Inducing diarrhea to help stomach swelling?

[CritterMom]

Its tough to hear but thank you for sharing this info, I think you are probably right that its a hernia, after googling pictures of rat hernias. Is it possible to perform surgery on an animal so small? If I found licensed rehabbers for her, is there much they can do for her?
She is a little more active and playful today but still weak and can't grip my arm with her claws to walk up like she was doing before

Well, they can do surgical repairs on rat hernias... The real issue is that she is compromised at this point which makes anesthesia very iffy. And it is something that a vet would need to do. Licensed rehabbers are not equipeed to do that and it is very likely they would simply euthanize.

If you can end up getting the poop out and the blockage resolved with soaks and gentle stroking so the digestive system was working again, it might give you some time to get her healthy and to perhaps find a vet for her.

I could be totally wrong here - just looking at pics and grabbing for every bit of info from the thousands of vet/zoo/wildlife shows I have spent my life watching...

[SqueakyBaby]

Well, they can do surgical repairs on rat hernias... The real issue is that she is compromised at this point which makes anesthesia very iffy. And it is something that a vet would need to do. Licensed rehabbers are not equipeed to do that and it is very likely they would simply euthanize.

If you can end up getting the poop out and the blockage resolved with soaks and gentle stroking so the digestive system was working again, it might give you some time to get her healthy and to perhaps find a vet for her.

I could be totally wrong here - just looking at pics and grabbing for every bit of info from the thousands of vet/zoo/wildlife shows I have spent my life watching...

Happy news, I brought the little chippie to a Rehabber, and she said its a bot fly larvae and it should be relatively easy to remove! If everything goes well I'll have her back in a day or so!

I will reference the immobile bowel techniques again in the future if I need to, thank you! I'm so grateful we don't seem to be dealing with an issue of that caliber!