# Rat drags head, doesn't eat/drink



## cjshrader (Feb 15, 2007)

Has anyone seen this behavior before? Any ideas on a treatment? I took her to the vet yesterday and now have Baytril (Though I'm having a hard time getting her to take it)

Yesterday I discovered her with a bunch of a red substance (It could have been blood or the stuff from their eyes, the vet wasn't sure) all over her jaw and paws and no where else. There also seemed to be stains of it in the bedding.

She is not eating, I don't think she is drinking, and she is very lethargic. Today she has started to drag her head a little bit when she moves around, almost as if she can't lift it. When walking, she'll push her hind legs to move her head forward. Yet I've seen her climb and leap occasionally, so she can lift it. Maybe she can't really use her front legs?

I think that's all the symptoms for now. Anyone seen anything similar?


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## cjshrader (Feb 15, 2007)

Update:

It almost seems like she's scratching her chin on the ground when she does it, but she does it in places that won't necessarily scratch her itch. I don't really understand it.


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## cjshrader (Feb 15, 2007)

Update 2:

It seems there is something coming from her mouth? Possibly a mucus of some sort? We really don't know and I don't know why a vet wouldn't know.


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## cupids_cuties (Jan 7, 2007)

could be a really bad respiratory infection....they can spread to the ears and the mucus seems to point to that...is she on dust free bedding? i really hope it isnt ceder or pine either...those would make it much much worse...

good luck
i hope she can pull through


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## twitch (Jan 4, 2007)

is she using her front legs at all? how sudden did this occur? how old is she? though the mucus from the mouth isn't something i experienced the other symptoms sound familair. what my rat was a pituatary tumor, it sort of looked like a stroke (which rats can get as well). the tumor is most often benign but its inoperable and the pressure to the brain can cause simliar symptoms of a stroke. pick her up and look at her head from above. if one eye is larger then other or if the eyes seem to be bugging out then its the tumor. it can be treated with steriods if you an afford it and the rat is young enough and the tumor hasn't progressed too too far but its only a temporary measure and may only give a few extra days to possilbly a month, maybe. if it was a stroke if you can get her to eat she may be able to pull through with a bit of help from you. she won't be exactly the same as before and you may have to change her to a 1 level cage if her balance isn't good but she could live a fairly long and happy life. this of course depends on the serverity of the stroke but it is a possibility. try feeding her baby food, fruits tend to be a high favorite. it will help keep her hydrated and will be easier to lick off then chew. i'd say offer it to her at least once and hour with their high matbolisism and its unlikely she will much of it at a sitting so maybe more frequent sittings will help. you may want to employ the aid of a couple family members or friends to work of a shift schedule. i hope everything turns out for the best


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## cjshrader (Feb 15, 2007)

Thanks for the responses!

Naturally, she isn't in cedar or pine and I don't think dust is a problem.

I think she's around a year to year and a half.

I was originally thinking it'd be a stroke as well, from what I've read, but there were no other signs of it. It turns out she had full use of her front legs, she was actually using the chair I was putting her on to scratch underneath her chin because of the mucus that was getting on there. As we all know, rats are very clean and she was trying to clean herself. After me and my girlfriend cleaned that off with a q-tip (It was yellowish and sticky), she stopped doing the head dragging.

Of course we gave her her medicine, but then also gave her baby food through a syringe and then water, and I was pleased to see that she was very interested in the water. She even got a little from the bottle when we put her back in.

Today she is looking much better. Her hair isn't sticking out, she's moving around a lot more, she's not hunched, and when I gave her a treat she even took a couple small bites of it. 

From all the research I've done I suspect that she had something in her throat that she couldn't get out. Her symptoms were similar to that and it would explain the mucus buildup only around her mouth. I don't know how she would have kept it stuck for a few days, but I'll keep giving her the medicine just in case that isn't it, and I'll see if she'll eat some more when I get home from work today.

Thanks again for the comments! If anyone else has any advice just let me know.


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## Nazarath (Feb 20, 2007)

My girl has something similar, with giving her the meds. I got capsils that i put into her water and i have no problems. However with my old rat (saddly we found out she had a tumor) i had to hold her in such a way she couldn't move her legs much and i could medicate her easly. Naz kinda dementrates the position for us.


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

Choking is a very drastic movement with drool/mucuous on their chin...but its a gasping, head stretching down silent gagging thing. This doesn't sound right. Have you opened her mouth and smelt it? Or even smelt around her ears? Sounds like an infection to me and hopefully the baytril works for you. If her recovery starts to plateau you should possibly add doxycycline to her meds.
How are you giving her the meds? Syringing them into her or putting it in something yummy to eat?


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## Shar (Feb 26, 2007)

Is it possible that her teeth are overgrown? That would explain the drooling, or an abcess in the jaw could explain the yellow goo...

There are some great pics of overgrown teeth and normal teeth if you search "rat teeth" in your search engine. (I'm still pretty new here and not sure about the link posting policies)


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