The mystery of my albino rat

Question
QUESTION: Hi there, I hope you can help me with my question.  I have 2 female rats that are about 15 months old.  My brown and white one is doing fine, while my albino is behaving strange.  About 1 month ago, she suddenly lost her ability to move her hind legs.  She was dragging herself around, but still eating and drinking.  I took her to the vet and was told to give her prednisone (anti-inflammatory) and chloramphenicol palminate.  After about a week or so, she got better, could walk again and was acting quite normal.  Last night i awoke to a lot of noise coming from the her cage.  Her fur was puffed out and she was very lethargic (usually she is very active and curious).  I left her alone for the day, only to notice that she has started moving but is having problems walking.  She stumbles quite a bit, but has continued to drink, eat and take treats.  Even though she is showing improvement, I am very worried about her appearance.  It seems that her body has changed.  Her back looks swollen and unproportional (drastically different compared to yesterday)...as if she has grown a hump.  It doesn't exactly look as though she has a tumour, more like very swollen muscles along her spinal cord...?  If you can recommend anything that you might suspect has caused this drastic change in her body appearance, I would greatly appreciate it.  Should I put her back on the medication I was prescibed earlier this month??  Thank you so much for your time.

Laura

ANSWER: Hi Laura


I am sorry your girl is going through this. I want to rule out a few things first if you can help answer a few questions for me.

Is your girl using her front paws ok or does she seem weak in her front paws and cant  "grasp" very well or does she reach to take something from you but it drops and she doesn't pick it up again, she just eats it without holding it?
Does she walk like she is drunk? Does she walk in circles?


Check  her toenails...see if they are real curled up from  not being able to  chew them herself or wear them down from walking around daily.


What she may have is one of several things which is why I needed to ask you those few things.

I do suspect she has nerve root compression causing hind leg paralysis.
A condition called Degenerative Osteoarthritis can plaque our rats as they age although she is a tad young for this.

There is usually a  gradual stiffness in the joints, and limbs.
You notice Paralysis in hind limbs now probably because the disease progresses due to the compression of the spinal cord and nerve roots.
All of this is inflammation. The chloramphenicol isn't what helped her, but the steroid injection did.
She needs to be on steroids and antibiotics now to help with some of this inflammation. The reason for the antibiotics is because steroid can compromise the immune system and being on antibiotics while on steroids help prevent secondary infection.

You can use a warm rice bag (rice in a sock, put in microwave to warm the rice) and hold it on her lower back for a while to help the inflammation and be sure she is in a cage with one floor, all of he thing s lowered for her to reach with ease, especially her water bottle.
No steps, ladders or ramps any more either.

Anyhow, I needed to ask those questions above to rule out something else so please let me know. Sorry it took long to answer. I was diagnosed with pneumonia yesterday and felt pretty nasty till later on in the day.

hang in there
Sandy


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

QUESTION: She does use her front arms, but not as much as she used to.  Instead of grabbing at her water bottle to have a drink, she merely stands at it.  I notice that she is moving quite quickly now, but her balance seems off.  Sometimes if she's moving, she'll sort of fall over to one side.  It doesn't seem like she's in pain anymore and is now recieving treats, eating, and drinking more frequently.  How long to antibiotics last for if they have been in the fridge.  I have a prescription from January 31st, will it still be alright to use?  Are you recommending I put her back on both medications now?  This sounds like a chronic illness, which will progressively get worse.  Is there anything else I should expect to see, so that I am not caught off guard (I seem to think she's dying everytime something like this happens!).  Thank you very much for your response, it always helps to talk to someone who has experience with these types of animals.

Laura

Answer
Yes she should be back on the meds. Always remember that when she gets steroids she needs antibiotics since steroids can weaken the immune system, you want to be sure she wont get sick so the antibiotics help in that sense.
It is probably a chronic illness but sometimes it is from something that rights itself we never really understand fully so I would not give up. Unless she stops eating and drinking and caring about everyday things, I would say she is still content with being around.

As for the expiration date on the meds..check and see if it says to DISCARD after such and such a date.  It usually does. I cant say how long it will last because i don't know if it was mixed as an elixir from a powder and that usually lasts from 14 to 30 days tops....some are already made and last a year. It should say.

Let me know what else I can do to help!