Elder rat help

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XKishori

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Jul 25, 2014
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My rat Lester is currently 4 and a half years old and over the past few months he's almost lost the function of his back legs completely. Despite him being crippled he gets around his cage very well, he's found an easy way to prop himself up when he eats and I've been making him beds to sleep in with fleece and such. He currently has a stuffed pineapple that I bought though which he loves lol. He's in a smaller cage so he doesn't have to crawl around too far to get food or water and he's been happy as can be. What concerns me and what I'm at a complete loss with is he's very itchy. He's constantly trying to use his back feet to scratch but he can't get them up high enough. Ive used oatmeal dog shampoo to help with his skin and it helped for a little while but if he's not sleeping he's still trying to scratch. And also when I scratch him on the back if the neck he kinda stiffens up and starts nibbling my hand and drooling really bad. Along with the drooling and itching every once in a while he'll puff up really bad and go into some kind of trance where he's drooling excessively and kicking his front feet at his mouth. At first I suspected seizures but I'm not entirely sure because when I would wipe his mouth off and hold him gently so he didn't hurt himself he would slow down and stop and just kinda lay there for about a minute or two until he would pop back completely normal. He goes weeks and even months without doing it and one day he'll start up again with these episodes. I read somewhere he that drooling excessively like that can be them choking and I was thinking maybe he was having trouble eating his food, which he does just fine as well as drinking, nothing's changed there, but when these episodes happen, he isn't eating. He's more so trying to scratch himself and it just kinda happens. I'm wondering if when he scratches he starts drooling and happens to choke on it? That's why he's kicking at his mouth? But that doesn't really explain why he goes into a sort of trance when he does it. He jumps like he doesn't know who I am even though I'm holding him and I've had him since before he could open his eyes. He's also bitten me before but once he came around he started licking it nonstop like he felt bad. I'm just wondering if anyone might know what this is and if I should take him to a specialist or something. I'm just afraid they're going to tell me to have him put to sleep because of how old he is despite him being happy otherwise. I took these pictures this morning after clipping his nails as much as I could, they've over grown since he's gotten older so I try to keep them as trimmed as possible without cutting the vein in there.
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Any suggestions or even anyone with experiences similar to this? I've gotten more rats since him but he's the first rat i ever got so he's essentially been a huge learning experience as well as my best friend.. I hate to see him like this, specially with the attacks.
 
Ahh the elderly rats are always the love of my lives...its often my favourite part.

As for your boy, look at him carefully, and try to remember what he was able to do before when he was normal and able and what he won't be able to do now and then YOU do it:)

1) you'll need to check for penis plugs if he's intact, unless you see him able to bend around and clean his bits regularly?

2) ears. Remember when he would stick his toe nails into his ears and wiggle them around? Can't do that now. You can rub his ears with your baby finger.. get that finger in there, start off with gentle pressure, but don't be surprised if he starts grinding against your finger making these awful squinchy faces as you get those itchy ears.

3) body itches. Most rats cannot reach their shoulder blades up high , the back of their neck and part way down their spine...but as a disabled oldie, even less chance with those itchies, they don't have the accuracy or the strength. I usually start over the shoulders and back of the neck and scratch gently, bringing up the pressure little by little...when you get that "spot" expect funny faces, licks, almost bites or chewing at times, sometimes they try to curl around and get the spot or your hand and sometimes its scary fast like you've hurt them, but you haven't. I have an elderly girl who braces herself for vigorous body rubs (she's small) and loves it...they freeze up and just enjoy it :D Eventually try rubbing ALL over, base of the tail is an itchy spot most people forget...I even have oldies who roll on their back so I can rub their tum. :)

If you are still concerned and cannot rule out seizures, try to video it for us and we'll try to help you with what you are seeing.

He looks adorable :D
 
I'll try to get a video of what I'm talking about but it's something to do with his skin, I'm not quite sure but when I try scratching for him the drooling gets worse and his body contorts in a very uncomfortable way until he starts twitching and kicking his feet and drooling all over the place. I'm able to rub him gently but nothing more than that. I'm going to try to bathe him tonight when I get home from work and see if that soothes his skin any but rubbing his ears he seems to enjoy. Other wise he's still able to clean himself down there as well as most of his back as long as he's leaning on something. Sometimes he just needs me for leverage so he can reach.
 
If he's not really eating any hard food drooling can be caused by over growth of his molders. Its possible he has arthritis and your scratching might be painful. What about putting him in some warm water (just his body) perhaps that would loosen up the buck grease some. You have checked for scabs right? Just to make sure he doesn't have mites/lice... You have an adorable old rat man. You must be doing something wonderful to get him to 4+ years, wish we all could do that.
 
Ahh the elderly rats are always the love of my lives...its often my favourite part.

As for your boy, look at him carefully, and try to remember what he was able to do before when he was normal and able and what he won't be able to do now and then YOU do it:)

1) you'll need to check for penis plugs if he's intact, unless you see him able to bend around and clean his bits regularly?

2) ears. Remember when he would stick his toe nails into his ears and wiggle them around? Can't do that now. You can rub his ears with your baby finger.. get that finger in there, start off with gentle pressure, but don't be surprised if he starts grinding against your finger making these awful squinchy faces as you get those itchy ears.

3) body itches. Most rats cannot reach their shoulder blades up high , the back of their neck and part way down their spine...but as a disabled oldie, even less chance with those itchies, they don't have the accuracy or the strength. I usually start over the shoulders and back of the neck and scratch gently, bringing up the pressure little by little...when you get that "spot" expect funny faces, licks, almost bites or chewing at times, sometimes they try to curl around and get the spot or your hand and sometimes its scary fast like you've hurt them, but you haven't. I have an elderly girl who braces herself for vigorous body rubs (she's small) and loves it...they freeze up and just enjoy it :D Eventually try rubbing ALL over, base of the tail is an itchy spot most people forget...I even have oldies who roll on their back so I can rub their tum. :)

If you are still concerned and cannot rule out seizures, try to video it for us and we'll try to help you with what you are seeing.

He looks adorable :D

I learn stuff everyday on here!!!! :mouse2ud2:
 
If he's not really eating any hard food drooling can be caused by over growth of his molders. Its possible he has arthritis and your scratching might be painful. What about putting him in some warm water (just his body) perhaps that would loosen up the buck grease some. You have checked for scabs right? Just to make sure he doesn't have mites/lice... You have an adorable old rat man. You must be doing something wonderful to get him to 4+ years, wish we all could do that.


Yeah I check him regularly just to make sure, I'm pretty sure it's dry skin because his fur is also very thin so it would be wash to tell if it were anything but. And he also eats his dry food no problem so I'm not sure what could be causing the drooling unless it's arthritis like you said. I planned on giving him a bath soon to help with his skin so maybe that will help some.
Haha thanks, he's my baby <3
 
Wow 4 years old !!! That's amazing and such a handsome boy, my dog had a heart murmur when I was young and when she got too excited she would have small seizures that kind of sound like what you are describing. But I think a video would definitely be helpful although that's the extent of my experience with this behaviour so hopefully someone here has a little more experience with it then me
 
Wow 4 years old !!! That's amazing and such a handsome boy, my dog had a heart murmur when I was young and when she got too excited she would have small seizures that kind of sound like what you are describing. But I think a video would definitely be helpful although that's the extent of my experience with this behaviour so hopefully someone here has a little more experience with it then me


Yeah he hasn't done it in a few days, thankfully, but if he does I'll get a video and see what I can do. Hopefully it doesn't happen again though lol.
 
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