Declan and his Hind End Degeneration

[lilspaz68]

Declan is now 27 months old, his lungs are shot, and so is his hind end now. But he's still bright, so no decision agonizing yet :giggle:

If you look very carefully you will notice towards the end that his toes are twitching...these are the nerve impulses from the spinal nerve degeneration.



And here his bright little face :heart:



and moving around a bit so you can see how his HED is progressing.

 

[tinytippytoes]

What a beautiful boy he is! :heart: My old man Spaghetti is going through the same thing I never noticed the twitching before but now that you mentioned it I will check. Your boy looks so content and yes very bright eyed ...for life.

 

[Scythe]

These videos are fantastic, Shelagh, especially for me considering I have two 26m/o boys I never stop worrying about now that they are old men. anic:

Good to compare with and see the start of HED with my own eyes. :thumbup:

 

[jorats]

He looks like a love!

 

[Joanne]

He looks like a happy boy! Sadly he looks like a sprinter compared to two of my crew these days.

 

[DadRat]

Have you tried fish oil with him? It made a noticeable change in our Gregory. His HED is very obviously neuro, with twitching like in your video.

 

[Serenity]

Thank you for posting this.... my Yin has gotten very bad hind end degeneration and I am not sure if it is time.... or when to tell when it is... he is dragging both and its getting harder for him to get around, he also does the toe twitching as well and I am scared that is pain...

 

[lilspaz68]

Thank you for posting this.... my Yin has gotten very bad hind end degeneration and I am not sure if it is time.... or when to tell when it is... he is dragging both and its getting harder for him to get around, he also does the toe twitching as well and I am scared that is pain...

Its not, its nerve impulses...there's little pain because they just don't feel anything there anymore. Have you felt over his hind limbs and quarters to see if he exhibits any signs of discomfort?

 

[Joanne]

If he's not in pain (and I think it would be very atypical if he were for HED) then the most important thing is to make sure he has access to food and water all the time. If he's still bright and eating and dragging himself around, then it's not time yet. He'll tell you when it's time.

ETA: If he were a person, he would be in a wheel chair. We just don't have chairs small enough for our ratties.

 

[Zooy]

Oh Declan, love him!