Gargly Breathing

Question
I have a female rat who is about 3 months old right now. She has started breathing strangely; as though she is gargling or something. I'm curious however, how well can rats hide that they are sick?

Answer
Hi Leya

Rats are famous for hiding illness and they do this because of their cousins, the wild rat.  In the wild, rats are the number one most preyed upon animal and they know this! If a rat acts weak or sick, he may put the entire colony in danger from predators because they will prey upon the sick and weak first.
However, once a rat is very sick, they cant hide it any longer and they become lethargic and weak, stop eating and drinking and lose interest in the things that they usually enjoy, like eating snacks or coming out of the cage for playtime. Domestic rats also can become clingy and want to be held by their human keeper all the time...when this happens, this means they are very sick and need to be seen by a vet.