Advice sought - weakness in back end

[SquishyHelium]

I have an elderly Syrian (Domino) who I adopted a little over a year ago. He is at least two years old though could be considerably older than this.

Perhaps about 2 months or so ago he gradually developed a slight weakness in his rear end. When he is standing, his back legs don't hold him up as high as they used to and at times his rear end touches the ground. Additionally he can no longer lift his back legs to itch his ears, he ends up just scratching mid air or scratching the ground. Sometimes he'll topple sideways because he's trying so hard to reach. At times I think his back legs are stiff and don't always do what he wants them to do.

He is still extremely bright and alert and always keen to come out and play.
What I am wondering is, what could be the cause (I think it is perhaps arthritis or stiffening of the joints due to age) and if there is anything I can do to improve his range of movement and make things easier for him? Suggestions appreciated.

[Erin.R]

I am no expert but I would say it would be from old age. At this age his muscles are growing weaker at a pretty fast rate. I believe the only thing you can do is to change his setup, if needed, to make it easy to access things and as safe as you can. If you have shelves you will want to take them out to keep him from falling off them, make sure there are no toys he could hurt himself on, make sure his water bottle is low because it will get harder and harder for him to reach up and make sure he can easily get to his food. I would be giving him baby food jut to try and keep his weight up and as a nice treat for the little old man He is probably sleeping more, or will be shortly, so I would put his food and water close to his nest. If he starts to have any pain you will probably want to see a vet, they would be able to tell if you need meds. Sorry I can't be more helpful but with older hams there is not a lot that can be done but making them as comfortable as you can an giving them extra snuggles whenever they want them

[SquishyHelium]

Thanks for your reply Erin.R. That is what I thought. Quite some time ago I changed his setup so that everything is as flat as it can be for him. He was in two Zoozone 2s connected by tubes, but recently I dropped him down to one as I felt he was struggling (but still felt compelled to visit all of it, bless him). He seems reasonably content in the single zoozone2.

He is sleeping more as well, in the evening he'll pootle a bit, then snooze, then pootle a bit more. His weight has always been very consistent which is great, now he's older he gets a little yoghurt drop or a chocolate drop every day, which helps to keep his weight stable, needless to say this is the first thing to go from the food bowl

[Erin.R]

That's great! He sounds like he will live happily in his golden age