# Fractured Spine - Wheel chair options



## meldiggity (Jul 22, 2015)

Hello everyone my baby girl has fractured her spine in some freak accident. She can not use her hind legs at all. This all just happened tonight. My boyfriend and I took her to the hospital and she is staying over night. I don't know if anyone knows of wheel chair options that can be done. Should I lose hope that she will be okay? I honestly don't know what to feel. Is there any options or suggestions that anyone can make? Please. Anything would help. Thank you guys.


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## Mene (Mar 13, 2015)

You could attach toy wheels to the back end of a harness and see if she would be ok with that. She might be just fine dragging herself around, provided that you allow her to be out of her cage a lot. Often animals adjust to these sorts of disabilities.


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

I'm sorry it happened to your baby girl. Would you mind sharing what happened, it could warn us to be careful. But if you don't feel like it, I totally understand.


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

Make sure the vets put here on steroids not just anti inflammatories, often they can recover some or all the use of there back legs if they get put on them straight away. 

Next you want to move her into a single story cage with a quiet friend when she comes home. Make sure that she has easy access to food and water. Cover the floor with something soft and absorbent like vet bed which is easy to slide around on. 

Then after a week or so start trying to encourage her to move. you want to try and get her to use her back feet at least a little. even if its just helping to slide her along. A good way to do this is to support her back end with your hand and allow her feet to droop down, let them touch the floor and see if she starts to twitch or attempt to move them as she moves around, gradually as they get better you can give her more weight to bear on them, It can take weeks and months but I've seen some mostly paralyzed rats recover well enough to even climb up there cage

If she is perminantly paralysed then In terms of a wheel chair have a read of this http://www.ratforum.com/showthread....for-ratty-)-not-my-rat-but-this-made-me-smile!


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## meldiggity (Jul 22, 2015)

Gribouilli said:


> I'm sorry it happened to your baby girl. Would you mind sharing what happened, it could warn us to be careful. But if you don't feel like it, I totally understand.


No problem Griboulli. Well my little girl was running around as usual in the morning just romping around climbing the drawers playing with her cage mate friend Little Grey and after a 45 minute to an hour of play time I put her back in to her cage because I had to go to class. My boyfriend came home a little bit after me, and said hi to the girls. As he was getting to work he heard a loud squeak. At first he thought that it was just the girls doing their play fighting in the hammock so he checked there to find surprisingly there was just Little Grey sitting by herself waking up from the noise herself. He checked to see where Oreo was and she was on the bottom of the cage blood was coming from her mouth and she dragging her two back feet behind her. 

My boyfriend rushed to the Animal Hospital and they did x-rays saying Oreo not only had a fractured spine, but she also had pneumonia. She is being treated right now and has stayed over night. They allowed us to visit her this morning and she was still dragging her two legs around but seemed to know we were there right beside her.


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## meldiggity (Jul 22, 2015)

Isamurat said:


> Make sure the vets put here on steroids not just anti inflammatories, often they can recover some or all the use of there back legs if they get put on them straight away.
> 
> Next you want to move her into a single story cage with a quiet friend when she comes home. Make sure that she has easy access to food and water. Cover the floor with something soft and absorbent like vet bed which is easy to slide around on.
> 
> ...


Thank you so much Isamurat for that I will make sure to talk to the vet right away tomorrow morning when she comes in about what kind of treatment is going on. Currently they have given Oreo Subcutaneous fluids and Pain medication.


Thank you so much for the suggestions for after she gets out. I am really truly grateful thank you <3 I don't feel as unprepared and hopeless as I felt before.


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## meldiggity (Jul 22, 2015)

Mene said:


> You could attach toy wheels to the back end of a harness and see if she would be ok with that. She might be just fine dragging herself around, provided that you allow her to be out of her cage a lot. Often animals adjust to these sorts of disabilities.


Thank you mene  I will be looking in to that


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## Binky (Nov 15, 2014)

Such an awful freak accident, but thankfully she was able to be saved and cared for. My first rat, Binky, lost his motor skills in his back legs when he was nearing the end of his road (he was 3+ when he passed) and my dad suggested making a wheel chair type concoction for him but we never ended up doing so, just moved him to a one-level cage and he got around fine! He eventually gained enough strength in his chest to pull himself onto the bars of his cage to get into his (low hanging) hammock and would still explore all over my bed. Best of luck!


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

meldiggity said:


> No problem Griboulli. Well my little girl was running around as usual in the morning just romping around climbing the drawers playing with her cage mate friend Little Grey and after a 45 minute to an hour of play time I put her back in to her cage because I had to go to class. My boyfriend came home a little bit after me, and said hi to the girls. As he was getting to work he heard a loud squeak. At first he thought that it was just the girls doing their play fighting in the hammock so he checked there to find surprisingly there was just Little Grey sitting by herself waking up from the noise herself. He checked to see where Oreo was and she was on the bottom of the cage blood was coming from her mouth and she dragging her two back feet behind her. My boyfriend rushed to the Animal Hospital and they did x-rays saying Oreo not only had a fractured spine, but she also had pneumonia. She is being treated right now and has stayed over night. They allowed us to visit her this morning and she was still dragging her two legs around but seemed to know we were there right beside her.


This is so sad. The fall couldn't have been more than a couple feet if that. It always scares me when my girls climb to the top of their DCN when I open the door. I tried to be very careful, but they are so fast and agile...Thanks for sharing. I hope Oreo can fully recover. Keep us updated.


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## meldiggity (Jul 22, 2015)

so an update on Oreo she has just passed. We made the decision of putting her down. Things went for the worst. While Oreo was at the hospital she started panicking about the numbness in her legs and was chewing at her toes in desperation to feel. I am told this is what happens to animals that have experiences paralysis. The doctor said the best thing was to put her down. 
I and my boyfriend are so heart broken. I don't know if the decision was right I wanted to keep her until the very end but so many things were going on to her fragile body. It was not a way to continue on with life... I want her back so bad. Why did this have to happen? She was only with us for so little but made the biggest impression on our lives. We will never forget her.


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## JAnimal (Jul 23, 2014)

Im so sorry about Oreo


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

Oh no I'm so sorry for your loss. If she started chewing at her toes, you definitively made the right choice. It is so heartbreaking, I'm sorry it happened to you. How big was the fall? It scares me each time my girls climb on the outside of their cage. I'm so sorry for Oreo.


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## Binky (Nov 15, 2014)

I'm so sorry for your loss. This was such an unpredictable thing to happen, and to such a sweet animal.


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## meldiggity (Jul 22, 2015)

Gribouilli said:


> Oh no I'm so sorry for your loss. If she started chewing at her toes, you definitively made the right choice. It is so heartbreaking, I'm sorry it happened to you. How big was the fall? It scares me each time my girls climb on the outside of their cage. I'm so sorry for Oreo.


It was not even a big fall it was inside of her cage when it happened, the height of the cage has got to be max 2 feet. It makes me so sad that this tragic thing could have happened. 
We were starting off to such a happy day with play time, running, jumping, and treats and it had to end this way for her.
Oreo was the most gentle loving baby girl.
I don't know what to do for her cage mate Little Grey. They were best friends. I feel so bad for Little Grey to be sleeping by herself in her home. Little Grey hasn't seen Oreo in two days and she wasn't even able to say good bye to her.


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

You could find Little Grey a new friend. Being so young the introduction should go smoothly. 2 feet insn't much at all. Maybe the paralysis was due to a seizure/stoke and she fell because of it...So sorry again.


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

I take that back, if the spine was fractured only a fall could have done that. It is so tragic. Sorry again. You did your best for Oreo, and there was no way you could have prevented it. You loved her and she knew it.


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## Cookie and Mischief (Sep 30, 2014)

I'm so sorry to hear about Oreo </3


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## HeroRats (Feb 1, 2016)

I'm so sorry about Oreo.  I hope you and your rattie will overcome what happened in time. <3


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## meldiggity (Jul 22, 2015)

Thank you guys all so much for your kind words. I feel so angry, sad, and helpless of everything that happened today in such a short period of time. I feel like such a terrible parent. Rethinking the whole cage and seeing it all as dangerous. I just keep playing what happened over and over in my head. Maybe we didn't have to put her to sleep maybe there was a smidge of hope or chance she would feel better. Was there? I wish she could talk to me and tell me, "This is what I want." Watching her go was so hard.
What could she have possibly slipped on and fallen on to cause such a terrible irreversible injury. WHY?!! .....Why did it have to happen to her? Why this? Ever scenario that I thought could happen to her didn't and this... I just don't know how everything went freakishly and utterly wrong, In a span of 1 whole day. One fall out of the hundreds she has had, lead to this. I can't control my crying I honestly don't know how to cope. 
I'm sorry for such negativity. I just I can't understand anything.


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## Kelsbels (Aug 12, 2015)

My heart goes out to you . Rats make huge impressions in our lives even if we have only such a short time with them. From the sounds of everything you made the right choice.


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

a spinal fracture is one possibility but also internal damage pressing on nerves inside the spinal canal can cause paralysis. I took in a young girl who had lived outside for weeks, and sadly a predator had gotten her. The external wound wasn't bad but the internal damage must have been. The paralysis slowly spread over 1.5 days and she died before I could get her to my vet (I got her late on a Friday night of course).


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## meldiggity (Jul 22, 2015)

Thanks everyone for your support. Even though we are burying her in the forest I hope that she will still be with us forever. I would have liked to cremate her or put her in a potted plant but I don't know if I have a big enough potted plant to let her body go in properly. I wish our beautiful babies to be in the most happiest place after they have gone or maybe to be reborn to something else that they wanted to be a dog, cat, a person, a big beautiful tree, or maybe even back to a rat again <3 I love her so much


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## Pebble (Jan 23, 2016)

Oh, I am so sorry to hear about Oreo and all that you have gone through. It is never simple, making the decision to say goodbye at the vets. We have done it for the last two of our pets and there is always that little voice at the back of your head saying 'what if'. But you have to trust the medical advice and your own common sense, and it sounds like this was completely the right decision. The test is: if you made the decision to say goodbye even though it broke your heart, then it was the right one. 
What a lovely idea to bury her in the forest. She'll have a fabulous time there until she decides what to do next.
Isn't it amazing that such a small being can have such a huge impact on our hearts.


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## meldiggity (Jul 22, 2015)

Pebble right???!! I swear the whole time I kept thinking "no....no we can just take her home right now. We don't have to do this. Let her see Little Grey, have her favorite treats and sit in her favorite spot for one last time. She can make it through this." Replaying that thought in my head over and over now makes me cry. I feel so selfish, I just wanted to keep her until the very end. It's so hard not to cry every time I tell someone about Oreo passing away. All the pictures on my phone and her as my screen saver makes me cry.
Your words mean so much to me. Your words make me feel like I can somewhat move on. I will remember her forever. We will lay her to rest but she will never be forgotten. Always in our hearts forever and ever <3 
Pebble I can't even explain how much she meant to be. For the 9 months that we had her it seemed like so many memories were made and those beautiful baby paw prints she had will forever be engraved in my heart. Thank you Pebble <3


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

So sorry, this is really tough. If she was chewing her own feet etc it could be that they were hurting or tingling in which case if she was also on pain meds you made the right call.

I think the important thing to realise here is accidents do happen, if this was a fall even the safest cage can lead to injury if they fall funny. I’ve actually had worse injuries from short falls than long ones, as the rats can often not get round to correct themselves and land well. My worst was a very bad break to the arm / shoulder which tore the nerve and wasn’t fixable. The lad in question fell in a cat carrier on the way to a show, there weren’t any sudden stops or turns and he fell from a hammock to the floor, all of 5 or 10 cm onto vetbed (very soft). My guys normally live in an SRS (size of a dcn) fully opened up with no shelves or ramps and lots of branches, ropes etc, the worst I’ve had is sprains or one fractured wrist. I get more sprains in there holiday cages which are much smaller. 

If your worried about your set up post it here and we can recommend improvements but you cant protect them from everything and as long as you are sensible you really shouldn’t beat yourself up. Like has been said, this may have been an internal issue like a spinal tumour (these can happen and you can often not even see them).


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## Chelema (Jan 30, 2016)

I am so sorry for your loss. I can't imagine how you must feel but you made the best choice for her.


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## meldiggity (Jul 22, 2015)

Thank you Isamurat for that suggestion. I hope you can see the pictures I attached. 

What I have changed from that picture is just lowering the blue bucket and that is all.

If there are any suggestions to improve on the cage please let me know. Thank you.


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## meldiggity (Jul 22, 2015)

Chelema said:


> I am so sorry for your loss. I can't imagine how you must feel but you made the best choice for her.


Thank you Chelema <3


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## Cookie_Rat12 (Feb 5, 2016)

You did every thing you could, and that's all that matters, and even though it might have been the most painful thing for you to do, you had to put her down so she wouldn't feel any pain, and that's brave of you. Now she's resting in little rat heaven. 👼😭


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

Looking at the photos your cage isn't high risk, if anything there's probably a bit too little too easy for them. Removing the shelf and ramp and adding some branches and ropes may encourage agility and give pleanty to get hold of if they do fall.

Here's one of my cage set ups for an idea of how it can look very hard but the rats can catch themselves easily


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