Need help and fast..7 Week old very lethargic. (RIP Chance)

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A

Anthony

Member
Joined
Jan 21, 2014
Messages
15
Location
New England
Hi guys, sorry to make my first thread here one of this nature..No one likes that, I'm sure.

Okay, I need some help. I've searched as much as I can on the web for answers and stumbled apon here, and think you guys might be the ones to help.

A few days ago, I lost my mother rat, Luna. She was only 6 months old, but had a successful litter of 16. She became lethargic over night and exhibited signs of what I believe to be a stroke. She would shake her head up and down a bit fast occasionally, and she would seem to doze in and out of consciousness. She passed away, about 15 hours after that, in her sleep.

Now I am in a similar situation, as one of her babies (A male) who is usually veeeery active, is barely moving at all. He can move, and if I approach him he will come up to me, but he is quite weak. He will eat a bit, and he will drink a bit. He perks up from time to time, and seems more aware than others. His eyes tend to be at half mast, and he wobbles a lot. I checked his ears and they seem fine, and he doesn't seem to have an ear infection that I can tell. I am VERY worried about him. My closest small pets vet I can go to is over an hour away and I have no means of transportation until later in the week, tomorrow at soonest. I am also pretty strapped for cash, because I am in the process of moving.


I have all the other babies and father all doing fine and can't for the life of me figure this out. They haven't gotten into anything, they have been eating the same things, and they haven't changed caging or anything of that nature.
 
Anthony said:
Hi guys, sorry to make my first thread here one of this nature..No one likes that, I'm sure.

Okay, I need some help. I've searched as much as I can on the web for answers and stumbled apon here, and think you guys might be the ones to help.

A few days ago, I lost my mother rat, Luna. She was only 6 months old, but had a successful litter of 16. She became lethargic over night and exhibited signs of what I believe to be a stroke. She would shake her head up and down a bit fast occasionally, and she would seem to doze in and out of consciousness. She passed away, about 15 hours after that, in her sleep.

Now I am in a similar situation, as one of her babies (A male) who is usually veeeery active, is barely moving at all. He can move, and if I approach him he will come up to me, but he is quite weak. He will eat a bit, and he will drink a bit. He perks up from time to time, and seems more aware than others. His eyes tend to be at half mast, and he wobbles a lot. I checked his ears and they seem fine, and he doesn't seem to have an ear infection that I can tell. I am VERY worried about him. My closest small pets vet I can go to is over an hour away and I have no means of transportation until later in the week, tomorrow at soonest. I am also pretty strapped for cash, because I am in the process of moving.


I have all the other babies and father all doing fine and can't for the life of me figure this out. They haven't gotten into anything, they have been eating the same things, and they haven't changed caging or anything of that nature.
Click to expand...

Can you get us a video of him? The wobbling does not sound good and my first instinct would be inner ear infection, because you usually cannot see anything until its coming to the outer part of the ear and that means its firmly established.

A video would really really help us help you though.
 
Yes, absolutely. I'm in the process of uploading one at the moment, and I will edit this post to put the video in once it is finished. (50%) Please forgive the low quality and messy room and demeanor. It's 9 AM and I've not yet gotten any sleep.

Also, I didn't mention this in the video, but I know it matters to mention. He is currently able to pick up and eat food with his hands, and use them to clean his face. He does not clench them. So I know that rules a few things out..but could he really be this weak from an ear infection? Though the ear infection would certainly explain his balance issue.
 
Yes, such an infection could horribly weaken him, especially since a) he is young, b) this could have been going on very long without you knowing. The best thing you do is keep him hydrated and fed(with watered down food from a needleless syringe if he refuses otherwise) until you can get him to a vet that will correctly treat your baby with a combination of antibiotics. He will have to stay on these for a while if it is such a bad infection, and his balance issues may stay for the rest of his life, but don't worry, he can live very happily with some accommodation.

That is if he has a ear infection, which I don't think would cause him to be so lethargic so quickly. Do his feed or tail appear pale or cold? Is his breathing wheezy or whistley? Could it be possible that something is blocking his intestinal tract?
 
Unfortunately, the video just conked out at 99% on an upload to Tinypic..'sigh' Any advice on better uploading sites for this?

His tale looks and feels no different than usual. No breathing differences...

Uhm, I can't imagine that anything could. He hasn't really had access to anything that would cause an obstruction.
 
Chance is still quite wobbly, but perkier. Certainly perkier than I am running on no sleep! Hoping I can get a nap in soon at least, once I can feel a bit safer about him. I have to put him first though. He falls when he tries to stand on his back feet too high up, but does it alot to look up at me. He's walking to and from his food bowl more now, and getting more food into him without me having to do the work. He is napping a lot, and waking up to walk around and eat, which pleases me. My video is almost uploaded.

Edit:
Here is the video.

http://videobam.com/BTdxq
 
Your baby has hydrocephalus from what I can tell. This is an accumulation of water on the brain and can be fatal. Did this little one have a more domed head when a tiny baby? Sometimes (not often) babies can create a natural shunt in their head to drain the fluid out of the head, but most times the babies end up with seizures and dying. Is he losing weight? They usually do once the pressure builds up. they are unable to eat as well as they used to and while it looks like they are holding and eating hard foods they are gnawing very slowly and not getting a lot of actual food out of it. I give them soft foods or I soak lab blocks and make a mush they can easily lick up. Unfortunately your little one looks like he has hit some 7 week old wall...a lot of people I talked to who had hydro babies often had them regress rapidly and pass around 7 weeks old :(

This was my Junebug, see if any of the behaviours look similar. Note the splayed hind feet, the arched back posture, the walking higher on back toes then the front, the dull closed eyes, the confusion, the slow turningand the wobblies. They often fall over when trying to rear up.

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=30205&hilit=Junebug
 
First off, I'm so sorry to hear about your mommy rat. It's so saddening, how much these poor little guys can come down with. Their genetics are so screwed up, it's heart breaking.

I'm also so sorry to hear about your baby. It must be hard to deal with after just losing your female. I agree with lilspaz though, it looks like he may be suffering from Hydro. Monitor his progress as best as you can, and keep him fed and hydrated, but you should get him to a vet as quickly and as soon as possible. Unforunately, he may need to be put down sometime in the future, so he won't suffer from the disease.

Atleast the other babies and dad are doing well though. You should keep a close eye on the other babies too, just incase.
 
Sorry about you loss, but I do want to mention I have a hydro rat that is approaching his first birthday!! He is quite a spit fire - we got him quite sick with malnutrition, over grown teeth, and a respiratory infection. He fattened him up with baby food until we could get his teeth trimmed. He's quite healthy now and other than his different features he acts just the other boys. He's our special little man!
 
Yes, most of those symptoms seem to match up, Lilspaz. =/

It's hard for me to tell if he's doing better or not. He is certainly more active than he was earlier.
 
Hydro... so that's what this is. I've seen it in mice all the time; I always called it "toe-walking" cause they would puff their fur, hunch their backs, and walk on the very tips of their toes. I was never able to save my mice from it, and I've never personally had this happen in rats, but I have seen it in pet store rats, feeder rats, etc. Sorry you're having to go through this. :(
 
Realistically, what are his chances? What is the likelyhood ofothers in the litter having it?

His head isn't really dome shaped or anything, or any different than a normal rats. =\

This is all similar to what quickly took my Luna (The mother of them all). But again, no difference in head shape...Could that be what took her, and not a stroke as I had assumed?
 
Keep an eye on the other babies. I've never heard of more than one rattie in a litter having Hydro, but you never know. If they're doing alright now, they should be okay though. Do you have a picture of Luna? We may be able to tell.
 
KatTheHippie said:
Keep an eye on the other babies. I've never heard of more than one rattie in a litter having Hydro, but you never know. If they're doing alright now, they should be okay though. Do you have a picture of Luna? We may be able to tell.
Click to expand...

CCH took in 4 pregnant moms. 3 litters of babies affected with hydro. 2 litters of ALL hydro babies and they all died, the 3rd one had some without symptoms who lived a bit longer but some passed at a few months old, 18 months old etc. Others were not affected and are still alive.

His chances are not wonderful since he already looks so dozy, like he`s had some seizures (one of the issues they can develop). Give him soft foods and see if he improves.
 
I have heard the same so we are worried we will lose Sebastian early although he is such a sweet boy! If you're interested this is what he came to us looking like and what he looks like now. I don't want to give you false hope I think we got lucky, but I hope you baby does pull through. I haven't been able to pull up the video.

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=34710&hilit=+sebastian
 
Very sorry for your loss.

Hope Chance improves.
You might also try feeding him organic soy infant formula (or ensure) thickened with baby cereal, in addition to the mushy lab block. It will give him nutrition and help him to stay hydrated.
 
Thank you. I will be going out to the store tomorrow to get some of that to try and feed him. He does seem to be eating the smaller food and drinking, but I am still very worried. He's resting right now, and seems to at least be comfortable and not in much pain. Should I be letting him get his rest and let him be now and then? I just want to do all I can, and if I just leave him be to rest, I worry I could be doing more. But certainly he doesn't need to eat and drink 24/7.

I just don't want there to be anything I could have done that I didn't.

A brief edit:


About 20 minuets ago, Chance passed away in my hands. I noticed he was taking a turn for the worse, and held him for his last few moments. I then showed him to his brothers and sisters and father, and am going to bury him with his mother.


Thank you for all the support. I hope I did all I could. I take it that none of the others are at danger, given it is generally congenital and not something that can spread? Just kind of something they either develop and are born with or don't?

:/ Really hard to have to go with two big losses in a row. Out of the 16 babies she had, the one I was planning on keeping, was Chance.
 
I'm so, so sorry to hear about poor Chance. Just keep in mind that you did EVERYTHING you possibly could have done to give him the best little life possible, even if it was a short one. He knew love and hope that a lot of other ratties will never, ever experience, and kind, gentle hands that helped him when he was sick. You did your best, and I know it's hard to lose two so soon after one another, but you've got fifteen other babies who look up at you as their whole world, and their daddy who loves and depends on you so much.

You should make a new thread, and post some pictures of everyone :) I would love to see your little family. And yes, Hydro isn't contagious, so don't worry about that.
 

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