hind leg degeneration? UPDATED.. TriedToGetAPictureOfHerFoot

[trexgorawrrrrr]

Well I didn't play with my rats yesterday, but i did for an hour and half the day before. Well today i went to get out my girls, which normally come running to the front of the cage... well this time Dutchess did, but my little Molly didn't. She didn't even get out of her cube hammy. I had to gently rub her on her head for her to wake up, when she woke up she slowly crawled into my hand...

When I put them on my bed (where I normally play with them and I make basically a jungle gym for them) I could tell something was wrong with Molly right away. She wasn't running around like her usual self, almost dragging, kind of in a waddle, having difficulty walking around, and couldn't really get on anything. I don't understand what happened, two days ago she was fine! My poor Molly couldn't even get up onto my arm to come see me and give me kisses like normal. and Molly is my little explorer out of my girls...

I was so conserned for Molly I put Dutchess back in her cage temporarily... and went and got the water bottle. I feared that she hadn't really been moving much, so I wanted to see if she was thirsty... and boy oh boy was she thirsty. She drank and drank, and i ended up letting her drink out of a cup of water because it was much easier. then i went and got some of their food and put it on a paper towel, that was probably the fastest i had seen her move all night... she walked over got a piece, and then kinda tried to scurry away and hide and eat it.

another thing is that there's almost like a ) ( shape of her tummy. she's my chubbier girl, and now i can like see. i don't know how to explain what i see, but almost like an hourglass shape on her. which is not how she normally looks. i'm really going to try and get a picture tomorrow of what she looks like... if i can

i just held her for almost 30 minutes while i balled and she was bruxing and boggling. i got on here to try and read on other threads to see if i could find anything... and came across a pts one and ryelle seemed to be explaining what happened to her rat, and it sounds almost identical.

i'm not sure who said it, but i think SQ said something about hind leg degeneration, so i looked it up. i think she might have it, but would something like that happen so quickly?? does this sound like that?

should i take her to the vet tomorrow? that's what i was going to do was wake up at 7am and call our vet to make an appt. i'm just sort of freaking out right now, and in a panic. i'm trying to stay calm, but she is my first. her and dutchess are my first rats, so i havn't experienced anything like this before. i got her a year ago, and at that point her and her sister were supposely 6 months old... so that would make them 18 months old. a year and a half. would something like this happen to a rat at that age? i hope someone sees this, and can help me :cry3:



edit- and i forgot to mention that i had another rat manor cage laying around so i blocked off the top... and put her in there for tonight with all the necessities. i also made a mush for her hoping she would eat that since she wasn't too interested after a couple pieces of food. i smashed some lab blocks, mixed watered down pb, and also put some corn in there. she seemed to like it, and ate probably a tablespoon full.

 

[jorats]

How old is Molly... it does sound like the starting of PT. Hind end degeneration could also be a symptom but eating and drinking feverishly is also a symptom. You could bring her to a vet and ask for prednisone. That should help some.

 

[Moon]

My girl Lucille was in a lot of pain before she passed away and started going "owwie" stretches... I thought it was weird HED at first also, because of how she was falling over, it wasn't until the vet sort of supported her while she was trying to walk that I could clearly see that it was a pain symptom.

Is she going to the bathroom? Lucille ended up having a growth on the bowel that slowly made it impossible for her to poo. She was just shy of two when it happened, so yes, at that age anything is possible.

 

[mamarat]

Your little girl could be showing signs of pain in her belly. Can you bring her to a vet?

 

[trexgorawrrrrr]

i made an appt for 2.40... which it's 12.12, but what does that medicine do that jo is talking about? also do you know what she means when she says pt? i'm leaving here shortly, and i want to ask my vet about it.

 

[Godmother]

PT = Pituitary Tumour

The medicine that sometimes helps a lot is Prednisone (a corticosteroid)

 

[trexgorawrrrrr]

i did read up on the medicine after i posted that. i also was reading about VERTEBRAL COMPRESSION on this website http://www.rmca.org/Articles/paralysis.htm and that sounds like her. i also read about the pt on there, and it's not necessarly in her forearms. she seems to be using those as normal, but the heindend is what's bothering her.

i'm going to ask the doctor to see what he thinks it may be, and also ask about the medicine...

 

[jorats]

Usually vertabral compression which is basically hind end degeneration happens on very old rats, when it starts early at about 18 months, it can be due to a pituitary tumor. Either way, I'd ask for prednisone.

Let us know how it goes!!

 

[lj]

Good luck. We've got our paws crossed for you.

 

[Moon]

I really think you may be dealing with internal pain, not PT... if that is the case then you need Metacam which can not be given with a steroid, which is what you need to diagnose PT.

Have your vet really palpate her for internal masses.... you can even do a deep feel yourself, but if you don't know what you're feeling for you may find organs which will only freak you out.

 

[SQ]

From the way you described her abdomen, it sounds like she is in pain ...

If it is PT etc then she would need predisone and an antibiotic such as baytril.

Hope you are soon able to figure out what is going on.
My little Joy is on metacam because she has arthritis in her the joints of her back right leg. It is painful and affects the way she walks ... I thought it was hed but xrays told a different story.

Arranging a comfortable large one level cage area with thick absorbent padding in sleeping areas, easy access to foods ... soft foods such as lab blocks soaked in water to make mush and baby cereal are all important for rats with mobility problems.

Hope it goes well at the vet.

 

[trexgorawrrrrr]

well i did go to the vet, in this blizzard we're having. almost 5 inches of snow, and it hasn't let up...

... but i did ask about the medicine you guys suggested, and he said he'd rather give her a cortizone shot. bless her little soul she kept falling asleep in my arms. almost like twice, and kept running back to me when the doctor was looking at her. he didn't give me any idea of what it could be. he told me he wanted to give her the shot to help with mobility, and said it should increase her appetite. so i don't know. i was honestly thinking about seeing another vet in a few days, i don't know what to do. but he gave her the shot and say ''lets see what happens over the next few days.''

and SQ i have been basically making a mush for her since last night. i saw on another thread of someones rattie being over the hill i think she said three! but i read about the mush she made for her rats, and made something similar. i've also been letting her drink from a bowl in fear that she isn't getting enough water. i asked the doctor if she seemed dehydrated or anything and he said no.

but i don't know what else to do? ...he suggested i started to think about putting her to sleep

 

[jorats]

The shot is prednisone so at least she got that... and hopefully she'll improve with that. If she goes downhill again, I'd go back to the same vet asking for possibly more.

 

[SQ]

Hopefully this will give you a chance to see if pred will help.
If she needs to be on prednisone, then she also needs to be on an antibiotic (like baytril) because pred lowers the immune system.
My vet calls in a prescription to the drug store for me for prednisone and they sell me pedipred ... it is an oral med. for children.

I have several rats with mobility problems.
Peter has hed & pt, Joy has arthritis. Leah, Joey, and Hope have hed.
They are with friends in large one level cages with fleece on the bottom as they drag their hind ends.
They have cotton baby receiving blankets in their houses which are absorbent and changed a couple of times a day because two (Leah & her son Joey) are incontinent. They also have one in a corner that they like to crawl into.
They have mush made of lab blocks or baby cereal + soy infant formula in a shallow saucer. This is within easy reach.
I have a water dish in with them but I think they are getting all of their fluids from their food.
They also enjoy peas, corn, etc.
Peter's cage has a veg. parchment tube lying on the floor and attached to the side so that it is easy to crawl into.

Hope these ideas help.

 

[trexgorawrrrrr]

SQ those ideas are great... i'm kind of sad because i just went out and bought a new cage for christmas with levels that i might now consider taking back to get a large one level cage.

...is the medicine prednisone taken by mouth? what about baytril? i think i might have used the baytril perscribed for my boys resp. infection when they were young... but i don't remember what they gave me.

thanks so much you guys because i was scared her only option was going to be to put her to sleep. so i guess i'll have to see how she does with this shot. i don't want to have to take her in every 3-4 days for a shot. so hopefully he'll talk to me about prednisone, because he said he'd rather give the shot. and also told me to start thinking about putting her to sleep. but if she does well then i won't need to put her to sleep. i'll update her progress over the next few days

 

[SQ]

It doesn't have to be a one level cage, it just needs to have a large base.
If levels are dangerous to her, you just modify the cage so they are not accessable to her.

I'm babysitting some of godmother's ratties. btw, some of the ideas I mentioned I got from godmother awhile ago.
Godmother's girl, Charlene has hed and has a fleece hammock type pocket she loves to crawl into as well as a small cardboard box.
If she is able to get in and out of hammocks, you can hang one very low for her.

Baytril is given orally and so is pedipred (predisone).
Medacam - given for pain but not given if the rat is on predisone, is also given orally (although there is an injectable form given by vets.)

 

[Maple]

I hope the prednisone shot helps out your poor little Molly. :heart:

 

[trexgorawrrrrr]

Over the past couple days Molly has almost been back to herself! She runs to the front of the cage to greet me, has an appetite, and can actually almost walk normal. There's still a little waddle, but nothing like the waddleing/dragging/tripping over herself that she was doing. So it seems as if this shot has made a huge improvement.

I'm scared though that this shot is probably going to last another day or so. Should i ask the doctor about giving her shots every few days, or should i ask about the medicine again? i'd much much rather just give her the medicine. i don't think those shots every couple days would feel so well for my little Molly...

and let me get this right? i will need to give baytril and they prednisone

 

[trexgorawrrrrr]

another thing i wanted to mention is that before he gave her the shot i was paying close attention to her tail... and it seemed as if she was holding it up. she wasn't dragging it on the ground like rats with hed. so i'm wondering either she's in early stages of it, or really does have a pt.

 

[jorats]

I'd watch her for a bit and if she goes back to waddling, then call up the vet asap and ask for oral prednisone.
Regardless if it's HED or PT, if the med is helping, that's all that counts.