4 week 3 day old baby walking funny showing signs of pain.

aww he's so darn cute!

interesting that he doesn't seem to have much trouble standing on the back legs, but when he walks, they drag....

Oh I know what you mean about those Rat Manors, I'm not a big fan of those. They seem to be very poorly made, with all sorts of gaps and bad wires

heh, your voice isn't the least bit annoying. You sound a lot like I do when I talk to my ratties.

I really don't think he is in any discomfort but I will give him to infant ibu to see if it makes any difference.

Petunia said:

Oh I know what you mean about those Rat Manors, I'm not a big fan of those. They seem to be very poorly made, with all sorts of gaps and bad wires

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I have ended up zip tying my shelves to the side bars for safety and then covering in chloroplast (Thanks Peggy for that idea) and then covered that in fleece. That cage is a nightmare .... I'm currently using it at my mom's for the three baby boys...

Petunia said:

I would wonder if he fell and injured his spine somehow
It does seem more like weakness than a deformity, to my totally inexperienced eyes

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I was thinking more like, someone dropped him and forgot to mention it... Come on Ratpack do you REALLY think they were going to mention a disabled rat to you ... as my nephew would say "that's just crazy talk" We have used DMG for leg issues its an holistic and it might sound odd, but motion therapy 2-3 times a day. Just move his legs as if he was riding a bike, but I would hold off until you see the vet. I'm sure he'll adapt ... look at how hopefloats handicapped babies did and they were all kinds of goofy, but just the cutest little things. He's just a special little boy

Aw little sweetie pie. It's like he doesn't want to walk or can't. I would get him an x-ray asap. I'm glad he's in good hands and in your care!

RatPack said:

I really don't think he is in any discomfort but I will give him to infant ibu to see if it makes any difference.

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it may not be pain but injuries can cause swelling so it could help

dspch911 said:

I was thinking more like, someone dropped him and forgot to mention it... Come on Ratpack do you REALLY think they were going to mention a disabled rat to you ... as my nephew would say "that's just crazy talk"

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Oh I know but I can't stress enough to people to tell us everything! It won't change our decision about whether we can take them or not.. Just wish they would understand how much harder and expensive it is to started from square one and have to play the guessing game!

His appointment is at 9:40 in the morning. Ill let everyone know how it goes and will definitely do an xray just to make sure

Good luck!

So we just got back a little bit ago and the best diagnoses the vet could give us based on everything was that little Caleb has hip dysplasia.. His little hips don't sit properly in the sockets which is why they look so stiff sometimes. She has never seen it in a rat this young so we don't know how this will affect his growth.. Our biggest concern since he is so young is the discomfort he may start to feel as his body grows. For now he seems fine and there is no inflammation anyway that we can see so he gets a clean bill of health other than those stubborn legs... So he will remain with us here and I have picked out a brother for him so he will never be lonely.. Any suggestions on anything? We are kind of in the dark on this one haha

Wow, that's a tough one. Have a look at this article Amanda. It's about HD in dogs. There's info about its treated surgically and non-surgically. I know it's not about rats but at least it's some good info about the condition and it might spark some ideas for you to try.

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2+2084&aid=444

Good read! Definitely alot of good ideas in there that I will discuss with my vet and see which ones we think are best course right now and go from there.