Goosemoose Pet Portal

It's been one of "those" weeks...first my old girl Ivy (in the picture) gets an abcess on her neck (she's doing fine now). Then my young boy Terrance gets a massive infection in his ear that swells up his face and makes him feel rotten (he's going back to the vet on Monday to have the ear drained).

Last night, Terrance's brother Basil was stumbling a little when he came out to get his veggies. I thought he was maybe just sleepy. This morning he almost fell off the shelf while eating his oatmeal. I put him on the floor to see if he was tilting or having other balance problems. He seemed OK, just a little wobbly, but he was acting very strange--trying to eat paperand generally acting "out of it." He has no other symptoms.

Of course I'm going to take him to the veet, but I'm curious to get anyone's opinion about what's up. Could it be Basil also has an inner ear infection? Is it contagious? Could there be something in the environment that's getting everyone sick? Neither they nor I have had any contact with outside rats in the past few weeks.

I would get Basil to the vet- a couple of weeks ago Cedric's balance seemed a bit "off" at playtime. (playtime is at night) Checked him the next day after work and his balance was much worse and off to the vet we went. Didn't see a tilt but he was definately having trouble. The vet thought inner ear infection and put him on Baytril for a couple of weeks. I saw improvement within a day. His balance is now almost perfect and he does tilt a bit to the side when he is on the balcony reaching his head out of the cage for a treat but other than that he is perfect. The vet said we were lucky to catch it so quickly.

My first guess would be either a stroke or pituitary tumor. Does he have a hard time holding his food to eat?

We lost Terrance last night to his ear infection. He had it drained twice, but it moved so fast I don't think the antibiotics had time to take effect. He was only five months old :(

Naturally this makes me all the more upset that his brother Basil seems to be following the same path. The emergency vet flushed his ear and put him on Baytril (oral and otic) yesterday. I dropped him off at his regular vet today, and the diagnosis came back "unknown." Given how fast Terrance's condition worsened, the vet didn't want to "wait and see" put has put him on Vibramycin, otic Baytril, meclazine (for his imbalance), and even gave him a dose of ivermectin in case it's related to parasites.

Unlike Terrance, who had outward symptoms of infection (goopy eye, sneezing), Basil seems strong and otherwise healthy. He is readily drinking formula from a syringe. His most distressing symptom (to me, and I'm sure to him) is his uncontrollable rolling, which makes him hard to handle.

I'd be interested in any perspectives on this sad situation, including nursing advice for my poor, corkscrewing boy.

Oh Julia I am so sorry about Terrance! Jen had told me that he was sick. I am so sorry he had to leave you! Poor little boy! Could it be something genetic? Everything is so close together, their ears, throats, noses, brains. It seems easy for infection to move through quickly. I suppose it could be a myco infection of some kind that has infected their ears instead of their lungs.

My rats keep getting which appears to be respiratory, is also what caused Nemo to end up with a slight head tilt and others to have abscesses in their throats. I have three now that sound like geiger counters, which they have been doing off and on since they were 4 months old or so. My little girl, April, also has an ear infection and is on Baytril. I'm praying that's all it is.

I will send healing out to Basil! Please let us know how he does! Huge Hugs to you!

Thanks, Arlene, for the kind thoughts and words, which we definitely need right now. I forget whether you have any of the Petco rescue group? I would be very curious to know whether any other rats from that "club" have had similar problems. The myco is to be expected (unfortunately), but it is very bizarre to have the same thing break out in two brothers within a week of each other. (My other rats seem to be fine so far, thank goodness).

I hope April is OK--poor little girl. I've never had rats get ear infections before--it's very distressing to see them try to deal with the imbalance.

I've seen evidence of paper eating and just general "out of it" behavior in my girl who had an ear infection.  Unfortunately, I didn't pay attention to those early signs, and she got all tilty.  We managed to clear the infection, but she's still tilty.  She doesn't roll so much now as she did when we first started treatment.  We did antibiotics and steroids for the inflammation. 

Good luck with Basil!  I hope he's feeling better soon.  I'm sorry you lost Terrance.  *hugs*

*hugs* I'm so sorry for your loss.  So quick and young ... so very, very difficult.  I'm glad the vet is being aggressive early with the medication.  Hopefully it will take care of the situation.  My vet always says to give antibiotics for a full two weeks after the last symptoms disappear, so 4 weeks minimum.  Ear infections are one of the most difficult things to treat and get rid of completely. 

I hope your :heart: heals quickly.

Thanks so much, Dearpie. Moral support is so valuable at a time like this...Terrance is the youngest one I've had go, and I can't help feeling like I failed. I still hold out some hope for Basil--because of his age I want to give it our best shot.

I have Mercy, Timmy and Walter's mommy. She's never even so much as sneezed and seems very healthy. Thank Goodness!

As for little April, she doesn't seem off balance, just doesn't seem right. It's like she is aging more rapidly than the others, muscle tone is not as good and she's thinner. I just don't know.

I'll keep sending healing to Basil!

BTW, how is Mia doing?

Basil is holding his own, although he is still corkscrewing like he's possessed. He seems more angry than anything. He's boarding with the vet today so they can feed and hydrate him while I'm at work. I really hope we begin to see some improvement soon.

Given all the sickness in my crew lately, I'm glad to say that Timmy and Walter are also healthy as little horses. They are squishing out at an alarming rate. Walter has a budding case of the chubs and is too lazy to even leave his cage most of the time. He still has those halfway-to-dumbo ears. So cute!

Some rats do seem to have one foot on the other side. Terrance was a fierce, athletic boy, but once he got sick, it's like he gave up. The vet said she felt an enlarged liver, which may have contributed to his fast decline.

I'm glad to say that Miss Mia is being a perfect little lady during her stay with me, and has hardly even sneezed. She sits with me on the sofa at night, although she seems more interested in handouts from my dinner than snuggling.

I dropped Basil off again at the vet today for "day care" and boarding while we're away for Thanksgiving (Thursday and Friday). It may be my imagination, but he seems to be showing a tiny bit of improvement. He's still "corkscrewing," but he seems more "with it" and can arrest his spinning with his hands and teeth. He has a very good appetite and can grab onto the syringe when I feed him, and is grooming a little bit.

We're going to stay on this course of treatment (Vibramycin, Metacam, Meclazine) through Friday. The doctor also put him on a steroidal eye cream to prevent the eye he's lying on from getting ulcerated. If he shows no improvement by then, I figure it will be time to try something else.

I may be faced with a hard choice before the start of next week. He can't eat or drink by himself in his current state, and I'm sure he feels frustrated and generally awful. I can't stay home to take care of him, or take him to work, or continue to pay the vet $50/day for hospitalization. I truly hope we see some improvement soon...

Poor little Terrance. It wasn't your fault! You couldn't have done anything to stop him from getting infected.

I hope your little guy heals soon! I send out luck and happiness to you and your ratties!  ;D ;D ;D :BlueDumboSmile: :rattysmiley: :balloon: :cheeky: :laugh: :) ;) :yelcutelaugh: :BlueDumboSmile:

A week has gone by since Basil's collapse, and I am glad to say he has improved, even if it's only a bit. He can stabilize himself so he doesn't spin, and is starting to circle a bit more than just roll over and over. I noticed today that he was grooming while lying on his side, so I gave him a little cube of watermelon and he ate it. He stopped a couple of time to brux--so happy with his achievement (so was I). I hope he continues to make progress; I am starting to feel cautiously hopeful.

(((((((((((((((Basil))))))))))))))))))))) poor little man, I'm glad to hear that he ate some watermelon on his own!!  Will keep sending him lots of healing thoughts from our crew.

Jen

Thanks, Jen! Of course, now that he can eat a little on his own, he is being very stubborn about drinking from the syringe! I'm glad to see him feeling stronger but I am already a little nostalgic for how he drank 4 syringes full of Ensure just this morning...

Good news. :) I'm continuing to hope that Basil improves. :heart:

Mandy, I wish I could give more good news  :-[ Unfortunately, Basil left us last night. He'd been doing so well, but on Sunday he started to resist eating, and last night he was keeping his mouth clamped shut, as if he already knew it was over. When I went in to check on him at 3 AM, he had passed--quietly, by all appearances.

Thanks to everyone for their moral support. The whole situation is very confusing to me, as they both fell ill with very fast-moving illness right around the same time. They did both have a history of myco so perhaps that was part of it, but they were very young. (More on Rat Tails, with pictures if anyone is interested.)