Sudden Lethargy

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Joined
Mar 5, 2019
Messages
6
Location
El Paso, Texas
Hello!!

Okay, so my baby girl Friday is about five months old now. Usually, she is a little ball of energy, always the first out of her three sisters to greet you at the cage doors. However, recently we noticed that she has become rather lethargic.

We let the girls out of their cage to free roam around the house the other day, and how she would typically respond to that would be to run everywhere imaginable and popcorn while she’s at it, but this time around she just walked around seeming a bit listless and wanted to do nothing more than snuggle in my arms. And when it was time to put the girls up, she went straight to her little pod and snuggled up. She seems really puffy, her hair standing on end as if she’s cold, though it isn’t cold at all in our house. Also, every now and then she elicits these little squeaks randomly. She also sleeps more, which is really out of character for her. Therefore, we decided it was time for a vet visit, but when we took her to get checked out today the vet couldn’t find anything wrong with her.

Our vet gave us some metacam in the case of inflammation, because when she was pinching around to look for any pain areas, Friday squeaked a bit but the vet couldn’t get her to repeat the noise when she pinched the area a second time. She also gave us some baytril in case it’s a respiratory issue. Aside from the lethargy, we saw Friday eating the other day, though we aren’t so sure about drinking because we are usually working most of the day. Also, we haven’t seen any porphyrin around her nose or eyes. We are supposed to take her back for a follow up exam next week, but I was just wondering if anyone has any idea about what it is that could be wrong with my little girl? Does anyone have a similar experience?

Any answers would be most appreciated! Thank you in advance!
 
UPDATE: This morning we checked on her and were curious if she was eating and drinking properly, so we tried to offer her a bit of cucumber for hydration but she wasn’t at all interested. We gave her water through a dropper and she drank a little bit but then stopped after a while. Her breathing was also really rapid and labored and her lethargy was worse, so we took her to the vet’s office the moment it opened. We are still here. They put her on the humidifier to open up her bronchials, and are taking x-rays to see if anything is wrong with her lungs. Will probably update again soon to relay what the vet says about her condition.
 
So sorry to hear about your little girl's problem. The symptoms are so general they might be caused by many things. I'll offer up just one possibility, one I have encountered all too often over the years.
The early stage of certain heart problems can cause pronounced lethargy without other discernible symptoms. Sadly, vets very often can't detect such problems by just listening to the ratty heart. Sometimes xrays point to suspected problems (e.g. enlarged heart pulmonary edema) but often only when a problem is far advanced. While cardiac problems are more common in older rats, young 'uns occasionally suffer from congenital defects or infections that damage heart structures.
A trial run of diuretics can be useful in diagnosing certain kinds of heart problems... though this could be harmful in the event of kidney problems.
Here are useful discussions of cardiac problems in rats;
http://ratguide.com/health/cardiovascular/cardiomyopathy.php
http://ratguide.com/health/cardiovascular/congestive_heart_failure.php
 
Thank you so much for your reply. The vet gave us some antibiotics to treat a severe lower respiratory infection, which is what the X-ray pointed to due to her lungs showing up as gray instead of black on the monitor. The vet even gave her a procedure using a humidifier to open up her bronchial and even gave us some powdered food that can be mixed with water to give her through a syringe, which she ate when I offered it. Unfortunately, though not long after the vet visit my little girl passed away in my arms.

My little Friday passed away not even an hour after my last update. As she lay on me, she was making a clicking noise that gradually escalated, growing louder, and before I knew it she was throwing her head back with her mouth wide open and gasping for breath and that was when I noticed that her sides weren’t moving… she couldn’t breathe, and after stumbling around and falling over, Friday stopped moving… I am currently mourning her loss and will be bringing her to be cremated. I am at least glad that I did all that I could and that I got to be there for her and hold her in my arms in her final moments.
 
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