HED cage help

Anyone that has a HED rat or any rat that has difficulty with mobility problems and you have modified your cage, preferably a CN, can you please post pictures. I currently have one boy for sure dragging his hind end around and another showing symptoms. I feel so sorry for them, but I'll take this over PT anyday. Anyway, I have extra shelves if needed. I want the cage to be safe and excess able, but still entertaining.

Another question, Lovee is beating up on Jack (HED boy). Jack is losing weight since Lovee is physically moving him from the food bowl. We now remove or distract Lovee so Jack can eat and/or we feed them on different levels of the cage. Jack only has one eye since Lovee damaged his other one about a year ago. Should we separate them?

I had an old girl that dragger herself and rolled around at the end of her life that lived in a CN. I don't have pics but i put her level at the lowest point and had a ton of safety hammocks. She seemed to enjoy corner hammocks the most, they seemed easiest to get into. I also put thin cushion underneath her fleece in case of a falling accident.

Pressed send to early... is Lovee picking on Jack beside the food issue?

Yes, he has always been a jerk face to him.

Hm.. I don't know exactly what it's like for him but if it was my rat I would separate them if jack seemed stressed by it

Sorry I don't have pics but what I did when I had old men in a CN was lower the shelf to the bottom hooks and make sure you use a ramp cover. To be 100% safe I usually had a big hammock that would hang between the shelf and the opposite wall just so there was something to catch my old man if he ever fell off the shelf. I also lowered all of my hammocks and toys so they rested on the ground so he could get to them. Lastly make sure the water bottle is nice and low for him.

As for the cage mate situation - if you have the space and enough rats to separate then I would.

I have always kept my rats in the DCN. I use two shelves in each level, one on each side with a ramp from shelf to shelf as they can't manage the climb between shelves. I use ramp covers - I happened to be nearby when one of my old guys got his foot stuck in the bottom of the ramp just by being next to it. I can imagine him breaking it if I hadn't been watching at the time. I keep a water bowl and food at the bottom of each level as well as places to snuggle up that they don't have to climb into.
Whenever I go by, I check and see if they need a lift. I would put my Jazzy on the top level and later on she would be all they way down to the bottom. Then I would put her back up at the top because she couldn't go back up on her own (HED + tumors). It's nice for them to have a choice of what level they want to be on.

I'm going to work on these cages today. Maybe I can intro Jack and Lovee with some others and then he won't have just Jack to pick on

dspch911 said:

I'm going to work on these cages today. Maybe I can intro Jack and Lovee with some others and then he won't have just Jack to pick on

Click to expand...

That sounds like a good idea.

I put the shelves as low as possible and cover the ladders for rats still able to climb ... and hammocks are hung low over laping the shelves so th=ey can be easily crawled or stepped into

I use baby crib quilts/blankets over the pans as they are thicker and offer protection when rats reach the point of having limited or no use in their hind legs.
These much be changed more and more frequently as rats become unable to use litter boxes - often at least twice a day.
On the full level I hang hammocks low so they can be crawled into, a padded box to crawl into and chew, a tube that can be crawled into and chew etc.
Litter boxes on the full level are dollar store dish pans with sides cut down very low or cut off, so that they can be crawled into

I use shallow dishes for water, lab block mush and organic soy infant formula thickened with baby cereal to keep them eating and hydrated (in addition to blocks and daily vegs & pieces of fruit.



seniors are in the top two sections ...... only one shelf is low and that is the side they use .... other shelf is high because of things I put or hang under it

dspch911 said:

Anyone that has a HED rat or any rat that has difficulty with mobility problems and you have modified your cage, preferably a CN, can you please post pictures. I currently have one boy for sure dragging his hind end around and another showing symptoms. I feel so sorry for them, but I'll take this over PT anyday. Anyway, I have extra shelves if needed. I want the cage to be safe and excess able, but still entertaining.

Another question, Lovee is beating up on Jack (HED boy). Jack is losing weight since Lovee is physically moving him from the food bowl. We now remove or distract Lovee so Jack can eat and/or we feed them on different levels of the cage. Jack only has one eye since Lovee damaged his other one about a year ago. Should we separate them?

Click to expand...

Please educate me and tell me what HED is

hind end degeneration ..... they gradually lose the use of their back legs, muscles waste away and over time their back legs become twisted and paralyzed
As the condition becomes advanced, there may be poor blood circulation and the end of the tail can slowly become narcotic, skin at the end of the tail deteriorates and tip of tail starts breaking off

HED - hind end degredation.
http://ratguide.com/health/musculoskeletal/degenerative_osteoarthritis.php
(SQ beat me to it but Ratguide is still a good place to read more [emoji14])

Hind end degeneration
It's common in elderly males. Their back leg muscles atrophy, and they have a tough time getting around. I recall an elderly ratty lady who was amazing at dragging herself around by her front legs. She'd go up ramps somehow until the end of her life.

Hmmm, we're getting as bad as the military, with all our acronyms! PEW, PT, HED!

I added the extra shelf to both Axe/Peanut's cage and Jack/Lovee's cage. I can tell Axe made it down to the bottom cause there are mouse size turds there this am. Vets says as long as he makes some turds she is happy. Peanut is not so happy since I converted them to all fleece. I thought that would make it easier from them to get around, but he cannot hide as easily or cover his food. Perhaps I'll give him more fleece pieces. Plus I moved his "pantry - food storage area" all the way up to the third shelf since it doesn't fit on the bottom anymore.

Lovee seems to like the new set up, but Jack is just hanging out in the potty on the bottom shelf - he is removing all the potty litter too. Also put them on all fleece. Gave Jack a bowl of baby cereal with ensure - he put potty liter in it. Gave him a new bowl - he put a wooden box in it. Hmmm, is he trying to tell me something... I did give him his wheel back since that seems to be his favorite sleeping place.

I always have an extra pile of fleece scraps and old socks for them to put in hammies, boxes, food bowl, etc. They enjoy rearranging things to suit themselves.

Jack has been going on all levels too, but for some reason he wants to sleep in all the liter boxes. Yesterday he put fleece in his baby cereal ensure mix. I guess he doesn't want that.

They have fleece pieces, but I gave Peanut even more.

Here are today's cages after cleaning

Axe and Peanut's


Jack and Lovee's

Looks great! How are the liners made for the shelves? Is it just square with no notches?

Very nice!

Joanne said:

Looks great! How are the liners made for the shelves? Is it just square with no notches?

Click to expand...

I did not make them, they are from momrat, but yes, she does not completely sew the corners where the notches are.