# Sudden Hind Legs Paralysis + Recovery?



## Shadow <3 (Jan 25, 2017)

Hey guys, I was wondering if any of you have experienced this before. Four days ago, I came downstairs to say hi to the rats, and only 3 of them greeted me at the doors. The fourth girl (Latte, a 20 month doe) is one of my friendliest rats, so I was pretty worried when I didn't see her. After a few moments, I noticed her struggling to get out of her space pod. 

So I pulled her out, and discovered that her hind legs were pretty much paralyzed! I mean, if I blew on them or pinched them she'd move them away, and she could partially use them to walk (but acted like they were made of lead and didn't place them under her body). She also kinda dragged them in between steps, with the right leg dragging a bit more than the other.




This sudden paralysis freaked me out, but since my vets know little about rats and I know that any issues causing this would be difficult to treat in rats, I decided to wait. Latte was pretty much the same as usual personality wise, eating treats with gusto, trying to climb the cage bars, dragging herself around the free-range area, etc. However, she tired rather quickly during free-range (within 15 or so minutes), which I assume had to do with her new way of moving. 



Fast forward to Monday night, and Latte is back to zooming around the play area. She also seemed to be recovering some, and was now able to groom and balance even with her unwieldy hind legs. She eats with one forepaw on the ground for support, or just eats on her elbows. Latte basically had all her energy back, and unlike the first night she was now able to pull herself up the bars of the cage to sleep in the hammocks.





Fast forward to today, and Latte is showing significant progress. When placed on the ground, she's able to run using both fore and back paws. The hind legs are still quite weak, but much quicker to respond and Latte actually keeps them more or less under her body while running about. Latte is also now eating with two paws, something she couldn't do before as she had to use one to balance herself. I also just tested her ability to rise onto her hind legs with a treat, and while she was wobbly, she managed it with little issue (opposed to two days ago, when she could barely get one forepaw off the ground!). She's even taken to occasionally chilling on the lava ledge!






So my question is, has anyone experienced sudden hind leg paralysis, and then some sort of recovery afterwards in their rats? Have those rats made a full recovery? Did you ever find out why the rat became paralyzed?


All the posts I read on sudden paralyzation usually end in the rat dying pretty quickly or never recovering. But with Latte's progress, I hesitantly hope that she may regain full control of her hind legs.


I'd appreciate any input on this issue, its just so strange how suddenly this happened. Literally 4 hours before Latte was jumping around on her hind legs, and then this!


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## Coffeebean (Jan 6, 2017)

I've had a lot of progress with hind limb paralysis by supplementing glucosamine! Actually nowadays I always have beef trachea in their cage, because they like chewing on it and it's a natural source of the stuff. It's also good for just general joint stiffness or even arthritis. I haven't ever had a full recovery but I've seen progress where there was previously no improvement. 

Is it possible that Latte suffered a minor stroke? That can cause a lack of coordination.


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## Shadow <3 (Jan 25, 2017)

That's what I was thinking. But Latte isn't favoring one side (which I believe is more common in strokes), and it was only her hind legs. Her front paws, head, and everything tail base up was/is perfectly normal. She was dragging her tail as she walked after the incident, but as of today she's holding it up a bit (not as much as usual though) as she walks. 


I was also wondering if it could also be some back related issue, but she doesn't seem to be in pain. I know when my previous rat Shadow injured her back, she was squeaking whenever picked up.


I've been recording her running around and spinning on cue each day to monitor progress, and she's definitely much more balanced and coordinated as of today. When she spins aroud though, she has trouble pivoting and usually trips up on one foot. She also still has trouble jumping onto objects, but she's managing to scramble around pretty well




Interesting thing about the beef trachea, where do you get those? It almost sounds like a dog treat of sorts.




Anyway, hopefully Latte continue to improve, but I won't get my hopes up. First time dealing with hind leg issues here, and its amazing just how fast this happened. Latte's been a healthy rat before now, but she's a pet store girl so I expected some issues


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## Coffeebean (Jan 6, 2017)

Shadow <3 said:


> That's what I was thinking. But Latte isn't favoring one side (which I believe is more common in strokes), and it was only her hind legs. Her front paws, head, and everything tail base up was/is perfectly normal. She was dragging her tail as she walked after the incident, but as of today she's holding it up a bit (not as much as usual though) as she walks.
> 
> 
> I was also wondering if it could also be some back related issue, but she doesn't seem to be in pain. I know when my previous rat Shadow injured her back, she was squeaking whenever picked up.
> ...


I get the feeling that it's not hind limb paralysis just because it usually happens very gradually and it sounds like Latte is suffering some kind of acute injury or something. Skimming through some old threads on the subject, I've found that in some cases a UTI can actually cause the temporary loss of their back legs (very weird!) or even that a tumor or inflammation due to injury can either put pressure on the spine or the nerves. Actually, I'm currently dealing with sciatica pain from a herniated disc and that alone makes it hard to walk some days, so I can imagine that the same thing might happen to Latte, that maybe she hurt her back or something? Even a small lump or injury can be really crippling if it's pressuring any of the nerves down there. I did also see some people say that their rats had HED symptoms in both legs after a stroke, so I suppose it's very possible and doesn't always affect just one side. Anyways an x-ray or urine test might reveal something. Oh and I get my big bag of beef trachea every 3 months when my dog's food ships from Chewy, it comes in a bag of 50 and they're each 3-inches, so they're the perfect size to hang up in the cage. My girls in particular really, really like them.


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## Shadow <3 (Jan 25, 2017)

I'm so happy to be able to update this thread with good news! As of today, Latte seems to have regained at least 75% of hind leg use, and is no longer dragging them as she walks. She's still treats them like their heavier than usual, and walks with them facing slightly outwards instead of directly under her. But for the most part, she can use them pretty well!




Yesterday I had her practicing standing on hind legs to hopefully help her "relearn" that skill, and she's doing great! She's able to stand upright without help for a few seconds now, although she's kinda shaky while lifting up her forepaws. Latte has taken to grooming like rats usually do, standing on her hind legs and grooming with her front paws off the ground. She's also back to eating like normal, using two paws and standing on her hind legs. Again, she's a tiny bit shaky doing this, but doesn't fall over or loose her balance. I was even able to get her to climb onto my raised hand yesterday using both fore and back paws!


I also had her practice backing up, and while she still understood the cue and tried to comply, she had issues getting her hind legs to back up. Latte looked so confused when she didn't move backwards! 
After several attempts she managed to back up a step or two, but it was pretty off-balance, even for her. I'll keep working on backup with her, hopefully it'll help her relearn some of the finer hind leg movements.




As of now, I'm guess she suffered a stroke of sorts. I've heard of dogs and people suffering a stroke and "forgetting" how to walk, so maybe something similar happened to Latte. The fact that she's improving with exercise and rest makes me think something like a tumor or broken vertebra is unlikely.


I'm really hopeful that she'll continue to improve!


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