Hugh: strange behaviour

[adoptaratcanada]

About a month ago I nerve wracking moment with Hugh. He was in his hammock which partly hangs over a shelf in the cage. When I looked at him, his head was hanging out and down, his eyes were partly open and his mouth seemed to be partly open, his nose a hair away from pressing on the shelf. WHAT A SCARE!! I thought for sure he was dead! I yelled, HUGH!! and probably gave him as bad a fright as he gave me! :/ He was fine, happily!

Anyway, just a while ago I saw him do it again. I put my fingers through the cage near him to get his attention and he only just sort of looked. I reached in to pet him and rouse him, but he didn't react much. I lifted him back a bit so that he was completely in the hammack, but he just sort of lay there (normally he's a bit of a jumpy boy). Time to panic! I picked him up and he was slightly limp but kind of alert. I sat down with him on me and called the vet to see if I could catch her before she left (she's not there at all!) and usually he's a bit squirmy in my arms. He sort of sat and fidgeted just a tiny bit, but was was becoming more and more "normal" as I spoke to the receptionist. All of this is taking no more than2 minutes. He seemed a bit jumpy by sudden noises or movement, which isn't that strange for him, but maybe I'm reading more into that part (?)

He was a bit squirmy by this point so I put him back in the cage. He seemed perfectly normal and ate and drank. He was active, up and down the cage, a quick groom from Locutus, and now he's back upstairs in the hammock cleaning himself and settling in for a snooze.

Did I just wake him from a very deep sleep, or does this sound like a stroke?

THANKS!!!

[Die Fledermaus]

I would say the former.

A stroke surely would manifest some permanent or longer-term change in his physical capabilities, it being in effect a type of brain damage. Or such is what I'd expect.

Glad he is fine.

[adoptaratcanada]

I should have added my other concern: seizure.

I don't know enough about either, and although I don't know how long he was "out of it" or "groggy", as I noted, not too long after becoming gradually alert again, he was fine.

It boggles. Rats cause me such worry Bless their little hearts.

[Die Fledermaus]

We know some rodents have seizures and quickly recover from them with no bad effects. I have seen stories about such on the AGS board many times.

I TRY not to worry. With all the animals I have here (mostly rescues) I'd go nuts. I do what I can. and they are far better off with me than the other options they faced.

[ladyjosephine]

I had something 'looking' like that one time with Asher. it was nervewrecking..But just A while later I saw a small 'video' from one of my dutch rat-loving friends. she had te same, Her rat was so deeply a sleep he didn't even response! she picked him up, and he kept on sleeping
This was a nice example of a rat who fully trusts his owner, he knew she wasn't going to do something so he didn't have to wake up.

After seeing that I think that's the same thing that 'happened' to Asher

[Die Fledermaus]

Sounds good.

The closest for me was when I was sexing spiny mice last week. There were dozens, but just one after being held went limp. I could not believe I squeezed him too hard. I put him in the tank, and several seconds after being motionless he perked up and acted normally. Go figure.

[adoptaratcanada]

Thanks ladyjosephine and DF for sharing your experiences! It's comforting to know that this wasn't necessarily a problem event.