The following is a technique my husband picked up at the Neonatal Care Unit. We have applied it with great success to our rescued rats when they are in respiratory distress or during gasping attacks .

- Take the animal and hold her gently in a comfortable position with one hand.
- Tap with the tips of two (or three) fingers hard (but not too hard) on her ribcage on the
sides of her body, directly above the lungs. You should faintly hear the tapping sounds.
- Alternate tapping on both of her sides.
- Make a short break.
- Repeat for a couple of minutes or until the rat gets restless.
- Reward with kisses, petting and/or a special treat.

Our rats really respond well to this emergency intervention.

We apply this treatment also when acute gasping attacks are not an issue to relieve respiratory distress (i.e., when we hear that fluids have accumulated in the lungs).

You can do this anytime, when you watch a movie, when you sit still, or on your trip to your veterinarian - whenever you have both hands free to help your pet.

This is a temporary solution only; you have to consult your vet to learn how to best resolve the underlying problem.

Aside from being a supportive or an emergency intervention, this simple treatment can help tighten the bond between you and your pet. Our rats usually enjoy it and start licking our hands soon after we start with this procedure. They really don’t seem to get tired of it.

Did you ever check if your pet food contains any sweeteners? Aside form the fact that added sweeteners (including honey!) have no place in your pet’s regular food, these additives can be contaminated as the following summary by Lyn Henshew, MD demonstrates:

Jan. 29, 2009 — Some foods and drinks rich in high-fructose corn syrup contain detectable levels of mercury, a new report shows. The report, published on the web site of the Minneapolis-based
nonprofit Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), shows detectable levels of mercury in 17 out of 55 tested products rich in high-fructose corn syrup. The new report comes from researchers including David Wallinga, MD, director of the IATP’s food and health program. They bought 55
products that list high-fructose corn syrup first or second on their list of ingredients, which means high-fructose corn syrup was a leading ingredient in those products. Wallinga’s team sent samples of those products to a commercial lab, which checked the levels of total mercury in each sample.

“Overall, we found detectable mercury in 17 of 55 samples, or around 31%,” write Wallinga and colleagues.

Here is the list of those products:

Quaker Oatmeal to Go bars
Jack Daniel’s Barbecue Sauce
Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup
Kraft Original Barbecue Sauce
Nutri-Grain Strawberry Cereal Bars
Manwich Gold Sloppy Joe
Market Pantry Grape Jelly
Smucker’s Strawberry Jelly
Pop-Tarts Frosted Blueberry
Hunt’s Tomato Ketchup
Wish-Bone Western Sweet & Smooth Dressing
Coca-Cola Classic: no mercury found on a second test
Yoplait Strawberry Yogurt
Minute Maid Berry Punch
Yoo-hoo Chocolate Drink
Nesquik Chocolate Milk
Kemps Fat Free Chocolate Milk

Ozone is a natural gas with short reactive half life time but great therapeutic and sanitary properties.

Ozonated olive oil was recommended to us by Dr. Robert Smatt to treat a facial abscess in one of our rescued rats. After only a few applications of this salve, the abscess was gone for good after less than 12 hours without oozing or uncomfortable heat compressions. We observed the same effect a few months later.

Ozone is a great natural antibiotic and we have used it successfully to treat fungi, viral and bacterial infections.

Dr. Smatt also used ozone gas to treat inoperable cancers as well as arthritic problems in dogs, cats and even one of our rats.

Congestive heart failure (CHF) is a disease in which a weakened heart muscle is unable to effciently pump blood through the body. CHF can be caused by hypertension, cardiomyopathy, diabetes, coronary artery disease, heart attacks, or defective heart valves. CHF is common in some breeds of dogs or older pocket pets such as pet rats and is often treated with conventional medicine. However, CoQ10 and L-carnitine and other supplementation may support conventional treatment regimen or can be used for prevention purposes.
[Note: Ask your veterinarian if he approves giving these supplements to your pet.]

L-carnitine transports free fatty acids into the mitochondria where they are used for energy. Coenzyme Q10 is essential for the production of ATP which cells use as energy. Because of its high energy demand heart cells have an intense metabolic activity and the highest density of mitochondria. Boosting the levels of L-carnitine and CoQ10 can therefore improve the heart’s pumping activity. D-ribose is another supplement that supports ATP production and improves heart function in both rats and dogs. Nutritional interventions with vitamin D3 and omega-3 fatty acid-rich fish or fish oil can prevent the development of congestive heart failure in rats prone to developing this disease.

The Natural Research Council lists the following causes grouped according to importance:

Mycoplasma pulmonis
Sendai virus
CAR bacillus
Streptococcus pneumoniae
Corynebacterium kutscheri

Rat coronavirus
Sialodacryoadenitis virus
Pneumonia virus of mice
Pneumocystis carinii
Klebsiella pneumoniae
Mycoplasma collis

Pasteurella pneumotropica
Bordetella bronchiseptica
Adenovirus

This alone explains why symptoms of respiratory disease in rats are often hard to treat. One of the other reasons is that some respiratory problems may be heart related.

Chamomile tea is famous for its calming effects, and other health benefits such as improving sleep and cold symptoms. Japanese researchers found that daily consumption of chamomile significantly suppresses blood glucose levels and prevents the progression of hyperglycemia and diabetic complications in rats. For this study, rats with diabetes received hot water extract of chamomile with meals for three weeks. Kato et al. (2008) J Agric Food Chem 56(17):8206-11.

Itching is often caused by food allergies, contact allergies, eczema, or parasitic infection. If you have excluded these causes or if you want to provide temporary relief from itching for animals that can’t scratch themselves (e.g., older rats with hind limb weakness), here are some natural home remedies for topical application.

Peppermint wash/bath
Honey and cinnamon paste (1:1)
Oatmeal in Luke warm water
Apple cider vinegar in water (0.5:1)
White vinegar in water soak
Aloe Vera (food grade): Out of the fridge, this often brings immediate relief.
Coconut oil and lime juice
Vitamin E (liquid)
Mixture of Aloe Vera, cod liver oil, lemon juice, vitamin E (liquid)
Neem oil

A good way to avoid food allergies is to avoid foods which contain ingredients that are not species-appropriate. An example for an ingredient that is not species-appropriate is animal fat in rabbit food - you may think I am exaggerating, but this is unfortunately sad reality thanks to one large pet food company. Other potential food allergens are isolated ‘food fragments’ such as gluten, grains that have not been properly prepared for carnivores, and in general ingredients of low quality which includes genetically engineered (GE) foods and conventional (i.e., non-organic) ingredients which are laced with toxins. Introduction of GE soy has been implicated in the significant occurrance of food allergies in Great Britain.

Note: The skin absorbs most topically applied substances. It is therefore advisable to only use organic topicals to avoid introducing new toxins that may aggravate the problem or cause other health problems for your pet.
Note: Most vitamin E supplements are derived from genetically engineered (GE) soybeans. GE soybeans have been shown to cause allergies in both humans and animals.
Note: Always check with your veterinarian to confim that a remedy is appropriate for your pet.