Weird behavior

[Ichigo]

My rat Lulla has been acting extremely weird the past two months. She has a "seizure" or wathever it is about once a day. First she starts "hiccuping". Then her fur stands on end and she sits in a crouched position. Her breathing gets deeper, and she tends to move away from the other rats. When I take her out of the cage, she generally gets better, but not all of the time. Then after an hour or so she is completely normal again, her fur is normal and she runs about doing normal ratty things. I took her to the vet and he told me to give her pain-meds and see if she stopped doing it. Well it didn't work so I assume she's not in pain. I just don't get it. What is she doing? Is it some kind of behaviour normal to rats?
Ok I'm horrible at explaining stuff, but watch the video and you'll see what I mean...



Also one of the other rats have "shaved" the right side of Lulla's face I guess that was the final punch that threw her of the throne ( making up new metaphores :laugh: ) She's no longer the boss of the cage.

 

[jorats]

If that's her in the video, she looks to be in respiratory distress. Did the vet listen to her lungs?
Some rats when older will do that when they wake , some do that with they poo... They aren't seizures though.

 

[Ichigo]

I couldn't find a better word for it, I know they aren't actuall seizures.
He listened to her lungs and did a complete check on her, he couldn't find anything wrong. I am completely confident in him as a vet and he is well experienced with rats Also I regually listen to her lungs as well and I can hear nothing out of the ordinary except when she makes talking noises.

Some rats when older will do that when they wake , some do that with they poo...

I'm sorry, but what do you mean? Is it a problem or is it something some rats just do?

I was hoping that somebody had rats with similar behavior, or knew of some that had. It is really disturbing to watch when she does it and the first time I literally freaked out, I thought my poor baby was giving birth or something. (becouse she had gained like 60g in three weeks)

*Edited becouse I accidently clicked submit instead of preview

 

[jorats]

It's almost like when waking up they need to clear up their nose, eyes and they get pouffy while doing this. Or when they poo, they are concentrating so hard and it looks like it's taxing on the body.
I've seen a few of mine do that but it's never a good sign. Keep an eye on her and keep listening to her lungs, the minute they sound loud, get her some meds.

Stress can also cause them to do this... other animals near them, undesirable scents, new cages, being moved...

 

[Maple]

It looks like your rattie is stressed for some reason. Has anything changed recently?

 

[Ichigo]

Well there has been a lot going on socially in the cage. Amy, who had always been the leader, got sick in October and could no longer remain the leader. Lulla took over, at least for two months. Then, in the end of November she started to puff up. Previously to this she had gained a lot of weight in a short space of time. She stopped gaining weight when she started to do this weird puffing up thingy. I think that she was the boss untill the end of December, but she clearly isn't now:

Just look at her face, poor thing.

 

[jorats]

She gained a lot of weight suddenly? Could she have an internal tumour?

 

[Ichigo]

That was the vet's guess, but he checked that all her organs were where they should be and the right size, and there is no way that he could have missed a huge tumor. It's frustrating not knowing what it could be... But I guess she is just a weird rat :-/