imobile rat

Question
hi. My rat is male,3yrs old. He just got off a 5 day treatment of Amox.1ml,BID for URI. It was very difficult to medicate him and I'm afraid we caused this new condition. He just lays around like a tub of jelly. He seems to be in no discomfort, but he acts  like his limbs cant work. His littermate brother is very protective of him. Could we have held him too tight and caused damage?  What can we do? It breaks my heart to see him unable to even get up and walk.

Answer
Hi Carrie

I am not real sure if your vet is an exotic vet (doesnt sound like it) because for starters, with rats, URIs are usually treated using baytril since it is almost always related to mycoplasmosis. Amoxil does nothing for myco. Second, 5 days on antibiotics is just another way for the rat to relapse very quickly and the next attack can be pneumonia. He needs to be given another antibiotic for at least 21 days. At his fragile age, he could relapse very fast.
One reason he is not really walking around is because he is still very weak. I do not think you hurt him at all. If he were given the correct medication, we make the medicine very palatable for the rats, mixing it with tasty syrups like cherry, grape or banana. I have a photo of a rat dosing himself because he loved the taste so much. Vets that are not equipped to treat exotics usually do not have these things on hand and so they just use what they have, expecting the owner to just force the poor sick rat into taking it. What happens often is the rat never gets what he should get and he ends up getting worse because he didnt get the proper amount of medication in his system.

Your rat probably has a touch of arthritis due to mycoplasmosis. It is has been found that when not treated properly, this can also attack the rats joints causing inflammation.  At his age, he may develop hind leg paralysis. He may never regain the use of his legs properly but he will find a way to navigate and he should adjust fine. The vet can give him metacam for an slight discomfort he may feel and also to help with inflammation. Usually there is no signs of any real discomfort though. He may scoot around dragging his legs behind him. He may need to be kept in a single story cage so he doesnt try to climb to the next levels and possibly fall and get hurt.

If you really want him to improve, I suggest finding another vet or if your vet does admit he is not really a vet that has gone on for formal training in exotics but willing to listen to outside advice, he may take my advice and give your rat baytril (NEVER injection, oral only) for the next 21 days along with metacam for his hind leg paralysis.

If you want, I can help you locate a vet that can properly treat your rat.

Here is a link to my site about mycoplasmosis:

http://www.freewebs.com/crittercity/mycoplasmosispage.htm