Little girl is wobbly with offset balance

Fins us on Amazon
Shop with us on Ebay
Advertise with us
The Rat Shack Forum

Help Support The Rat Shack Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
F

FattoRatto

Active Member
Joined
Jun 25, 2017
Messages
39
Location
NULL
I was hoping I was just being paranoid at the beginning of this week when I thought I saw her stumble a few times and seem clumsier than usual, not sure how else to describe it. But now it's gotten a lot worse. She's "wobbly", sways before taking steps, she trips, etc. I researched a bit and found it could either be an ear infection or pituitary tumor. However she has no other symptoms of an ear infection, and does not act sick at all (breathing normal, no porphyrin, etc) other than the movement issues. She can still hold things to eat them which is good.

Does anyone know of anything else this could possibly be?

(( Just a reminder this is Lola my now 2 year & 2 month old ex-lab rat. She currently has two tumors one on her chest, other under her front leg in her armpit area. They are growing very slowly and are not that big. The first tumor she got grew rapidly within a week to be as big as her thigh, and I took her in to have it removed and get an implant put in to help fight tumor growth. (But then those other two tumors grew after anyways))
 
Can you get us a video of your old lady?

For inner ear you are looking at dizziness, head tilt, smelly ear, but otherwise relatively normal.

For PT you are looking for a dullness, confusion, clubbing of paws, excessive bruxxing, stiffer limbs than normal, wobbling when walking, more head down, back arched (I think of an armadillo). Giving her a small light treat to see how she attempts to eat it on video can either disprove or confirm PT.

http://lilspazrathospice.blogspot.ca/2016/11/pituitary-tumour-failing-cheerio-test.html
 
Yes I have been checking her ears they are normal. No head tilt. Haven't noticed any of the rest of that either and I just have her her own Easter egg yesterday (put a mini veggie salad in it w her fav veggies lol) and she did not have trouble eating them, watched her closely. (I'm having trouble uploading the vid?? Getting an error?)

She has also been getting her claws caught in everything. I've never noticed that happen before :/ when I bring her to the vet soon I'll see if they can get her a nail trim as well if that will help
 
Update: brought her to vet, they said most likely there is another tumor growing not visible yet which could be pressing down on her nerves & reducing her ability to walk properly. They noted her dragging her feet and hanging them limply when she was held. They gave me metacam and it's pretty much a make her comfortable until she passes deal. Since there's not really any way currently to know where the tumor is it could end up killing her or paralyzing her. If she becomes totally paralyzed I'll have her put down.

Poor girl :(But she is getting old now, she's like in her 70's in rat years from what I've read. I hope the metacam helps her feel better. Vet says we can increase dose when needed.
 
I'm betting it's a pituitary tumour which can cause exactly those symptoms. It's very common in older rats unfortunately. You could try prednisone and cabergoline to slow the progression.
 
jorats said:
I'm betting it's a pituitary tumour which can cause exactly those symptoms. It's very common in older rats unfortunately. You could try prednisone and cabergoline to slow the progression.
Click to expand...
The vet said metacam was an anti-inflammatory and could help too? Or is that not a good choice?
 
Unfortunately metacam is better at pain relief then anti-inflammatory with PT. You will get very little response. Dexamethasone injection to start, then oral prednisone is a good way to see if you get a response. After that you can ask for a script of bromocriptine (I've never used the more expensive Cabergoline myself) to give her. This is an actual treatment but only works on the most common PT's in rats called prolactinomas.

As for the video, upload it to Youtube and link it here?
 
lilspaz68 said:
Unfortunately metacam is better at pain relief then anti-inflammatory with PT. You will get very little response. Dexamethasone injection to start, then oral prednisone is a good way to see if you get a response. After that you can ask for a script of bromocriptine (I've never used the more expensive Cabergoline myself) to give her. This is an actual treatment but only works on the most common PT's in rats called prolactinomas.

As for the video, upload it to Youtube and link it here?
Click to expand...
Oh ok I will call the vet about it! I'll see if I can get a better vid first the last one wasn't that good (she kept seeing herself in the camera and running away LOL)
 
Two days later....she is astronomically worse....terrible balance....literally just falls over....having trouble holding things now too, drops them or has to like hold it propped up against the floor or my hand. She was walking around in circles. Seems totally out of it.

Is it worth doing the steroids? They aren't a cure, it's just prolonging the inevitable. I'll just have to spend longer knowing she's dying. Remembered how we did steroids with my dog and everyone thought she was getting better and then one day she just wasn't. I don't know.

She has lost more weight though. I now have mushy rat blocks in there which will be easier to eat without holding, have a water dish and a water bottle all on the first level of her cage so she doesn't have to go up.

Feeling very very gloomy.
 
I’m sorry to hear that! From what I’ve read the steroids only work on a certain common type of tumor, but when they work they work really well and can give your rat another few months of quality life and can work even when the rat is in bad condition. But you’re right, she will eventually get bad again and she will most likely have to be put to sleep either way. PTs are the worst and I’m so sorry that you’re going through this, but at least there’s an option even if it only works for a little while. I hope the steroids work if you choose them!
 
Prednisone or even better dexamethasone can give your girl much more quality to her life. You are right, it's not a cure but it helps the rat regain some quality unit the inevitable. Why not try it and if you don't see any improvements, then you could just do palliative care.
 
jorats said:
Prednisone or even better dexamethasone can give your girl much more quality to her life. You are right, it's not a cure but it helps the rat regain some quality unit the inevitable. Why not try it and if you don't see any improvements, then you could just do palliative care.
Click to expand...
I'm bringing her in again tomorrow to ask the vet about it, they said I could drop her off today and the vet could look at her if she had a spare moment but I didn't want to leave her alone in her state, didn't want to put her through the stress.

I guess with my dog it was definitely worth the steroids even if they weren't a cure. However she only got a couple weeks out of them but I think she was overjoyed to not be in pain and be able to run around and play again during that time. Then one morning she just couldn't get out of bed and then had a stroke right in front of us, and we took her in to get her put down. I remember she just looked so confused, and kept trying to get up but couldn't.

I definitely don't want my little girl's last days to be miserable. She doesn't act like she's in pain, she's still running around and playing and trying to get treats and snacks even though she can't hold anything at all anymore. (I have a mush nutrient block diet in there for her now) She also can't really groom herself (though she still grooms me!) , I see her try and she falls over because she doesn't have the coordination so that's upsetting to see. That's why I'm not considering putting her down just yet she's still acting like her normal self and living life she's just disabled right now.
 
I have her on prednisone now, fingers crossed she gets some good last days. On top of the pituitary tumor they found she has a lymphadenoma. She also may possibly have a respiratory infection from her weakened immune system.
 
She is very very very ill. Definitely has respiratory issues. Can barely move without falling over. She's practically skin and bones now. Even though I gave her mushy food I think she wandered up to the top floor of her cage despite my attempts to keep everything she needed on the bottom and then couldn't get to it. I gave her a feast tonight of watermelon and pizza because why not and she sat there eating for like an hour.

It's been 2 days and no noticeable response to the prednisone. Unless it's supposed to take longer than that, I think her time has come. If I can I will take her in to the vet tomorrow. Been crying a lot recently. Tomorrow is my birthday.
 
What an awful time to be going through this! Hopefully she’ll be feeling better tomorrow after eating so much tonight, but if not you did everything you could for her. I might take her off the prednisone if you’re not seeing any improvement because it can weaken the immune system more, and I believe that she should be responding to it by now if it were going to work but I don’t know a ton about it so hopefully someone else has some good insight.
 
She should have responded to the pred. by now. Im so very sorry that she's continuing to go downhill. At this point, it wouldn't be wrong of you to give her that last gift of relief.
 
Yeah, I am pretty sure it's time. I intend to bring her in tomorrow. Today I called the vet just to enquire about their methods of euthanization. I want to make sure I can be there with her, and I do NOT want her in a gas chamber because that is where she would've ended up as a lab rat if she hadn't been rescued. They claim (not just professionals but some rat owners too!) CO2 chambers are "humane" they are not. As a researcher I sadly had to be there through the gassing of many rodents. They are placed in multiple at a time, then when they realize they can't breathe they start freaking out and running around and trying to escape, then eventually they become too weak and just collapse in their own feces and urine, their backs hunch up for reasons I don't really understand and they sit there taking these painful looking, heaving breaths for several minutes until they pass. Sure the whole thing is 5 minutes long but it's horrific. I do not want my girl going in that way.

My dog had a simple IV, she was out from anesthesia in seconds and then her heart was stopped in seconds. She very peacefully relaxed. That was a humane euthanasia.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top