hiccupping

Question
QUESTION: hi sandra
we recently took in a rescued buck 6 months old and he is great, appears perfectly healthy, but whehn we stroke him sometimes he developes a kind of silent hiccupping , we were concerned this could be myco related , can you advise
thanks
steve

ANSWER:
We see this all the time: Concerned owners worried the rat is coughing or having some odd myco related incident associated with myco.

Rats do hiccup and usually its when they are standing in one spot as they have a spasmodic type movement, sometimes with sound, sometimes silent. They may continue to eat during the hiccups or groom as if they could care less since it isn't causing any distress. The only distress it causes is with the rat owner that is unsure as to what is really going on.   I am going to try to find a good utube video of a rat with hiccups so people can compare it to what they witness.  People have left their rats at the clinic for observation, convinced it was some type of seizure or coughing episode only for us to witness it and convince them it is indeed hiccups.

A few rat enthusiasts insist hiccups are linked to respiratory disease but there is absolutely no documented cases that link the two, so its mainly just a rumor that has cycled around the rat fancier community. Like the rumor that strep throat is passed from human to rat and turns into the deadly streptococcal pneumonia, there is no truth to that rumor that has caused panic for many years now.  

Hope this helps!

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: ok thanks sandra, we were just being cautious, because when we clean his bedding out and remove the white linen material there is usually signs of red spotting on it, again would you consider this normal? he has no signs of nose or eye discharge.
thanks again
steve

Answer
There is nothing wrong with being cautious. Cautious is good!!  

As for the red spots, you are seeing porphyrin spots that usually come from sneezing or even when the nose is runny.  Often its found in the rats bedding and it startles a rat owner, fearing the rat may be bleeding from somewhere.  It is totally normal to find these red spatters of porphyrin discharge here and there. In fact, some rats even have a bit of it on their nose after sleeping etc...which is all normal too.  It depends on the individual rat. However, an over abundance of porphyrin may be an indication the rat is not feeling well or may be unusually stressed.  Hope this helps.