What is Bear doing? It's scary.

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TheHermit

TheHermit

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 26, 2011
Messages
461
Location
Barrie, ON
Bear has developed some respiratory symptoms in the last week. I just heard the boys fighting and went to look and found Bear acting absolutely terrified. He won't let anyone near him, and it took some consoling before he would let me touch him. He seemed fine until his brother Bruce approached him and he did the weirdest thing.

He seemed to curl his lip back a bit and lean his head to the side, then sort of lean all the way back like that. I thought there might have been something wrong with his mouth but I checked and it's fine- no swelling, foaming, redness...

I got a video and edited it down. What's he doing and how bad is it?
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMoMYEMLe3I"]Bear[/ame]


It's been a while, due to YouTube and my internet not getting along. He's still on high alert and has started to aggressively hump his brother. He keeps biting people on the face, too. He seems panicked and very irritable.
 
That is very odd behaviour. Perhaps he has had a stroke and it's affecting his cognition? Or has an inner ear infection that is causing him pain and it is affecting his balance when he feels stressed? It does look like something neurological is going on to me, but perhaps it is purely behavioural - I'm curious to see what the experts say.
 
I'm no expert either but I would be starting with a trip to the vet to rule out any medical issues, this doesn't look purely behavioural to me.
How old is he?
 
He is only about a year old. He'll eat the snacks I offered, a little bit of watermelon and a hunk of bread. He seems to do it after being stressed out - the second time in the video (the original is three minutes long) Alduin had jumped down a shelf right in front of him when I was seeing his reaction to my finger wiggling (I suppose Alduin thought I was beckoning him and not Bear).

The first time I noticed was after taking him out of the cage and holding him and talking to him for a little bit after he randomly picked a fight with Klaus who was just chilling. I put him back and he stood there for a second, then did it. Bruce came right over and bit his neck a bit, but Bear didn't do anything to retaliate.

I have to wait until next Friday when pay comes in to take him to the vet, my hours have dropped at work and I'm already spent.
Does he seem in pain? I don't want him to wait a week if he's in pain. He seems scared to me, even of me... my sweet Bear is always so friendly and licky, this is sooo not like him at all :(

Edit: His balance is fine, he walks fine, his head isn't tilted at all until he suddenly leans/tilts back like that. And only when stressed.
 
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[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6EBNhcoipM&list=UU3SRf14jvxggYD9h-kPZR2Q"]Second Video[/ame]

It's getting worse. The attack before this one was so bad he rolled all the way over. He's much calmer in between now and just mounts when he gets frustrated. This definitely seems like pain to me. But he let me rub his cheek and near his ear on that side, and even settled in for a second before Klaus moved. What should I do?
 
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Oh sweetie...my first instinct is a brain tumour causing seizures...see in that last video, him batting at the air? This is typical of seizures...the fear coming after the seizures, the rapid breathing from fear/anxiety is also normal. Poor love :(
 
lilspaz68 said:
Dexamethasone or steroids might help shrink the tumour, I doubt its a pituitary prolactinoma. :(
Click to expand...

What sort of trip to the vet am I looking at? Exam and x rays? I just need to try and prepare.

This morning he's halfway back to being his usual self. No episodes (yet?), he approached my hand and let he touch his head and he gave me some licks and nibbles - no fighting or mounting. Usually everyone sleeps in pairs or even separately though, and last night/today all four of them are hunkered around each other. It's good to see the other boys recognizing something is wrong and rallying around him, even after he was so mean to them last night.

My poor, sweet little Bear... is there anything short term I can do? All I have on me is baby ibuprofen but I can run out for something else today.
 
There's nothing you can get for him OTC unfortunately.

Today, you should watch him like a hawk to see if the seizure/neuro movement continues. Do up a log of when the seizure happened, any possible triggers to it (best would be what's goign on around him, lights turned on suddenly, loud noises etc, bumped into by another rat). Note times of each event, duration and how long it takes to come back to "normal".

If he never has one again, then you can just watch and wait. If he continues to have them or they get worse or more often, he NEEDS the vet asap.
 
I've only been watching him the last hour, he had one at 1:40 out of nowhere, he was just laying with Bruce and had a lengthy one. Then four minutes later Alduin joined the pile and he had another one, less severe but so quickly after the first one I saw.

My usual vet isn't open today but I did find one that is and has rat experience, they close at 3 though so I am taking a cab and just going for it. I'd rather know what's going on and what to do sooner rather than later.

Edit:
Cab is called, just wanted to add before I run out the door that I picked him up to put him in the carrier and he had an awful one right in my hands. My sweet little guy, wish him luck :(
 
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Back from the vet. The doctor thinks it's bacterial, since Bear pants at rest and not just after seizures. He believes it infected the lungs first and then traveled to the brain, and is giving him seizures. He advised me to separate Bear from everyone so the first thing I did before hoping on here was setting up an iso cage for him. I removed him from the carrier and he had a really bad seizure in my hands again, and needed a few moments rest before exploring his surroundings.

Bear got two injections at the hospital and I was given "liquid" (it's really thick) chlorpalm, 0.2ml twice a day for 10 days, and prednisolone in 5mg tablets which they halved for me to give him half a tablet once a day for five days.

I have no idea what all that is other than the pred which I was told is a steroid, and I believe the injections he got today were liquid forms of both.
 
TheHermit said:
Back from the vet. The doctor thinks it's bacterial, since Bear pants at rest and not just after seizures. He believes it infected the lungs first and then traveled to the brain, and is giving him seizures. He advised me to separate Bear from everyone so the first thing I did before hoping on here was setting up an iso cage for him. I removed him from the carrier and he had a really bad seizure in my hands again, and needed a few moments rest before exploring his surroundings.

Bear got two injections at the hospital and I was given "liquid" (it's really thick) chlorpalm, 0.2ml twice a day for 10 days, and prednisolone in 5mg tablets which they halved for me to give him half a tablet once a day for five days.

I have no idea what all that is other than the pred which I was told is a steroid, and I believe the injections he got today were liquid forms of both.
Click to expand...

Did he say meningitis at all? Infection of the brain? Zeus had that but he was hospitalized for over a week.
 
lilspaz68 said:
Well IF he has an infection, Chlorpalm is a good one to penetrate the blood/brain barrier. Its the antibiotic used for severe infections that are deep in the body that other antibiotics cannot reach.
Click to expand...

That's good to know, the vet didn't bother to explain the meds other than how to give them. His seizures are definitely worse than last night and seem to be triggered by new information or changes. I just offered him a chunk of bread with a smidge of nutella and he took it but immediately had a seizure, and had one both times I was transfering him between cages and the carrier.

He's so obviously uncomfortable... I guess all I can do is try the meds and keep his surroundings dark, quiet and the same. I don't want to trigger any more seizures.
 
TheHermit said:
That's good to know, the vet didn't bother to explain the meds other than how to give them. His seizures are definitely worse than last night and seem to be triggered by new information or changes. I just offered him a chunk of bread with a smidge of nutella and he took it but immediately had a seizure, and had one both times I was transfering him between cages and the carrier.

He's so obviously uncomfortable... I guess all I can do is try the meds and keep his surroundings dark, quiet and the same. I don't want to trigger any more seizures.
Click to expand...

IF its a brain tumour its only going to get worse...if you see its not improving, then let him go when he becomes too stressed and might soon be suffering. I am so sorry :(
 

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