Neurological Problem - Stroke or seizure?

[thefriggintribe]

Banana is a 22mth old neutered male. On May 3rd I found him with his left hind foot injured and swollen. We went to the vet and he was prescribed metacam for 3 days and clavamox 0.15cc BID 10/7 (twice a day). He has received that for 7 days so far. Sunday morning we found him in the cage having a neurological episode (for lack of better terms).
Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hq1Ky9JS ... ata_player

We called the on call vet and of course, as per usual, they weren't a rat vet so I got the "Just keep an eye on him" response. He was responding to my voice and touch but was having spasms about every 3 seconds or so. So today we went to our vet.

This morning he is happy and alert. But he is listing to the right. His hind end rolls to the right when he walks and he occassionally has a head "tick". He is eating soft food but can't keep his balance and hold hard food. When walking his left hind toes will roll under which doesn't help his balance.

The vet and I are not sure what is going on and the best course of action. If anyone has any ideas, please help.

 

[lilspaz68]

steroid and antibiotic and see how he does. See if the vet will give him a dexamethasone injection at the clinic and then put him on oral steroids....see how he responds. I am sorry, things like this are so scary.

 

[SQ]

Like lilspaz68 said, see if the vet will give a dex injection.
If the vet is willing to show you how, you can give sub-Q dex injections at home once a day for a max of 4 days.
Then you wait 2 days (your vet can double check this), and start oral predisone.
As Lilspaz68 said, an antibiotic must be given as both of these steriods will lower the immune system.

Hope he is soon feeling better

 

[jorats]

Sending healing vibes... poor little guy.

 

[Joanne]

What those guys said...
I hope he starts to bounce back soon!

 

[mamarat]

Sending lots of healing vibes to your sweetie.

 

[thefriggintribe]

We haven't given Banana any meds but he is improving. He is holding food and nibbling at it; I think he is holding out for more soft food. He is still leaning to the right and unbalanced but not rolling. We will continue to monitor him closely.

Thank you for all the warm wishes.

 

[thefriggintribe]

We haven't given Banana any meds but he is improving. He is holding food and nibbling at it; I think he is holding out for more soft food. He is still leaning to the right and unbalanced but not rolling. We will continue to monitor him closely.

Thank you for all the warm wishes.

 

[lilspaz68]

Some rats can recover slowly from stroke on their own, but most of us prefer to give them that kickstart with teh steroids. I really hope its a stroke and he doesn't end up having another one, and that he slowly comes back to you.