11 month old rat off balance, lost weight, is it a PT?

[Stroisi98]

Hello,

I’m wondering if anyone has any advice. I am taking my boy to an exotic vet tomorrow at 11 for a diagnosis.

Over the past week my boy has lost weight, can’t eat his normal pellets and I’ve not seen him drink from his bottle, he’s always had an issue with his back left leg since about 6 months old however this was treated with metacam as and when it flares up normally once every 3 months. I’ve ordered him a 1 tier cage which is 5ft long and have been feeding him baby food which he is loving! He’s also been having cucumber for his water. I took him to the local vets who’s prescribed metacam and Baytril as our local exotic vet is over an hour drive away. They’ve liaised with our local vet and have altered his doses he’s now on 0.56 dog metacam a day as apparently it’s strong then then cat one he was on and 0.17 ml Baytril 2x daily. Today is his 4th day on the medication but only the 3rd on the altered doses and he was a lot perkier this morning, he has walked with his tail lifted, ate 70g of baby food today and hadn’t seemed as wobbly. He is unable to hold food whilst sitting up but will put his paws on it when it’s on the food. Is it likely to be a PT with him being so young? Would he make an improvement if it was? I’m terrified of taking him tomorrow and then PTS him. I forgot to mention he actually climbed over his little box and on to my arm when I took him out for his breakfast. The other option I’m thinking is an inner ear infection that’s progressing but would I have missed it when it was in the early stages? He’s not got any bad odour or pus nor head tilt however he is rubbing near it. What would cause it that his brother wouldn’t have caught too? I’ve uploaded a video of him yesterday and then a second of him today. Any advice would be so helpful x

ps he’s put on 30 grams in weight

 

[SQ]

In addition to his regular diet, feed him soft foods that are easier to eat such as his rat blocks soaked in water to make mush, and organic (or nonGMO) soy infant formula thickened with baby cereal these will make sure he is getting needed nutrition
and supplement with the baby food, cooked vegs, baby kale, broccoli, mxed greens and occasional cooked grains etc

The treatment for inner ear infection is an anti-inflammatory such as metacam (or a steroid) to reduce permanent damage and antibiotics to cure the infection. It is great that you are seeing improvement! Inner ear infections can be difficult to cure and in my experience rats need to be on antibiotics if they are helping for at least 6 weeks and sometimes for several months. If antibiotics were not helping then the vet would need to add an antibiotic or try different antibiotics. Here is some information: Health Guide: Otitis Media, Otitis Interna / Labyrinthitis

The treatment for pt or for other neurological problems is a steroid (dex or pred) and an antibiotic such as baytril. Also for pt, if it is estrogen driven (males can get ths type of pt too) then either cabergoline or bromocriptine. If it were pt then medication could relieve symptoms and give a good quality of life for awhile if it was slow growing, Here is some information Health Guide: Pituitary Tumor

Welcome to the forum!
Please see out Reference Thread for helpful information REFERENCE Thread - Read Only

He is a very cute little guy - all the best at the vet's tomorrow for both of you
Please let us know how it goes

Btw Lilspaz68 will double check the doses for you if you know his weight (a digital scale that weighs accurately to 1 gram and has a tare function is a good thing to have), and give us the name and the strength (mg/ml) of each medication

Lilspaz68 is a medical contributor and can give you good info

 

[lilspaz68]

Those last 2 pics do look like PT or at least a neurological issue. At 11 months it's rare but not impossible. You might want to switch to a steroid and continue the baytril.