what's wrong with my rat? :(

[sketchi]

it's Strider. he's unbalanced, wobbly, and just... quite disoriented. at first I thought it was "PT", since that seems like the common old-age disease, but he's able to eat a cheerio with both hands, he still eats his lab block just fine, and he's very energetic. he runs all over the place just as fast as usual, only fumbling around more, and has weird jerky movements. he was fine even up till this morning! I just noticed as I went to give the rats their dinner, and when I put him back he fell over on his side.

he's seemed to have lost a lot of weight too, or maybe it's just he feels so fragile now. what do you guys think it is? is it possible to save him with medication? he doesn't seem to be in pain, and actually looks to be enjoying his extra out-time and cheerio 'tests'.

he's 27+ months old... so if it's his time to go, I'll let him down gently. I don't want to make him fight it, unless it'll improve his quality of life. I just don't want to stress him out at this point, unless it's really worth it. if you guys need a video to identify the illness, I'll try and get one up soon too.

 

[lilspaz68]

it's Strider. he's unbalanced, wobbly, and just... quite disoriented. at first I thought it was "PT", since that seems like the common old-age disease, but he's able to eat a cheerio with both hands, he still eats his lab block just fine, and he's very energetic. he runs all over the place just as fast as usual, only fumbling around more, and has weird jerky movements. he was fine even up till this morning! I just noticed as I went to give the rats their dinner, and when I put him back he fell over on his side.

he's seemed to have lost a lot of weight too, or maybe it's just he feels so fragile now. what do you guys think it is? is it possible to save him with medication? he doesn't seem to be in pain, and actually looks to be enjoying his extra out-time and cheerio 'tests'.

he's 27+ months old... so if it's his time to go, I'll let him down gently. I don't want to make him fight it, unless it'll improve his quality of life. I just don't want to stress him out at this point, unless it's really worth it. if you guys need a video to identify the illness, I'll try and get one up soon too.

A video would really really help.

 

[sketchi]

he was eating so I didn't want to disturb him, but here he is (after a long time uploading the vid)!

[youtube:2lgcb4z2]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_tBVRHJpwg[/youtube:2lgcb4z2]​

(I know he looks up a lot when he's eating the cheerio, but that's his usual habit and not something I'm worried about) you can see he's wobbly on his feet, lands badly from a short jump, and sometimes jerks his head around.

right now he's eating more cheerios in my shirt, gripping them quite well in both his paws. other than having an extremely bad sense of balance, he seems OK. quite well, even. he's not letting it bother him, at least! and actually... I've been expecting this for a while now. ever since his best bud noodle died, strider's been sorta... apathetic? maybe I'm just giving him human attributes, but I swear he just seemed to be less engaged about life. he'd sleep more, come out last, etc. when I got the babies he perked up for a while, and then leveled off to being just OK. but I never saw him excitedly groom another rat the way he used to for noodle. it was always just, less enthusiastic (maybe it's just the way I saw it, but). even about food, he'd used to really fight (in a friendly way! if you know what I mean) with noodle over, but after noodle went he just gave in whenever another rat tried to grab his food.

I'm actually in a weird way relieved that he's finally getting a way out. it was always a bit sad to see him, so melancholy even surrounded by other rats, like he's lost his soulmate-buddy or something. I personally don't think he even wants to fight it, but if I can improve his quality of life, I'd like to do that. he's still got his appetite, so I've been plying him with foodstuffs. I figure it won't hurt him now.

(edited to embed youtube video)

 

[lilspaz68]

I would consider inner ear infection, there's a tilt I see, and he acts just like Shade before she got treatment.

 

[Joanne]

If it's a balance issue, maybe he's got an inner ear infection just starting.
Oh, Lilspaz beat me to it!

 

[sketchi]

OH is that all? man I guess I was jumping the gun there! :emb: I'll take him to Dr. Munn and get that ear looked at then. thanks all!

 

[temblabamomo]

I'm no expert, but I'd definitely try treating for inner ear infection, see if it's any help to the handsome boy.

 

[sketchi]

here I was, thinking for something to affect him THIS much it's gotta be PT or stroke or some other horrible, irreversible thing! just an ear infection... whew. didn't even think of it!

 

I as well am thinking an ear infection :thumbsup:

 

[hopefloats]

here I was, thinking for something to affect him THIS much it's gotta be PT or stroke or some other horrible, irreversible thing! just an ear infection... whew. didn't even think of it!

I think because he is able to use his hands. I think the hands is first in PT's then the off balance. I could be wrong though. .d```````````````````````


I had a helper and to lazy to fix it

 

[sketchi]

is this early ear infection, or late-stage? I'm wondering if he's had an ear infection all this time, just hiding it really well, and thus has been acting 'meh' about life? it'd be great if clearing up his ear infection also improves his 'meh' attitude!

 

[mamarat]

Some rats do mourn for a while after losing their buddy. I have 2 little sisters and it took Anna almost a month before being her old self after Lily died. Fingers crossed for your sweetie.

 

[sketchi]

it's been nearly a year... :s after noodle died it was just him and milky, and milky was kinda anti-social. then I got babies and he did try to play with the babies, it seemed to work for a while, but the babies "speak a different language" and play more amongst themselves. strider is more or less a loner now, and he isn't the human-cuddler type either so I don't know what to do. they do all sleep together, so at least there's that, but I don't see a certain inquisitive playfulness he used to have (around other rats). or maybe it's just a part of getting old? still, noodle dying seems to have mellowed him out prematurely.

 

[mamarat]

I didn't know it had been that long. But at 27 months he may be just slowing down too. He does seem to have a bit of a head tilt in your video.

 

[sketchi]

Dr. Munn said he's got a 50/50 chance of having either ear infection, or tumour (due to his old age). I happened to meet lilspaz today at the vet too, and she said it looks very much like her Shade so I'm leaning more towards ear infection! fingers crossed the antibiotics will work.

 

[fenshae]

Fingers crossed for your dude!

When Sweeney got his ear infection, it was DRASTIC. Like, he went from being totally OK to falling over drunk, gator-rolling in the 3 days it took to get him to the vet. He recovered well with antibiotics although he was always tilty after.

 

[Joanne]

We're rooting for the ear infection!

 

[lilspaz68]

Good to hear!! I still don't think its a tumour from how bright and lively he was

What did Sam give you?

 

[mamarat]

Fingers crossed it's an ear infection. I hate tumors.

 

[KayRatz]

This seems like the same thing my boy is doing, but he's already been being treated for ear infection and was improving when he got like this overnight... I'm still not sure what it is, my vet just said "if it's a virus then we can't do anything." :\ Good luck with yours...