Whats in your Rattie first aid kit?

I have learned over the years of being owned by rats that it is VERY IMPORTANT to keep a Rattie First Aid Kit stocked in your home at all times. Most of the items that should be included can be purchased at a local pharmacy, grocery store, pet store, or health food store; other items you will need to get from your vet.

"So what should be included?" you ask. (I will break the list into things you can purchase from a pharmacy,grocery store, pet store, health food store, and vet.)

Before you can begin to purchase all the items for your first aid kit, you need somewhere to store it all. I prefer to keep it all in a small cabinet in my rat room so it is easily accessible. You can also keep it in a plastic type storage container, but no matter how you choose to store it, it should ALWAYS be readily available to you in case the need to use something from it arises!

Below is a list of items you can purchase from the Grocery store and Health stores. You will also need a list of items from the Vet and Pharmacy.

GROCERY STORE
Item --- Usage
Chocolate Chips --- To help wheezing / Open up constricted airways
Pedialyte / Gatorade --- Hydration
Light Corn Syrup --- Make meds taste better
White Paper Towels --- Hospital cage bedding
Tooth Picks --- Administer paste type medications
Distilled Water --- Mix pill type medications
Ensure --- High calorie intake / Keep up rats weight
Jar Baby Food --- High calorie intake / Keep up rats weight / Masking yucky tasting medication
Yogurt --- Mask yucky tasting medication (Ask your vet to be sure which meds can not be mixed with dairy products)
Socks --- Cover up surgery / wound / bandage sites

HEALTH FOOD STORE
Item --- Usage
Carob Chips --- Constipation
Bach’s Rescue Remedy --- Anxiety / Shock / Stress / Depression
Five Flower Formula --- Same as Bach’s Rescue Remedy
Phosphorus 3X --- To help wheezing / Open up constricted airways
Echinacea --- May help build up immune systems
Goldenseal --- Build up immune system / fight bacterial / viral infections / gastric inflammation / diarrhea
Grapefruit Seed Extract --- Skin conditions
Tea Tree Oil --- Wound cleaning

Only if you have a good relationship with your vet and he/she knows what you are doing concerning prescribed meds, will you be able to have these on hand.

Not each of you will need nor want to have all of the above-mentioned items in your rattie first aid kit; it all depends on what you are comfortable or not comfortable in handling in terms of rattie first aid care. As long as you have a great vet near by and have the basics of rat first aid on hand, you are off to a great start in providing your rattie(s) with the best care possible!

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