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J

JParsons

Active Member
Joined
Jun 13, 2020
Messages
31
Location
Portlsnd
My 13 month old rat is suddenly moving very slowly. He takes small steps and often hops his hind legs along rather than taking actual steps. He seems to be generally okay otherwise, besides being less active than normal. I had a rat in the past that developed hind leg paralysis, but I'm not sure that's what this is. It seems to have happened over night. Is it possible it's just a sprain?
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
 
Both his feet seem normal. He squeaked when I touched his hips the other day, but it doesn't seem to bother him now. It's been going on for about two days now without getting any better or worse.
 
Can you get a video? (Upload to YouTube and put a link here?)

Have you tried something like Metacam (it you have any) or infant liquid ibuprofen to help with any pain/inflammation and get him to possibly heal faster?
 
I'll try to get some Metacam. Any suggestion on the dosage?

I can try to get a video, but it's pretty subtle. I may be overreacting. He's just definitely going through something.
 
Unfortunately I don't have a scale. I'd say he's about average size. Here's a picture if that helps.
 

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Without anything to compare him to (hands can be big or small) average to smaller male is about 450 grams. If you are using 1.5 mg/ml Metacam then his dose for that weight would be 0.24 ml once a day. He may only need a couple of days dosing.
 
This would be a good time to get a scale. One way to monitor the health of your little friends is to keep a log of their weight. If they start losing weight quickly you will know something is wrong.

Get something accurate to the gram and ideally comes with or can fit a bowl on top (healthy rats dont always sit still, and if their tail is resting on the table it will throw off the reading)

For now here are two methods that may help to estimate, if you like:

1) Put him on the table next to a dollar bill for size reference and take photos with the camera angle perpendicular to the face of the bill.

2) Fill a plastic solo cup with known volume of water until the weight of the cup is the same as his weight using your same hand. Tell us how much water.
 
Last edited:
Hi i know its been two years since you posted this, but did you find out what it was? My rat has been showing the same symptoms but the vet seems to have no clue what it could be.

The same hopping thing and issue with balance is happening
 
lee94 said:
Hi i know its been two years since you posted this, but did you find out what it was? My rat has been showing the same symptoms but the vet seems to have no clue what it could be.

The same hopping thing and issue with balance is happening
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It could be hind end degenerations.
 

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