Rat with smelly ear

Hi

One of my boys has had a smelly ear for a while now. He has been on doxycycline for 10 days which didn't help with the smell. There's no discharge from the ear or any other symptoms but the smell. I do feel he might scratch/clean a bit more in that ear. He also has had mild wheezing sounds for a long time that comes and goes and that didn't get better while on doxy either. I mainly hear them when he gets agitated with one of the other rats. My vet says because it's not constant she doesn't think it's bacterial and therefore is reluctant to give antibiotics for it.

I worry the smelly ear is the beginning of an ear infection but wonder why no other symptoms are showing up.

Should I try another antibiotic or should I ask my vet for ear drops?

Could it be something other than an ear infection?

Smelly ear and scratching at it are 2 of the classic signs of inner ear infection. The fact that you can smell it means its a bit more severe. Another classic symptom is head tilt/dizziness.

Doxycycline for 10 days is nowhere near long enough for inner ear infection. The very very minimum for an active infection should be 2 weeks, with 3 weeks or more being preferable. With inner ear infections which can be difficult to shift you want to go even longer. A combination is better for treating as well, but if you can only do one antibiotic, zithromycin or baytril alone might cure it.

He's not dizzy or have a head tilt. That's what confused me since I thought that was what always happened with ear infections. Which combo do you prefer? I have Doxy and Baytril at home so can start him on them immediately.

My vet did a swap of his ear wax and looked inside his ear. She said his ear drum looked normal and it wasn't an inner ear infection but it was an ear infection and we are treating it with a chloramphenicol salve that I have to put a "drop" of in his ear daily. Would this be a normal treatment for an ear infection that isn't in the inner ear? I think it's very hard to apply the salve in the ear as I can't really see if it goes in very far.

When my rats have had inner ear infections they were given oral antibiotics .... such as chloramphenicol or clavamox

How old is your boy? if the ear is still smelly I would start him on the baytril./doxy asap. I can help with doses if you have his weight and the concentration of the antibiotics.

According to my vet it's not an inner ear infection. I can't remember if she said it was an outer ear infection or what it was but she didn't think it was in the inner ear. My boy is 8 months old. The ear is still smelly. It's not much and I have to put my nose very close to his ear to smell it but it's definitely there. He's 578 grams. The Baytril I have is called Exoflox and it's a 25 mg/ml oral solution. When given orally should it be diluted with water first or can I put it into baby mash undiluted for him to eat?

Oh dear I'm sorry we missed your post. You can definitely put his dose in some soft food.

With his weight of 578 g, your enro of 25 mg/ml his dose would be 0.35 ml twice a day for a very minimum of 2 weeks with 3-4 weeks being preferable.

Rats are very prone to inner ear infections, and if you smell something (bacteria) then it's likely is one. The baytril should clear it up. If your not will let you, you can gently insert a q-tip in his ear and see if there's any discharge on the swab or foul smell.

Thank you so much. I'll start him on it today then. My vet was away today and I talked to another vet there who wanted to try with diluted Baytril that we would have to put inside his ear. Is that even a thing? She said oral Baytril would have a hard time reaching the infection in the ear so it was better to apply it directly in the ear.

That is called Baytril Otic and it's moderately successful. The oral antibiotics are actually the best but using both is even better

What she gave me is the injectable baytril 50 mg/ml that she diluted. Would this be suitable to use inside his ear? I can't tell how much it's been diluted but it seems pretty thin compared to the baytril I usually get for oral use. She wants us to give 3 drops in his ear twice daily. I'm not really comfortable with following her advice since she's not a rat experienced vet. Should I just stick to the oral baytril only?

You can use the Otic it should be fine if you can get it in lolol. Definitely use the oral baytril though

Thank you lilspaz68. Just to be completely sure. Even though it's the injectable Baytril that's been diluted it's fine to use in his ear? I can see there's a product called Baytril Otic which has an antifungal in it as well but this is not what I got.

So far I have him started on oral Baytril and I've continued to give the chloramphenicol salve in his ear as well.