Cage for epilepstic (?) Rat

One of my rats has very violent seizures where he just runs in blind panick and hits the wall of the cage extremely hard. He completely ripped off multiple nails from this and badly injured his limbs. I got these sit cussions that I could place on the cage walls but I have two girls with chronic resp issues and it would kind of cut air circulation plus I couldn't really hang anything to the cage walls t( hammocks, ropes,a etc it) and it would make the cage super boring for them. I will probably be placing some fleece on the corners of the cage but they will probably just torn the fleece apart like they did when I covered the cage floors with it. Their cage is a 3 level perfect maxi ferret. It comes with a few plastic levels that I rearranged in way to make three levels for them. It used to be only one level with loads of ropes and hammocks but it's quite a tall cage and he would go all the way up and throw himself down so having it in levels helps a bit even tho it is a little more boring for them. If anyone has any tips on how to make the cage safer for him without it being too dull for everyone else I would appreciate it. Thank you!

What is his breathing like?
I am asking because rats having difficulty breathing can blindly panic

What do you see when he has seizures...blind panicked running is not a classic symptom BUT if he is having seizures, you can get phenobarbital from the vet for him to control them.

SQ said:

What is his breathing like?
I am asking because rats having difficulty breathing can blindly panic

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His breeding is okay. He was a little congested a while back, I took him to the vet and the vet said they only wanted to try medication if it progressed cuz it could just be some sniffles and he's alright now. I thought this could be panick too since seizures don't normally go like this but now him pretty seizures are it.

lilspaz68 said:

What do you see when he has seizures...blind panicked running is not a classic symptom BUT if he is having seizures, you can get phenobarbital from the vet for him to control them.

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Yeah I chatted with you a while back ( it's okay if you don't remember this you probably answers to many people everyday ) about him and we came to the conclusion it was seizures. It happens in kind of schedule, usually in the morning and when he's done he'll just go completely limb for a while, etc. I asked my vet for Phenobarbital but he said it was better to administer it only if completely necessary like if the seizures occurred more often. It usually goes like 3/4 days of a seizure in the morning and then a week or so without seizures. So I was hoping it would kind of go away or at least not happen so often but I guess we really should start medication..I'll give stop by the vet soon. Thank you.

awww it sounds like it might not be often enough to warrant phenobarbitol then. Just do your best, seizure-proof the cage and watch for any possible triggers.

lilspaz68 said:

awww it sounds like it might not be often enough to warrant phenobarbitol then. Just do your best, seizure-proof the cage and watch for any possible triggers.

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Thank you! I'm trying my best ahah but he still gets bruises now and then. About triggers, his seizures usually happen between 4 to 8 am. There's no noise nor light nor nothing I can think of that triggers these seizures! Ugh.

in humans some people with seizures respond well to cbd oil ……. you might check the literature and with your vet to see if your vet thinks it might be helpful to look into that and if so what the dose would be etc ……. I have no knowledge as to if it is used with rats, if it can be helpful with rats etc

SQ said:

in humans some people with seizures respond well to cbd oil ……. you might check the literature and with your vet to see if your vet thinks it might be helpful to look into that and if so what the dose would be etc ……. I have no knowledge as to if it is used with rats, if it can be helpful with rats etc

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Thank you! I do think it can be used in rats. I am going to be ordering some for my dog soon so I will look more into that with my vet!

SQ said:

What is his breathing like?
I am asking because rats having difficulty breathing can blindly panic

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This is not a breathing panic. JS