Right now, I've got two injured rats.
A few weeks ago, I noticed Olie was holding up one of his legs, as if it was bothering him. There are darn few things a vet can do so I decided to monitor the situation--if it didn't clear up in a few days, I'd take him to the vet. It did clear up, and he didn't go to the vet.
Late last week, I noticed he was holding the same leg up. He was putting a little weight on it, but as the week progressed, he was putting less and less. On Monday I made a vet appointment for him (and Kono--we'll get to him soon) for this morning.
He was out for playtime last night, and he wasn't putting any weight on his foot. It also was a bit tender; he squeeked when I squeezed it gently.
This morning it was swollen; right now it's really swollen. I took him to Dr. G's practice, but Dr. G didn't look at him--the new guy, Dr. J did.
Dr. J handled him very well; he was comfortable around rats. He didn't even mind when Olie pee'd all over the place. He examined his leg and noticed a lot of swelling around his knee, and said he'd have to do some x-rays.
The x-rays showed no fracture nor a dislocation (which was my greatest fear), which is good news, on one hand. On the other hand, we don't know what's wrong. Dr. J is guessing he either has an inflammation or an infection of some sort, so I'm treating him with two different antibiotics, and I also have some pain killer I can give him.
Right now, he's lying on his side, and trying to sleep--though I think his swollen foot is making sleep a fleeting thing for him.
Kono probably has the worse injury. At about the same time I noticed Olie having problems, I noticed Kono was dragging his back legs somewhat. Hind-leg paralysis is not uncommon--in older rats. In rats that are not yet two years old, though, it's rare, but not unheard of. I originally thought he was getting a bit old before his time.
During playtime Sunday night, he started making monkey noises, indicative of a respiratory infection. It sounded slight, though, so on Monday I tried to make an appointment for him. The earliest I could get was Thursday.
Monday night, Abita and I volunteered in DC, so we got home later than usual. Kono was *very* lethargic, and his wheezing had graduated to guinea-pig like wheeking. He was not a a well rat, and we began looking for an emergency clinic.
The closest one was honest--they said the wouldn't see him as their rodent guy was not on duty. The second one said they were inexperienced but they would try. I printed out the RMCA Drug Chart, since we figured we'd be walking out with antibiotic for his respiratory infection, and we could follow up with Dr. G. We headed out, but tried to stop at a drive-thru--it was late, and neither one of us had eaten. In the parking lot of the drive-thru, Kono had a seizure.
We skipped the drive thru.
The clinic was about forty minutes away; Kono had a second seizure on the way. When we got there, though, he had stabilized.
I don't have a lot of good things to say about that clinic. Abita put it best--if we had brought in a dog or a cat that had respiratory symptoms and had had two seizures in less than an hour, the vet probably wouldn't have walked out on us three times. We eventually got some baytril, and got to bed before midnight. Barely.
When I made the appointment for the boys for Thursday, they told me if Kono got bad I could take him up there on a drop-off basis. Suffice it to say, I dropped him off the next day.
To make this already long story shorter, x-rays revealed Kono has suffered a spinal injury. We don't know how serious it is; he might improve or he might not. He gets baytril for the respiratory problems, and a steroid to try to help his legs get a little better.
He's by himself, in a single-level cage, and he'll probably be in a single-level cage for the rest of his life. There's already some improvement; he's not lethargic like he was Monday night. He skoots around pretty good, and he's eating well.
Right now, I'll take all the good news I can.
Posted by Publius at July 1, 2004 07:38 PMI'm so sorry about your rats! I hope they get better soon. I just lost one a week or two ago.
Posted by: Pixie at July 2, 2004 11:40 AM
What do you mean a seizure? What happened?
My rat eventually lost the use of his hindlegs, and would drag them around. He was over 2 years, the doctor said this was common and he couldnt do anything about it.
His footpads were a little tender. But he walked around like that for sometime, till he got even older and less mobile.
Anyhow, I took him to the vets a lot, but I always got the same treatment--Baytril. Didnt seem like the vets knew to do anything else.
Hang in there--I hope Olie and Kono get better.
I think Kono's seizures were tonic-clonic...his whole body was jerking, although he did remain conscious. They lasted about 15-2- seconds each.
I probably would have been even more freaked out if we hadn't gone through seizures of another sort with Leather when she was a baby.
Bob lost use of his hind legs, too. It barely slowed him down, and we switched to the flat cage and fleece bedding. I never gave him medication for it, though I think corticosteroids may help slow it down a little.
Posted by: abita at July 3, 2004 07:47 AMGet better little ratteroos.
Posted by: Jeremy at July 5, 2004 12:39 PM