hind leg paralysis

My Larry is about 20 months old now and is starting to loose function of his hind legs. For a few months he's sort of adopted a waddle, which I didn't think much of because he'd still walk around good and climb and balance on places he shouldn't before I saw it and went to relocate him. But just this week, I've noticed that his feet seem curled in a little, that it seems hard for him to bring his feet forward when taking steps, and that he can't reach his face/ears to scratch himself. Can you please share your experiences with caring for this and possible medications to help him (glucosamine/chondroitin? and the dose, please) and also some good links to online info you found helpful. Thanks! Poor Dirty Larry

It sounds like you are describing HED - Hind End Degeneration.
All of my rats get this if they live long enough. I'm not sure of the cause, if it's motor or nerve related, but I don't do anything about it except make the rat's life easier by lowering ramps, water bottles, etc. Sometimes they will need soaked blocks if they get to the point where they can't hold their food because they can't rock back on their haunches.
You have to think of it like the rat is a little senior citizen. As a general rule, as people age they slow down and aren't able to move as easily. If you go to a seniors' home, they are using rails, walkers, wheel chairs to get around. Rats can pull themselves along pretty well with their front legs, and I personally do not remove the ramps, but just lower them. It encourages exercise. I do cover them with a sock though, as I witnessed one of my old boys get his leg caught one day and it was scary.
Anyway, don't worry too much about it. He's just a little old man, toddling around.

hm socks, thats a great idea. Larry does hobble around, it looks like he's waddling or has poo'd his pants or something, poor guy. I just feel bad for him and wish there was something to make him more comfy. I gave him a bit of ibuprofen today, and some baytril as he'd started coughing pretty bad too.

Aw, poor old rat man.:flowers1:

Socks are good for covering ladders .... Flowertown Chinchilla also sells pkg of 3 covers for CN and FN ladders