Worried about my girl treated for PT

I'm so sorry. It can be really hard to figure out what's going wrong, but it does sound like PT. Bromo can work wonders if the PT is a prolactin-secreting tumour, but I don't think that it helps other kinds of PT.

If she is rolling despite the Pred, that is worrying indeed. *** Just noticed that she only had the Pred once. Would you be able to phone the vet and get an Rx for some oral Prednisone? Shrinking the tumour would at least give her some relief.

Also the vet might give an injection of Dexamethasone, which is more powerful and fast-acting.

I do hope that you'll be able to have a bit more time with your sweetie.

I'm so sorry you are having to deal with PT it is just a dreadful disease that is unfortunately terminal. On the plus side, bromo and dex are the right medication and it all depends on the rat how fast and how well the bromo will work. We were only able to get bromo for our boy Kona and it took about 5-7 days to kick in, but you will notice small things because you are your babies mommy. If your girl is now grasping its starting to work. You need to feed her with a syringe and it can take a long time and make sure she stays hydrated, also with syringe if needed. You can get ensure, coconut water, baby soy formula. PT rats lose weight very fast and you'll need to try and stay ahead of that. How are you giving the bromo and what dose. You may want to consider a liquid pepcid (get from vet) since these meds can be hard on their stomach. They can also weaken their immune systems so they need to stay on the antibiotics. The bruxing is a PT symptom. Some people say they aren't in pain, but I think my Kona was when I touched his head he would squeak or move in a painful way. We had him on tramodol too. Make her cage very safe she will fall off ramps, etc so hang hammocks to catch her or take shelves, ramps out of the cage. Make sure she has food bowls and bowls of water since they seem to stop using water bottles. Best of luck - will keep her in my thoughts.

I agree, some PTs respond to medication, and some don't. If she can't eat on her own, then you should syringe feed her. If she is constantly choking on her food and can't swallow properly, then she needs to be let go before she inhales some food and gets aspiration pneumonia. Being able to hold food with two hands is a very positive sign!
And don't feel that you missed a PT in March. It sounds like she had an inner ear infection. She would have never gotten better if it was a PT.
The question is, is there an inner ear infection now? My PT rats never showed any predilection to a tilt or rolling. Is it the PT doing that? Or is there more than one thing going on?

Thank you all very much for your advice and kind words. I really appreciate!

I called the vet clinic this morning and asked about getting prednisone and something for her stomach. Last time they gave me sulcrate. Hopefully they will be able to give me more medication without me having to bring her back to the clinic. They said they would leave me a message later today.

I decided to separate her from the others this morning. My two other girls are not really nice to her. They stole all her food and kicked her out of her hiding place during the night. She is at the bottom of the cage (Critter Nation) now and I removed the ladder so she can't climb to the second level. My other girls have the top two levels. I left food and water in little dishes. Before I left for work I noticed she was eating the tuna, drinking the soy milk and nibbling on the grape that I left for her. I truly hope it's a good sign! She is still very strong and I have a hard time administering the meds! She pushes my hand away whenever she sees the syringe. It took me over half an hour this morning!She takes Baytril, Doxy and 0.40ml of Bromo. Last night I found her a little bit more active too. She wanted to go out of the cage. So I let her run around on the bed for a little while.

Maybe you are right Joanne and she has something else. The vet did look at both her ears and he said they looked fine. But he did give me antibiotics because he thinks she has an infection somewhere due to the mucus that was coming out of her nose and mouth. This morning she had porphyrin around her eye (her other eye got perforated after a fight and it was removed in January 2013). It's the very first time I noticed this.

Her left side is definitely more affected. She constantly drags her left leg and her left paw is clubbed. She did use her left paw once during the weekend but now she is back just using the right paw. I pet her a lot and she doesn’t seem to be in pain when I touch her head. But maybe I should buy some infant pain-killer just in case.

I’m so sorry about your little Kona dspch911. It’s so hard to lose them. I’m preparing myself and my other two rats also have health issues. I made an appointment for a mammary tumor removal for my big girl. Hope it’s not too risky at 28 months of age.

Thanks again for your messages! I will let you know how she is doing. I will know tonight when I get home how much she ate and drank. I will get some ensure and coconut milk on the way home. If she didn't drink much I will use a syringe to rehydrate her.

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This one-sidedness is not typical of a PT. Perhaps she had a stroke instead.

I have to agree what you are describing sounds more like a stroke and nothing like PT.

Thank you! I think you may be right! What would be the treatment for a stroke?

She didn't eat anything today. But tonight she was able to drink a lot of ensure! She also had a tiny bit of solid food. But it's still not enough.

It looks like her left side is paralyzed. But she can use her right hand very well. She is also able to groom and she seems to be rolling less. So I think there is a slight improvement compared to yesterday.

The vet left me a message but when I called back she wasn't available. Shall I request prednisone? Or will she recover without any treatment?

Thank you.

For a stroke, steroids to help control any inflammation in the brain are good (Pred, Dex).
If she is on steroids for any length of time she will need prophylactic antibiotics to prevent any opportunistic infections. Otherwise she just needs time. She may or may not recover her function. (Just like a person.)

I've also read that gentle massage can help with stroke; plus, they love the TLC and just being with you. Sending healing wishes to your little ones.

PT or stroke when a rat has a head tilt is awful to deal with. But it does sound like she's improving very slowly. She's not rolling anymore?

Can you tell me the concentration (mg/ml) of your bromocriptine and how much she weighs so I can double check your dosage?

Can you get us a video of her moving around or attempting to eat? That would help a lot. PT does usually cause a weakness in the left side, that paw is weaker, they curl to that side etc, BUT the right paw is usually only a little stronger, so if you are seeing normal on one side and weakness on the other, I too would think stroke.

Check her mouth, see if its crooked like this?



and she's limp like this?



This is Amelia after 3rd day on dexamethasone injections

mouth



dangling

Thank you Joanne and Carol!

Thank you very much lilspaz for your message and the pictures!

Her weight on Friday was around 400 grams. I will have to double check on the vet's invoice when I get home tonight. She has definitely lost weight since Friday as she doesn't eat much. I will also let you know the concentration of bromocriptine.

I will also take a video of her walking tonight. In the meantime I'm including a photo of her eating a biscuit on Saturday. I had to hold her to help her eat because she kept falling on the left side. As you can see she can hold the biscuit very well with her right hand.

Last night she wasn't rolling as much. And I did notice an improvement in her mobility. She was able to bring her left foot forward. She wasn't dragging it as she previously did.

Thanks again for your help!

It looks like she's got a good grip on her food. Another vote for stroke. I'll be curious to see the video.

Her weight on Friday was 406.50 grams. The concentration of bromocriptine is 3mg/ml. I'm giving her 0.4ml per day.
She definitely lost weight since Friday. I haven't been able to weigh her but she will be weighed tomorrow evening at the vet's.

It seems she didn't eat anything during the day. All her food dishes were full when I got home. But I did manage to get her to eat some solid food like broccoli and pasta. And she still drinks ensure.

I tried to take some pictures of her but she can't stand still. I'm attaching one of her mouth (it's not crooked) and of her posture. I also have a video of her walking. There is a lot of improvement in her left leg! She doesn't drag it as much! She still doesn't use her left paw at all when she eats.

I'm concerned about her loss of appetite. And also if she suffered a stroke can her breathing problems on Friday morning be related? Could they have been triggered by the stroke? It was terrifying to see her like that

It seems I can't attach the video. I will try again.

Sorry about the pictures! I don't understand why they are not upright!

Here is a video of Lucy walking:

[ame]http://vimeo.com/103870400[/ame]

There is definitely some improvement in her left side. Unfortunately today I noticed she couldn't eat with her right hand as well So she has problems with both hands now. She doesn't eat much but strangely she hasn't lost weight! She's 410 grams.
The vet thinks she may have had a seizure last Friday (when I found her unable to breathe and gasping for air). So she will have to take an anti-seizure medication.

She seems pretty even in the back end now. It's not good she can't use her right foot now. Perhaps she has a PT and had a stroke.
I question the anti-seizure medication. What else was she doing when she couldn't breathe? Tonic-clonic movements? Rigidity?

No, she wasn't doing tonic-clonic movements and wasn't rigid. She was just lifting her head up and gasping for air. There was also some thick discharge from her mouth and nose. I wonder then if I should give her this anti-seizure medication. I guess not. She hates meds so much! I shouldn't add more stress.

She still doesn't eat much and has difficulty using her right hand. Still cannot use her left hand at all when she grabs food. This is so sad to see her like that...

It is sad, but we humans place so much more on it than animals do. For her, it is the new normal. She just needs to learn how to cope with it. Make sure her cage is handicapped accessible - lower the ramps and cover them if there are gaps as there is a risk of a foot getting caught, make sure there are no high areas she can fall from or put hammocks there to break her fall, put more water and food bowls around if there are different levels, lower the hammocks so she can climb in, soak her blocks and mush them so she can eat without her hands, etc.
It is also important to keep her in her own home with her mates, as she needs to be happy above all else. I have always kept my infirm rats in the regular cage. It just gets adjusted to the level of the neediest.
She doesn't feel sorry for herself, so perhaps we shouldn't either. Just give her lots of love and take care of her needs, making sure she is eating and is kept clean. She is probably loving all the extra attention.