Hind Leg Weakness

Question
Hi Sandra

You were kind enough to help me out when my first old boy, Lionel, was diagnosed with cardimyopathy.

Anyway, I currently have a 22 month old boy, Spencer, who has developed weakness in the hind quarters.

My vet prescribed Metacam which I tried for a few days but it didn't make a jot of difference. So, when I came across your warning I decided to stop using it.

I will go back to the vet but I think I was already of the conclusion that this is most likely a degenerative condition due to age etc. However, he is still very alert and eating well and still able to groom and get about, albeit dragging a bit at the back end.

After reading the comments on your site about glucosamine/chondroitin, I went out and bought some yesterday and mixed some with baby food last night. I will continue with that and see how it goes.

I don't getthe impression that Spencer is in any paint but I do see you mention torbutrol is the drug of choice for pain relief in rats.

Trouble is with being in the UK, it seems that some of these medicines are not as readily available here. Are you aware of any product I might be able to get hold of or does it come down to asking my vet to get hold of something like that?

So, I was just wondering if you had any other thoughts regarding things to try and any advice you can give would be very much appreciated.

Thank you

Sue

Answer
Hi Sue

I wish I was able to help advise more but the medications in the UK are alot different in many cases than here in the US.  You may need to ask the vet.  If she has HLP, the best thing to do for her is to keep her cage clean and keep her in a comfortable cage that is a single story cage so she can move around best she can. Keep food and water low for her to reach and help keep her back side clean by wiping her down several times a day to be sure she doesnt have urine staining her or causing urine burn etc....  Some people swear by certain remedies and although I have that info on my page from another reader that wrote to me about it, I have never had much luck using medications for this condition. Steroids may help some but getting some vets to prescribe it is like asking them to donate their left arm!! So many vets fear using steroids and forget how fast rats metabolize it to the point they do not have the side effects that so many vets fear they will have. If your vet would prescribe that to see if that helps any, that would be one thing I would suggest as far as medications go.