# Hind Leg Degeneration?



## cryptozoologist (Aug 21, 2017)

I'm starting to think my oldest boy is suffering from HLD. He's a couple months over 2 years old so the timing is right. I didn't really notice until recently (mostly because he isn't really active) when my mother pointed out his feet were in a weird position when he was walking but it explains a lot of things that I just kept writing off as old age.

He's been using his hammocks a lot less unless I put him in them myself, but now I think it's because he physically can't get in them because I put one very low and he's back to spending all his time in it. I haven't seen him climb the cage bars in a while now either. Earlier today he tried getting in one of the food bowls by hopping on the edge and he kept falling (less than an inch drop nothing dangerous) until I held up his back end for him. The way he crawls into bins is also a bit odd and he hardly uses his back legs to push himself into things anymore.
He's always had a weird waddling gait, but it seems even more apparent now; it looks worse on one side than the other, and sometimes his toes are curled or his feet face inward when he walks. His back is also kind of odd looking. I wouldn't say pinched, but it's flatter than the rest of him almost. His tail also drags when he walks or does anything, unlike his cagemates. When he's out of his cage, sometimes his toes get caught on strings and he can't get them out as he used to and I have to help him or he has to lift his leg with his face to get it out.

He lives in a DCN with three other rats and he seems to be able to get around fine and I guess if I place hammocks and baskets more carefully he'd go back to using them. But other than rearranging hanging things, what else can I do? Should I cover the ramps in case he gets his feet stuck or something? Move the shelves lower? Is there a way to slow it down at all or will he eventually only be able to use his front legs?


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## raqathta (Sep 16, 2015)

My Beauregard is going on 2 yrs., 10 most. In Spring and Summer, I noticed a swishing sound when he walked around on a wood floor, but I chalked it up to his being fat and that it was his belly swiping the floor. With time, though, he totally lost the use of his hind feet. He would get around with his front paws and his "knees." He could really scoot this way, but could not climb. I rigged a gentle-slope ramp for him in the cage, and that worked for a while, then he started falling off it (a short way to the soft bedding below). Lately he doesn't use his knees any more and gets around only by dragging himself with his front legs. His tail is also very limp, like with your rat. It moves, but not much. As he gets older, it seems that the paralysis is moving up his body--he's like a rag doll when I pick him up. His back feet are always on one side now, his hips slightly rotated. Occasionally, his hindquarters twitch or spasm. He seems to have lost a good bit of mobility in his left hip. He is so thin now that I think he has only days left.

I've read that hind leg problems can be a sign of kidney trouble. It could also be due to an injury, such as a fall onto a hard surface, or a tumor that is pressing on the nerves in the spinal cord. I chalked it up to kidney trouble, because he peed blood for several weeks. That has stopped, I'm happy to say. I had blood work, urinalysis, and X-rays done by the vet, and nothing really showed up. But tumors aren't always visible on X-rays. Even ultrasounds don't always pick them up. I haven't done an ultrasound, because I've spent a lot of money on his care, and the vet said that ultrasounds aren't terribly useful on such small animals.

Beauie is losing weight drastically. He was overweight (over 800g!) prior to these troubles, and, over the last 3-4 mos. has dropped to the mid-400s. He was losing over 10g per day, so I began feeding him extra, rich food. That has slowed but not stopped the weight loss.

Kidney trouble is common with aging, so it might be worth doing blood work and a urinalysis to check for stones or other renal disease. There's not much you can do if it is an injury or tumor, but consult with a vet anyway. I treat Beau with Meloxicam twice a day--for pain and to reduce any inflammation that might be present. He bruxes an awful lot when I hold him, which made me fear that he was in pain, but he doesn't do so when he's just on his own and not in my lap.

You can research foods that are high in phosphorus and avoid them, as they are hard on the kidneys.

Beau hardly ever spends time in his cage anymore, because he can't climb to the higher levels, and has very little space on the bottom. He spends most of his time on an old mattress pad that I spread on the floor in my bedroom. He can get a good purchase on the pad, and has his straw house and towels to hide under and food and water and seems to be quite happy.

It sounds like your rat's problem is also progressive, so you might want to plan ways to get him enough safe space to move around in. I use a water dish instead of a bottle, since it's easier for him than reaching. I scatter Oxbow chips near his house and towel, so he doesn't have to go far for food. I have to keep after his poops, because he doesn't take the trouble to haul himself into the usual corner to poop. So I always find half a dozen poops here and there on his mattress pad.

I hope this info is a little helpful. A visit to a good small-animal vet is always the best thing to do. My vet is great.


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## raqathta (Sep 16, 2015)

An addendum: You might try lowering the shelves and making the ramp slopes gentler, but if he starts slipping off them, it's risky--even a mild fall could hurt him. And there's the risk of him falling off the shelves, and catching his toes in the mesh of shelves and ramps. Beauie can't use hammocks at all unless I just lay them out flat.

A note on bedding in a cage: I use the recycled paper wads, and have used ash shavings in the past. Both are problematic for Beau, because he just pushes them around and has a lot of trouble getting a purchase on the smooth metal of the cage bottom. My sister suggested getting carpet remnants that you can cut to size and then either clean or throw away as they get dirty. I've thought of using a towel that would be secured by the cage walls--easy to clean, warm, and absorbent. I already get towels at Goodwill to use with Beau.


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## morsel (Feb 10, 2017)

My boy is almost 4 years old and just about 3 months ago started losing the use of his back legs as well. Now he pretty much can't use them at all and drags himself around, it was heart breaking at first, but he seems to be in ok spirits. He has lost a little weight as well, but I think it's just because he doesn't make as many trips to the food bowl (he's a hoarder, so he's not able to stash as well as he used to), but like raqathta, my rat was over 800g as well, so a little weight loss is welcome. The one thing I'm not happy about though is his loss in over all muscle, that makes everything worse, so I try to help into the wheel which he's always like to use and he seems to get some exercise doing that which is helping, but he needs help in it. The biggest problem is him and his brother live in a three story critter nation cage too and he wasn't able to do the ramps anymore even though they were covered with fleece (which I suggest so you little guy doesn't drag his belly and genitals over the wires), they need soft surfaces to drag on so avoid irritations. But what I did was bought three more critter ramps and made a small landing the opposite side of the cage to make the main ramp slopped less and then have another ramp off that. I'll post pictures when I get home of what I did. Ever since I did that, it's made it extremely easy for him to get all over the cage again and promoted more exercise, he still drags himself, but because the slops of the ramps are way less, he can easily navigate the entire cage now...

As I said, I'll post pictures, it made a world of difference in his behavior and seems much more happy and motivated to move around and can now sleep on any level of the cage. Oh, I also did the thing of repositioning the hammocks to be very close to the shelves so he can grab on with his front legs and get in and out...


Jason


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## morsel (Feb 10, 2017)

This is what I was talking about with the love;s and ramps I added. It's really help my boy crawl to get to all the levels without such a steep incline...


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