# Rat throwing up!???



## 3NakedLadies (Jan 27, 2011)

Okay i have recently adopted a baby male he is now 9-10 weeks old, we've fed him the same food for 2 weeks and has never had any health problems that I know of, earlier today I noticed he was eating something on the floor of his cage he only eats his food on the second level and i know that if he's eating on the bottom level he's eating his own poo (i've read it's quite common) so i got him out and he was still chewing, then i looked at him and noticed 2 lumps of what seemed like some form of food mushed up on my hand i was really confused and noticed he was doing a sort of regurgatation, his head was moving backward and forward and he had his mouth open whilst lumps of what seemed like yellow coloured potato and lumpy yellow sick came out. this went on for about 2 minutes, many people on the internet say it could be choking, but he didn't do it all in one go, he'd throw a bit up and then 20 seconds later he'd start the movements again, now surely if he's choking it would be one continous movement to get what is lodged out instead of stopping having a sniff around and then doing it again as i imagine it is a rats instinct to do it until it feels right again. he hasn't done it since, or from what i've noticed and he seems to be back to normal. I understand that most of you will assume choking but it really did not seem like a rat that was choking so any other suggestions of what it could be would be helpful or even what i can do in the event it happens again. I understand that the rats body is not equipped for throwing up but too an untrained eye thats exactly what it looked like, am i going mad!? lol thanks for reading and hopefully responding, Alice xx


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## RatVeldman (Apr 23, 2012)

My rat did the same thing. It looked like banana purée to me. I gave him a banana chip and about 5 minutes later he made the same movements as your rat. To me it looked like he was puking but everyone tells me rats can't puke.


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

He was choking...rats take awhile to work these stuck food items out of them, by retching and salivation...he probably stood, and then put his head down, opened his mouth, pulled his ears and eyes back and then looked like he was trying to throw up...that is choking.  It can go on for awhile and a bad choke they often do panicked runs which is scary to watch, make a squeal when they retch. I am sure he is fine now right?


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