Rat sudden paralysis

Question
QUESTION: Hi - We have a pet male rat (neutered) who is 1 1/2 years old. He has always been healthy and happy until today. We've been gone most of the day, and came home to find him lying on his back and breathing fast. After observing him for several minutes, I gently picked him up to see what was going on. For some reason his hindquarters seem to be paralyzed. He can move his head, shoulders, and front legs, but his hind legs and tail are unresponsive. He doesn't seem to be in any pain - it didn't bother him when I picked him up and gently examined his hind legs and tail. The only other symptom is that he seems to be breathing a bit more rapidly than usual.
We don't know how he could have gotten injured - he is in a large 2-story cage in my adult daughter's room, and her door was closed so no other animals could have bothered him. There are no nearby wires to chew, so electrocution is not a possibility. There's nothing within reach of his cage to ingest; we don't feel this is related to eating anything improper. We don't know if he could have fallen in his cage and perhaps landed wrong? He was fine when we left this morning. Any advice you can provide would be much appreciated - thank you!

ANSWER: Can he eat, drink, what can he do? How does he seem? Lethargic?

How far are the drops in the cages from level to level?

The chances of him getting hurt to this severity in a cage are not high unless the drop is at least 3 feet or  so.

He may have one of the following things going on: Since it was so sudden, an injury is possible. That would be my first guess.  The other things that it could be are a stroke or blood clot that is causing his hind leg paralysis.  Either way, a vet visit would be the best bet. Xrays would rule out any breaks  in the bones. Blood work tells alot about the body and could let the vet know if there were any enzymes that indicate blood clot.

Steroids would be a good idea along with pain medication. Keep him isolated in a small cage with no ramps or stairs so he can rest and not climb.  The fact his tail isnt moving indicates for certain there is something causing pressure on the nerves that is causing interference with walking.
The fast breathing could be from his heart which is what worries me most.

Lets hope its temporary!

My next question is, do you have a really good vet for rats?

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Sandra - Thank you for taking the time to reply and share your expertise. We really appreciate it. Sadly, we have lost our sweet Sitka. After posting our question we did a bit more research online, and then went up to check on Sitka. We were heartbroken to find that he had died. From the time we got home and found his hindquarters paralyzed to when he passed away was about 1 1/2 hours. He was fine in the morning when we left, about 11 hours before. There was no blood, no apparent injury, he didn't show any signs of being in pain. The cage is large (4-5 feet long) and has 3 levels, but the top shelf is only about 18" above the floor of the cage, so not a long distance to fall, if that even happened. Plus there's plenty of shavings to pad any potential fall.
So we can only assume it could have been a stroke or blood clot, I guess. Are they common in rats? Are they preventable? My daughter has always been VERY careful what she fed Sitka, and he has always been a picture of health, so this sudden death is very puzzling to us. And again, many thanks for taking the time to help out!

Answer

I am so sorry for your loss. Its always so hard to lose them, esp when its unexpected like this. One minute they are fine and the next.....

I remember years back I had a rat about his age, my Peanut.  He was out playing and after playtime I kissed his little fuzzy head and put him back in the cage.  About 20 seconds later I heard this strange sound coming from his cage. I turned toward him and found him just ready to fall over on his side, tongue out, eyes open.....he was dead.  I was just devastated. I think I went into a mild state of shock. I held his body for two hours and would not put him in the little box.  My husband was thinking I was a little bit....ummmm..."done" mentally I think.  I was just floored how a healthy boy like he was could just keel over dead.  I did not waste time and took his body to the vet for a necropsy.  Sure enough, he had a heart attack that took him in seconds.  I was glad to know what happened.  Having closure means alot and having the vet do the necropsy is a huge learning tool for the vet and also can help better understand sudden death and the various causes.

If you have his body  still, you can put it in the refrigerator and take him to the vet for a necropsy to get a definite answer.  They usually are free unless they start wanting to send tissue samples in.  Usually a good vet that is trained in exotics can see on his own what may have gone wrong. It is of course your decision, but I did want to let you know it is an option you have. Sad, I know. I hate this kind of stuff no matter how much experience I have working with rats.

I wanted to ask....Was he responsive to you before he passed?  

I am leaning more toward a brain aneurysm if you say no, but if he was, it was a stroke.

They are not real common, but are not unheard of either.  He was young regardless.

Where did he come from? A pet store?  Sometimes simply genetics are the cause of early death. Its hard to say which is why we are faced with sad situations like this, esp if we dont know the history of the rats family like you would if you bought him from a reputable breeder.  If you did the breeder needs to be told of his early death for record keeping purposes. Chances are the line he came from will not be bred from again.