# Rat seizures/panic attacks?



## garlicpickle (Jan 16, 2009)

I have 2 female rats, one is about a year old and one about 6 months old. I got the younger one off a friend who wanted to rehome her. She has always been a nice placid laid back rat and the two get on pretty well.

However about a week ago she had a weird turn. She was sleeping in the house on her own (the other one was in the hammock) when she suddenly tore out of the house and threw herself round the cage about a dozen times in what seemed like complete panic before finally lodging herself behind the wheel. She was shaking and breathing heavily. I left her alone to recover as I assumed something had spooked her and the next morning she seemed normal, although she had injured a claw, this healed up within a day after bathing in saltwater.

I assumed it was a one off (maybe a nightmare?) but last night she did the same thing again and also tonight. On both occasions the other rat was nowhere near her and there was nothing different in the room which could have scared her.

She has hurt herself again tonight as I can see her toe is bleeding again and I'm concerned. Her "fit" was over an hour ago and although she looks calmer she is still behind the wheel. I don't want to drag her out to examine her and scare her more. I can/will take her to the vet but they are not that experienced with small pets. Has anybody encountered something similar? Can rats get epilepsy or other neurological problems?


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## sbarton (Aug 5, 2012)

i have no idea as i have never had a pet rat, 
but i have done a drugs and drug target corse this year as part of my uni degree and we did a bit about treeting epilepsy and finding new drugs that are suitable for it. one test that is carried out to see if a anticonvulsant drug works or not is the "leptazol Cd 50" test where a group of mice or rats are given a shot of leptazol (65mg/kg) to induce a sezure and then the drug to be tested is administered untill 50% of the rats have stopped having a sezure and the amount of the anticonvulsant drug is measured. 

not that this is particularly relevent to youre problem (and possibly not 100% accurate as my memory is iffy at best) but i asume that its possible to have naturaly occuring sezures in rats and mice if you can cause a similar reaction with a drug, though this is a guess at best so who knows.

anyways hope it gets better and it has nothing seriously wrong with it


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## corny girl (Aug 30, 2009)

I have no idea Lisa but i hope Patch is going to be ok hun. Let me know how she does please.


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## selina20 (May 28, 2008)

Poor Patch. She never did this when i had her so i was shocked when u told me hun


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## garlicpickle (Jan 16, 2009)

I got her out later last night and cuddled her for a bit, she seemed a bit dazed, ate a mealworm but took ages over it as she didn't seem to know what to do with it at first.

Again she seems fine this morning, it's weird.


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## selina20 (May 28, 2008)

garlicpickle said:


> I got her out later last night and cuddled her for a bit, she seemed a bit dazed, ate a mealworm but took ages over it as she didn't seem to know what to do with it at first.
> 
> Again she seems fine this morning, it's weird.


Even weirder is her not scoffing the mealie :S


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## Samanthaa (Sep 21, 2009)

Hey there.

I just thought I would try and help, but its not particuarly great news..

My OHs family has always kept rats, he had one specific rat who did basically exactly what you are describing. 

He would tear around the cage and basically run into stuff and injure himself.. It slowly got worse and worse. 

The only way they found to deal with him was to throw a towel over him when it started and hold him still to stop him injuring himself, if they tried to hold him in their hand he would bite them as he just had no idea what was going on

Ultimately they ended up syringe feeding him baby food, as he stopped being able to feed himself. This was all as he was pretty much "on his way out" They figured it was strokes, or fits, or a brain tumor perhaps

This might not be what is happening, but just to give you an idea of what could be going on.
Hope all goes well..


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## corny girl (Aug 30, 2009)

Sadly Patch was pts today as there was no improvement. Run free dear Patch xxx


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## BMo1979 (Feb 13, 2012)

Very sorry to hear that. Run free, Patch!


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## selina20 (May 28, 2008)

So sorry Patchy


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## garlicpickle (Jan 16, 2009)

sorry i didn't update before. The fits were getting more frequent and the last few days she had one every day. She had ripped out 3 of her claws and 2 toes looked broken as they were all bent up.
I decided to have her put to sleep as I didn't think it was fair to leave her like that. She would be dazed and confused for over an hour after each episode and she was disinclined to get out of her bed to eat or drink in between times. I think she was probably bruised and hurting from all the throwing herself around.

I know rats can get pituitiary tumours which press on the brain and cause various symptoms and i wonder if it was that. She's now laid to rest in the garden along with my old rats Minnie and Dopey.


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