The Rat Lovers Club! ~MODS PLEASE LOCK!

[Sadies]

Awwww.....so cute :D

lol my rats are eating banana for the first time or however you spell it lol XD

[Kiliann]

I just had a really, really bad scare this morning. Milky Way, my female albino rat, was doing just fine. I was playing with her and a half an hour or so after I'd given her and her sister, Twix, food, my sister yelled at me to come look at Milky Way. My rat appeared to be vomiting up some weird mucus or something. I freaked out because I knew rats couldn't vomit... This had to be something really serious. I went online and discovered, to my horror, that my little baby was exhibiting symptoms of choking. She could breathe, so I could only wait and see if it would come out on its own from her throat. After putting her in a quiet room of the house, I picked her up and bounced her up and down gently with her mouth facing the floor, and more of the gooey stuff came out- but she'd stopped making funny noises and appeared to be fine, just a little tired. At the moment she is sleeping ins her cage beside her sister.
Can anyone tell me if I did the right thing? I'm still really worried about her, because she doesn't have any energy and she hasn't eaten anything all day since after choking.

[~AlphaWolf~]

Im still trying to get a rat,i think i might be able after i have some more cancer treatment, hopefully

[Sadies]

I just had a really, really bad scare this morning. Milky Way, my female albino rat, was doing just fine. I was playing with her and a half an hour or so after I'd given her and her sister, Twix, food, my sister yelled at me to come look at Milky Way. My rat appeared to be vomiting up some weird mucus or something. I freaked out because I knew rats couldn't vomit... This had to be something really serious. I went online and discovered, to my horror, that my little baby was exhibiting symptoms of choking. She could breathe, so I could only wait and see if it would come out on its own from her throat. After putting her in a quiet room of the house, I picked her up and bounced her up and down gently with her mouth facing the floor, and more of the gooey stuff came out- but she'd stopped making funny noises and appeared to be fine, just a little tired. At the moment she is sleeping ins her cage beside her sister.
Can anyone tell me if I did the right thing? I'm still really worried about her, because she doesn't have any energy and she hasn't eaten anything all day since after choking.

I think you did the right thing, I'm no vet but I know thats what you do with kittens or puppies when they are newborn and choking. Saddly she probbably has rat lung disease (Mycoplasma) I can guarantee that every single pet rat in the world has this unless spotted by a vet and treated at a younge age. It is a respatory condition caused by bacteria, all rats get it during birth. It causes the red mucus to come from the nose and sneezing ect. The chances are your rat could had been choking on the mucus from that, best think to do is take them both to the vets as it is extreamly contagious, the vet might be able to get rid of it.

More about rat lng disease = http://www.2ndchance.info/ratlover.htm

[MoonfallTheFox]

All rats have myco, and poryphrin is caused by stress as well as illness.

Your little one should be just fine, but you should be sure she is drinking.

[orange.c y r u s♥]

was I accepted?

[Kiliann]

I think you did the right thing, I'm no vet but I know thats what you do with kittens or puppies when they are newborn and choking. Saddly she probbably has rat lung disease (Mycoplasma) I can guarantee that every single pet rat in the world has this unless spotted by a vet and treated at a younge age. It is a respatory condition caused by bacteria, all rats get it during birth. It causes the red mucus to come from the nose and sneezing ect. The chances are your rat could had been choking on the mucus from that, best think to do is take them both to the vets as it is extreamly contagious, the vet might be able to get rid of it.

More about rat lng disease = http://www.2ndchance.info/ratlover.htm

I know about rat lung disease- all rats have it, and it's what causes the poryphrin to come out. This mucus isn't poryphrin, though- it's kind of orange-ish. It's gone now, but yeah... it was pretty scary.

All rats have myco, and poryphrin is caused by stress as well as illness.

Your little one should be just fine, but you should be sure she is drinking.

Really? I'm glad- yes, she's drinking. She started eating late at night, too, so I hope she'll be okay.

This is the article I found online that told me what was really happening to my rat- you can read it too, for future reference.
I didn't preform the "ratty fling" because she was still breathing, but I'll be practicing it for future reference.

http://www.ratinabox.com/ratablog/000498.html

[MoonfallTheFox]

The ratty fling is quite dangerous, and only to be used in a real emergency. Most rats can work out a choke by themselves, even if it is VERY scary. One of my boys choked last month and I almost had a heart attack.

Even rats who don't have mycoplasma (these are ONLY in labs, all pets have it) will show poryphrin when under stress or in pain.

[Sadies]

All rats have mycoplasma, I did a report on it for my course, it is caused by a bacterial infection, wild rats carry the bacteria but it does not effect them, rats were first domesticated for testing on, as they were they became reactive to these bacterias. All pet rats come from labrats and all pet rats have this illness. It has been reccorded that only two litter of rats actualy didn't have it and that was because they were removed from the rats womb by opp then iccolated their life however as they didn't get the exposure to the world they died. You can not get rid of it, only reduce it. That is why rats must be housed in dust free environments.

It is a horroble fact I am afraid. I really wish their was a cure for it as I hate to see rats suffer and it takes time off their lives. Saddly for domestic rats they are not healthy pets as they get ill so easily which is a big shame as they are amazing animals. :(

[heartleafed]

I think I'm in love yet again. I've had Nyx for about two weeks now, and there has been a tremendous change. She's become so outgoing compared to the little baby that was afraid of people. She's actually become one of the more dominant ones as well. I've started calling her Bullet too because she's so full of energy and so fast. Plus she's become incredibly brave, and nothing deters that little thing. Aaaaand, it doesn't help that she's so adorable.