Pet Rat Update

[ristin]

For the people who assumed I was referring to Marko when I said I was taking a pet rat to the vet...no I did not mean Marko.

Bo the rat has had noisy breathing on and off most of the year, and on Tuesday we noticed he had trouble working his back legs. I took him into the vet after work on Wednesday and the vet said Bo had had a stroke.

We can treat the noisy breathing (again) and for now I have Bo in the small cage so he can recover a bit on his own. As for the stroke and loss of rear leg control, it could improve over time but it definitely won't get worse.

He is in no pain or distress, which is what matters most to me.



Other than that, it's hay fever time again. It has been messing up my sinuses for a while and caused me to be up painfully early a few mornings already. I have some Zyrtec for that. It's just some over-the counter stuff, so nobody worry.

Comments

[ristin.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[ristin.livejournal.com]

I am considering a bigger cage and one level for Bo but don't know what to get. I suppose I could browse the local store and see if anything looks suitable.

[ristin.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that. At the moment Bo needs medicated water so we have them seperated (but the cages side by side). I will be giving them supervised playtime together out of their cages for an hour or so tonight too. I do that sort of thing often, trying to have them out when they are most active in the day, like around dusk for our lazy boys.

Anyway for long term they will need one cage to share.

Thanks for the sizing advice!

[laurenthemself]

*sends get-well pats to Bo*

[ristin.livejournal.com]

Thank you! ^_^

[twigmouse.livejournal.com]

One of my rats has had a sneezing problem since I got him, and also a 'wandering' gaze, but when you get his attention, he's just like any other rat, happy as can be :-)

I'm glad to hear that he's doing well, considering.

Also, I <3 Zyrtec.

[ristin.livejournal.com]

Funny that Bo and I are both on respiratory medications. ^_^

Yesterday after the vet visit I had Bo in the travel cage with me in the lounge. I gave him lots of attention while watching over him.

[guma-kawauso.livejournal.com]

Poor guy.

Funny how people get distressed when you talk about rats. XD

BTW, I seem to always bee in bed when Marko tries to reach me. Did he open his package yet?

[vass]

A stroke? Well, that's possible, but... How familiar with rats is your vet? There's a list of experienced rat vets here (and that site's wonderful for rats in general.) (Also note: you live in the rattiest state in Australia. Queensland is full of rat people. They have a very active branch of AusRFS, and that's well worth taking advantage of.)

Was it sudden in onset? I ask because rear leg paralysis is really really common in rats. Sometimes it means a stroke, but more often it's vertebral compression. First their tails go, then their rear legs, and then their urinary continence[1]. This is slow. It doesn't hurt them, and provided you give them a single-level cage so they can get to their food and bedding and litter, it doesn't make a big difference to their quality of life. But if it was sudden, then yeah, stroke.

[1] At this point you have to groom them, as male rats get wax plugs in their penis, which they usually can remove by themselves, but not if they're paralysed.

But even if Bo doesn't have vertebral compression, it's worth knowing about that, because chances are, if you keep having rats, you'll experience this.

[brian-pegasus.livejournal.com]

You and Bo get well soon <:)