Sheldon suddenly spazing and seemingly in pain.

[Sheldon]

Ugh. What is going on in my colony lately? I have never had so many problems!

Ok I have an idea what this is but I don't want to say it out loud until I've heard other opinions. On Saturday at some point Sheldon began acting very strangely. She will whip around suddenly and squeal as if in pain, looking at her backside as she does. Feeling her all over yields little to no information. Today I noticed she is grabbing the last inch of her tail after many of the squeaks and grooming it like crazy.

I thought she might be constipated so I palpated her stool out, which definitely seemed to cause some discomfort no matter how careful I was. I have been giving her daily metacam since Saturday but the shrieks are getting worse (or maybe they are just bothering me more) so I added tramadol tonight. Any info, opinions, or suggestions are welcomed.

Thanks

 

[lilspaz68]

I have heard (and seen) that sometimes when they have injured their back, the nerves will zing at the end of the tail, hence these moving, squeaks, grabbing the tail and licking it as the nerves from the back/spinal column travel all the way to the tip of their tail.

Metacam for inflammation and try to limit her mobility and hopefully she just sprained or pulled something in her back. Hopefully rest and the metacam will help her.

 

[temblabamomo]

Poor baby. I hope it is only (as lilspaz said) some pain resultant from an injury that will hopefully ease soon.

 

[Joanne]

I have never come across this. I too am hoping it is just an injury that will resolve with rest and antiinflammatories.

 

[dspch911]

Poor baby, hope she feels better.... :heart: Welcome to my world where everything seems to go wrong at once....

 

[Sheldon]

I feel like we just keep taking turns and every other day one of us has something awful to report. :/

 

[Godmother]

SQ once had a rat with that problem. He needed pain meds for a while.

 

[Sheldon]

She's doing it less after several days worth of meloxicam but still with a frequency worth worry. Is it possible to get an athletic sprain via wheel tail? She's not in it for long periods but does get in and out of it a lot.

 

[lilspaz68]

She's doing it less after several days worth of meloxicam but still with a frequency worth worry. Is it possible to get an athletic sprain via wheel tail? She's not in it for long periods but does get in and out of it a lot.

She's still running? Sadly I would remove her beloved wheel for a few days to limit her mobility. Her compulsion might be making her keep herself sore.