ReepacheepTheRat
Member
I just found my pet rat, Buffy, lethargic in her cage and covered in pee on one side. I did a full exam of her looking her over for injuries and there weren't any. She was able to put weight on all four paws and doesn't seem to be in pain when I press on any area... enough so that I was able to completely clean her off from all the pee with a wet towel. No blood at all on her body or in the urine! If anything she seems more like she is high. After giving her some water with a dropper, she seemed a little stronger and stood up on her own for a minute. She has some interest in food, but is just very lethargic. This came on suddenly today. Yesterday around the same time she was running around and jumping at full energy. I'm a little worried it could be food as she tends to be the first to get new food when I cook. Yesterday, the rats were fed mixed greens, mashed avocado, some carrot, kale and watermelon. Could any of this have caused something or could something been a little rotten and caused this? The only other thing I can think of is maybe smoke poisoning, as I burnt brownies and the house was a little Smokey yesterday. A few days ago I moved some used rat toys into the cage from a friend who has rescue rats recently, but they were cleaned beforehand.
UPDATE:
This morning I was able to make an appointment with the vet. Buffy is doing better, she's now able to walk and get herself to her own food and water but is still lethargic. But another one of my rats, Reepacheep suddenly died. Reepacheep was four so he was definitely elderly and was running around happily very early this morning but around noon I found him. I have moved the remaining two healthy rats to my spare cage and the sick rat to her own cage. Very worried... anyone have any idea what this could be?
UPDATE #2: So we got in to see the vet and the vet thinks that Buffy had a stroke. She is recovering well and starting to move around, and is on some kind of anti-inflammatory painkiller as well as daily PT. We're having really good luck with feeding blended Greek Yogurt, water, rat food and kale three times a day and she is now active enough she doesn't have to get all her food from the syringe. It seems Reepacheep's death was unrelated and just an odd coincidence, probably due to old age.
UPDATE:
This morning I was able to make an appointment with the vet. Buffy is doing better, she's now able to walk and get herself to her own food and water but is still lethargic. But another one of my rats, Reepacheep suddenly died. Reepacheep was four so he was definitely elderly and was running around happily very early this morning but around noon I found him. I have moved the remaining two healthy rats to my spare cage and the sick rat to her own cage. Very worried... anyone have any idea what this could be?
UPDATE #2: So we got in to see the vet and the vet thinks that Buffy had a stroke. She is recovering well and starting to move around, and is on some kind of anti-inflammatory painkiller as well as daily PT. We're having really good luck with feeding blended Greek Yogurt, water, rat food and kale three times a day and she is now active enough she doesn't have to get all her food from the syringe. It seems Reepacheep's death was unrelated and just an odd coincidence, probably due to old age.
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