What to do if your rat ingests something poisonous?

[MomRat]

So, I was careless. I pulled the flower I had tucked behind my ear and set it on the table beside the couch, and a few minutes later I heard the girls fighting in their little out-time house on the couch. I broke up the fight, and grabbed what they were fighting over - the stem from my flower. Jokingly said, gee, I hope those aren't poisonous, and then looked it up.

****.

So, with rats being unable to vomit, is there anything I can do, except watch them? There's 4-6 blossoms missing from a stem of lily-of-the-valley, which was being fought over by two girls, so they are both at risk. I feel so stupid.

 

[purinpurin]

Well... I'm not too sure about rats, but perhaps you can force water in them with a syringe to try to flush out their system. I can't say for sure since I don't know exactly what the flowers do to a rat's system. I'm sorry that happened; it's not your fault. Have you tried phoning your vet for advice?

 

[Petunia]

call poison control, they can often tell you what to do even if it's a pet that ate something poisonous and not a person
I've had very good luck getting information from them

also call a vet or vet hospital and ask if there's anything you can or should do, if you haven't called already that is

 

[Petunia]

what I would do is, make some toast and make sure it's really toasted well, as in nearly burned

feed this to your rats who ate the flower

unless you've got activated charcoal on hand, this seems like the best thing you can do right away

http://www.drugs.com/enc/lily-of-the-valley.html

 

[jorats]

How are the girls? They might not have ingested anything and if they did might not be enough to make a difference.

 

[hprats]

Activated charcoal is supposed to work, but then it's a question of knowing how/how much to administer to rats. I was perusing the rat health guide just yesterday and saw it on the list of first aid supplies, but searching the site for charcoal only finds it listed as a supply, no instructions on use.

Hope they're okay :heart:

 

[DadRat]

I've given the 2 (Nimmel and Jayden) that ate some of the plant some heavily toasted crackers (lack of bread in the apartment currently...how are we out of bread?)...also gave their sister (Luna) some cracker as well as she would try to steal the noms.

They are also giving me the, "Dad, why do you keep coming to our cage every few minutes if you are not holding more noms?" looks. *sigh* That's my girls.

On an unrelated note: everyone is going to the vet tomorrow for an already scheduled checkup. The girls have never met Dr. Kuhnle and old boy Greg has a tumor coming back on his abdomen, so she is going to evaluate him for his third mass removal.

 

[fenshae]

There's a good chance they didn't eat enough to make them sick. Rats tend to eat very small amounts of unknown foods for precisely that reason.

Keep an eye out and see if you see them eating any pica (inedible things like bedding or dirt or anything), that would be a good indication of tummy upset. Did you call poion control?

 

[MomRat]

There are 4-6 flowers missing from the stem, and I checked the space in which they were fighting over the stem and could not find any remnants of flowers they had ripped from the stem, so I am assuming they were eaten. The girls are still doing ok, bouncing around on the couch being cute.

 

[Joanne]

Glad to hear they are still OK.

 

[Dazzle87]

Someone questioned the dose for activated charcoal. There is no way to OD on it, though way too much will be uncomfortable later on. But anyway, the animal poison control center recommends 1-3 grams per kg of the animals weight.

I'm glad the girls are still doing well.

 

[handmeafish]

I am posting this here, even though its probably a little late for these kiddos, but incase someone else searches this thread for a similar situation.
The ASPCA national animal poison control center number is 1-800-548-2423 --- Thats for america, I dunno if there is one for Canada.
But probably good to have around.

 

[Godmother]

Hope they are OK. That must have been terrifying. you can always hope that they chewed but did not swallow. As someone said, rats ingest very little of a novel food (although pets can be so trusting that they can break that rule)

 

[DadRat]

They seem to be doing ok this morning so far. Still keeping any eye on them.

Off to the vet for the previously scheduled checkup (poor old Gregory).

 

[mamarat]

Good luck at the vet.

 

[MomRat]

The toxiban charcoal our vet had on hand listed 5-10 ml per pound. Ick. Looks like black paint. Would not enjoy trying to feed that to a rat. The girls are fine, we apparently dodged the bullet and will now be much more careful about what is on the table. =)

 

[handmeafish]

so glad to hear they are ok

 

[mamarat]

Glad the girls are ok.

 

[hprats]

The toxiban charcoal our vet had on hand listed 5-10 ml per pound. Ick. Looks like black paint. Would not enjoy trying to feed that to a rat. The girls are fine, we apparently dodged the bullet and will now be much more careful about what is on the table. =)

Wow, for real.
Glad they're doing fine
Also, thanks for the reminder. I honestly would never have thought a flower would be poisonous ( :emb: ). Now that it's flower season, I really needed to know that they can!

My dog would never eat a flower :roll:

 

[Godmother]

I had not realized how dangerous flowers could be to pets until a friend's cat ate a flower from a plant in the house (I think it was an azalea). The cat became very sick, to the point where my friend's husband (a strictly observant Orthodox Jew, who had never before driven on a Saturday) drove the cat immediately to the nearest ER vet. Good thing, or the cat would probably have died.

I have no idea what flowers and plants would be dangerous to a rat, so your experience is a wake up call for all of us. So glad your sweetie is OK.