Whats wrong with my pet rat?

Question

Meiko   Okay so around the first of July Meiko, my rat who is around 2 years old, started acting strange.  We had just gotten back from a day at the amusement park and he was extremely hyper and acting weirder than usual.  This went on for days, he was fine throughout the day then at night when we turned off the lights he would start drinking from his water bottle (pause and continue) and biting on the cage like he was trying to get our attention.  I shrugged it off at first as just being overly active during the night.  Then he slowly started sleeping more and looking a little sluggish and would face the corners of the cage a lot.  Then he got to the point where he started dragging his hind legs around every now and then.  As of now he has been sleeping all day and all night and doesn't stand up at all anymore.  Sometimes he will go to the corner of the cage and try to get in between his plastic house and stand between that and the cage and hold his arms on a wire part of the cage and start kicking his feet.  He gets tired out really fast and hasn't been eating or drinking much.  He tries to drink his water but starts to fall asleep while drinking (seems really weak).  When I hold him to examine his legs he starts kicking them like crazy, not like they're in pain but more of a spasm like kick and I'll lay him down and he'll continue to kick his legs and then he'll try to hide his face under something, like a pillow or a blanket.  I don't know what to do anymore.  I've tried numerous things but nothing has been working.  I'm so worried about him.  Also I've been wiping his hind area with a wet cloth a lot to keep his urine from getting all over him and I noticed there was purplish looking bruises on his hind legs and clumps on his inner legs don't know if it's matted fur or his skin.  I didn't want to stare too long as he goes into those leg spasms quickly.  Another thing to note is around the time he was really hyper in june he would itch like crazy and rub his nose and whiskers and above his head  quite a bit.  I would go to a vet but there are none around me where I'm at that treat rodents.  Please help.  I just want him to either get better if that's possible.  I don't now if he's pain or not as he never squeaks and is always bruxing when I pet him.

P.S. I noticed the yellow ring close to his legs and I have no clue what that is.  I've tried washing it off numerous times but it appears to be a stain or something on his coat or perhaps a part of what's happening because it wasn't there before this started.  Sorry I'm not well versed in rats, there's not much info out there.  I've tried ratguide, and other websites and it seems that I can find at least two symptoms he has of every rat disease/problem and when I put rat leg spasms/rat hind legs kicking in the search bar nothing comes up in the results except stuff completely unrelated.  At first I thought was arthritis though, but now I'm not so sure as rats with arthritis can usually adjust well according to a few places on the net.

Answer
Your rat needs a vet and FAST.  He may have had a stroke but without really seeing him its impossible to know from the photo.  He could have a serious problem and he may be in pain, which is causing the spasms.  He could have a brain tumor. Right now I am just guessing since the photo isnt very clear.  Please see a well qualified vet right now.  If you need names let me know your location and I can try to suggest someone but I would not wait more than a day to get him help.