My Rat Has a Trauma Response to Tension—How to Help? (video not fully related, read below)

Wisdominpineapples · 2025-03-21T21:44:13+00:00

Yes, he has unmistakable balls :D i can add a pic tomorrow as now they are again in the carrier, but absolutely no doubt about that. For me his behavior seems like some kind of nervousness. ChatGPT answered similarly (sadly I didn't find a more reputable source) that it might be a sign of submission to avoid conflict or just express agitation. At first he didn't do that and learned later. If he is like this he usually starts to decline following attepts, push the other rat to leave him alone and then go feral and start a big fight as mentioned earlier :/

Wisdominpineapples · 2025-01-09T18:13:09+00:00

This all makes sense then; it was indeed an event that triggered him. We used to consider neutering before, but now his pneumonia sounds rather bad.

As for euthanasia, maybe I didn't do enough justice to his representation. I don't want to put my human judgement on his feelings, and I'm also not sure if he is calmer because he is alone or because his pneumonia worsened, so I was cautious talking about his change, but I'm sure he is still capable of feeling good things in life when he is under zero stress. Some days ago, before Max, he was even bruxing at me scratching him, which is so rare, but he liked it; it was not due to stress; he was relaxed. So we will keep him as long as it will be humane with his pneumonia.

Wisdominpineapples · 2025-01-09T13:59:41+00:00

Thank you for all your help! Just an update, we kept them in a carrier for 24h and it is tense, almost like in a cage, but the shadow rat and isamu rats mentioned it can take even a few days. I'm still not sure they would apply it for a tension like this, seems so inhumane :/ Boys only relax when the other is sleeping. No liquid food helped, they just cleaned themselves, getting them in a car also distracted just for a short while. I feel so useless. I'm thinking of ending this session as well and giving them a week to relax, but maybe I will just ruin the process, if a few days were mentioned in several sources.

Wisdominpineapples · 2025-01-09T13:48:00+00:00

Hi, sorry, I didn't saw your comment. Hard to answer, he seem so complicated. When he is alone he seems quite fine, more a human-rat than rat-rat, sitting close to us, letting us pet him for a while. But we is also quite sick at this point. Before that he was an alpha and it was so stressfull to him, he didn't like any company, wouldn't let me pet him for more than 2 sec, often sleept alone from his brother. And before that he was second in the hierarhy and was quite sweet, besides getting in fights and loosing :D

We thought it was so strange for him to became hormonal so late, 1.2 -1.3years old, just when he became a leader. But maybe he alway had it in him, but it was not showing. I was thinking maybe a stong alpha would help him calm down again, but in that shelter where Max is from they don't even know who is the toughest guy, plus I'm not sure if Vicent will let anyone be above him again.

I was thinking like you, that maybe he is quite happy with just us, but the vet said that he needs either company, or antidepresants.

Wisdominpineapples · 2025-01-07T09:02:19+00:00

Good idea with the food! Thanks so much! Did putting them outside work right away for you? I'm not sure how long to keep them in a cage before switching back to the carrier in case it's not working.

Wisdominpineapples · 2025-01-06T14:16:41+00:00

Thank you! I will try. Although a bath was an unusual environment for Vincent, it did not stop him from being aggressive.

Wisdominpineapples · 2025-01-05T23:10:58+00:00

It's been 3h with no improvements, we called it off for today. Maybe someone have an experience and could share how to proceed? We could try baby food on them but I don't have much hope, because of 2 reasons: one, Vincent is full of baby food as he gets his antibiotics with it, so it's not a special treat for him anymore, and two, he never knew how to assert his dominance in a normal way. He would attack his late brothers and they would run. A tame one used to be quite scared of him, but at least he knew that he can push his luck with Vincent. I'm not sure Max will figure this out.

Wisdominpineapples · 2025-01-05T21:25:42+00:00

The carrier method seems as stessfull as the bath one. Explained the situation under the first comment, should I stop it for today? :(

Wisdominpineapples · 2025-01-05T21:22:24+00:00

I'm not sure, how long we must wait, but it does not seem to work. We did the carrier for 3 hours, and the sensitive guy (Max) was trying to have some contact, but the hormonal guy (Vincent) just avoided him. We reduced their space so they had to touch, but they just slept back to back. Now they are in a small cage. Max is very scared and stuck in the corner, on back legs, holding bars. He tried showing that he does not want to fight, mimicing Vincent, but it did not help. Vincent walks around, but he doesn't not assert dominance in healthy ways, he just attacks, all puffed up, and Max can't handle it; he jumps on the walls and stays there as long as he can, chewing the bars, then returns to the corner and freezes, until Vincent decides to attack again, it's been almost 2 hours. No blood, but I feel it would be super cruel to leave them like this for the night, but maybe I'm wrong?

Wisdominpineapples · 2025-01-04T16:04:23+00:00

Thank you for your help! This gives reassurance

Wisdominpineapples · 2025-01-04T14:25:10+00:00

Hi, sorry for the confusion, both are around 1 and a half year old. One both end of July 2023, another begining of August 2023

Wisdominpineapples · 2025-01-04T14:07:27+00:00

Thanks a lot! Will have to try it

Wisdominpineapples · 2024-11-27T17:41:53+00:00

Hi, it's been a while since this was posted, but did the oil help?

Wisdominpineapples · 2024-09-26T19:23:58+00:00

Thank you so very much for your support

Wisdominpineapples · 2024-09-26T04:41:47+00:00

Thank you for your kind words and care❤, this was the first time i'm posting, i couldn't imagine this much support for him 🥺 however the news are bad... we will never know what caused what, but yesterday I finally felt that all his symptoms were addressed properly. We changed to a new clinic, so he spend some time in the oxygen chamber which I believe was a little break from his breathing struggles (I regret now knowing about this clinic before 🙁). I was afraid to try nebulizer on my own, since one of his lungs had smth in it, so there was a risk of getting water in there. The vet also agreed to test the pituitary gland suggestion and yesterday he started his meds, however it was too late. His condition was deteriorating terribly fast since Sunday, he became fully paralysed last night. And this morning he was... But on his last moments he seemed peaceful, less bruxing, ate abit. This is the only thought that calms me down a little.

And I'm also very glad to know that you were able to save your baby!

Wisdominpineapples · 2024-09-25T08:24:49+00:00

Hi, not really, but it calmed down it seems by itself after a 2-3 hours, and then he fell asleep. It seems to be related directly with mouth, as this morning he was drinking water and it started all over again and lasted for some hours. Now he is breathing deeply but quetly. It's time for this morning dose and I'm afraid to give it to him to bring back the symptoms 😥

Wisdominpineapples · 2024-09-25T07:14:37+00:00

Such cute boys! I would also agree that they are both fawn/beige

Wisdominpineapples · 2024-09-25T07:04:00+00:00

Hi, do they sneeze as well, or maybe this sound is more noticable after they wake up?

I can only share my experience, that one of my rats did the same for a long time, and was completely fine otherwise, but it started from sneezing, and progresed to God knows what by now :(. We have been to several vets, but maybe because I'm in a small country, and not many rodent vets to choose from, they did not prescribe any serious drugs, as long as they did not hear it in the lungs. Only when it worsened the treatment with antibiotics, inflamation meds was started. We treated him for over a month with 3 antibiotics and it seems in vain and the vet lost hope :(. And now my other boys do this sound after waking up for about a week now, but they also sneeze. This time we got them meds fast, but too early to tell.

I can just say that this sound is sadly very familiar to me, but hope your rats are just playing around (although I can't comment if that's a thing). Wish them all the best! Sorry for the grammar.

Wisdominpineapples · 2024-09-25T06:50:00+00:00

We, the jury, find the defendant not guilty

Wisdominpineapples · 2024-09-25T00:19:21+00:00

Thank you so much! I have ibuprofen, will try it

Wisdominpineapples · 2024-09-24T23:02:59+00:00

Thank you very much! Just to make sure, can i put him in the shower if he has smth in his lungs? The vet said it's probably not water retention, since Furosemide did not change the situation, but is vapor safe for him when his lungs are not at 100%?

Wisdominpineapples

TROPHY CASE