, by interpreting what things do or don't sound like in the worst way possible, as it's better safe than sorry.
So I gave her that poster's "treatment". Just once because it didn't continue.
I read to sneeze once or twice from a house being new is expected, and these new sounds that I thought probably came from her direction, Sun night/Sat afternoon (while the window AC was blasting in my ear), never came back, after I re-started her home remedy Sunday night (& Mon morning, Mon night, this morning ...).
I might as well keep her on it, as she'd said for her too it kept away all symptoms (in her girls for 7 months so far at that writing).
Since Sunday I've been right here with her listening intently.
If anything out of the ordinary were to happen, we'd need to go to the vet.

 

[lilspaz68]

There's a concerning sound that it seemed you were describing which worried me. It's like a sneeze congested choking sound. It's one of those sounds that worry me when I hear it and that rat goes on a strong antibiotic combo right away. I just wanted to make sure that you didn't miss it if it was. These rats can get sick crazy fast and you can lose them. If she starts making sounds again try to video them as it can really help the more experienced members here help you. I'm glad she's doing okay

 

[RatsDrawBlood]

There's a concerning sound that it seemed you were describing which worried me. It's like a sneeze congested choking sound. It's one of those sounds that worry me when I hear it and that rat goes on a strong antibiotic combo right away. I just wanted to make sure that you didn't miss it if it was. These rats can get sick crazy fast and you can lose them. If she starts making sounds again try to video them as it can really help the more experienced members here help you. I'm glad she's doing okay

Wow I didn't see till now that you replied! Actually that's just it, my post title was because it sounded so UNlike what you describe, in that nothing about it even vaguely resembled a sneeze or a choke. It not only sounded digestive but even matched to eating certain things. Then a while ago someone posted the only description that did match what I was trying to describe (probably misleading you by using descriptive terms just because I'd heard them from others), which would've worried me if not for her being fine since. But I'm on the look-out.