Please helpp! Rat is really weak, possibly ear infection or tumor

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Triprasetia

New Member
Joined
Mar 8, 2018
Messages
1
Location
Indonesia
oreo is my 18 months male rat that I rescued. he once got ear infection a year ago and cured with zithro/doxy. he is cured but his eye remain pne smaller than other. 3 days ago he was not his usual behaviour, like not to energetic to go chase for snack, but still have apetite to eat. I heard a lot of sneezing that day so I immediately give baytril 10mg/kg and doxy 5mg/kg. 2 days ago, he is not improved, he is not tilting but spinning in panic, I tried to calm him down untul he is sleeping. it still not improve till yesterday. Today I gone for a while, when I am back, he is very weak, not able to walk (walk very slowly) and head tilting and flip over every time he spins. my regular doctor is not here and gone until monday, I am really panicking right now, I really do not know what to do, everytime I saw him I just cry and trembling. does he really have a chance not to have PT which I am scared the most. should I change to baytril/clavamox+ prednisone as guided in ratguide. please help me. I havent move on from my beloved rat that died on march, he had bumblefoot and get severe, so I brought him to the vet and he suggest to cut off the infected area, but unfortunately he was mot awake. I am really traumatize and not ready for my other rat leave me
 
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get us a video so we can see what's going on first. Mild head tilt and confusion are the usual initial symptoms of PT, and most times head tilt is not a factor at all. Spinning and rolling is more obviously inner ear infectgion, and the dizzinesss will make him not be able to walk properly. I would definitely increase the baytril to 15 mg/kg and the doxy to 10 mg/kg, and if you have any prednisone start him at 1 mg/kg once a day initially (2 days) and taper back to 0.5 mg/kg for a few more days.
 
lilspaz68 said:
get us a video so we can see what's going on first. Mild head tilt and confusion are the usual initial symptoms of PT, and most times head tilt is not a factor at all. Spinning and rolling is more obviously inner ear infectgion, and the dizzinesss will make him not be able to walk properly. I would definitely increase the baytril to 15 mg/kg and the doxy to 10 mg/kg, and if you have any prednisone start him at 1 mg/kg once a day initially (2 days) and taper back to 0.5 mg/kg for a few more days.
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this is the video, he cant walk and very weak sometim his tail can be really tense
 
lilspaz68 said:
get us a video so we can see what's going on first. Mild head tilt and confusion are the usual initial symptoms of PT, and most times head tilt is not a factor at all. Spinning and rolling is more obviously inner ear infectgion, and the dizzinesss will make him not be able to walk properly. I would definitely increase the baytril to 15 mg/kg and the doxy to 10 mg/kg, and if you have any prednisone start him at 1 mg/kg once a day initially (2 days) and taper back to 0.5 mg/kg for a few more days.
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Triprasetia said:
this is the video, he cant walk and very weak sometim his tail can be really tense
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I am so sorry. Your boy is having seizures. He may have had a stroke or he has seizures from a type of epilepsy or a brain tumour. IF your vet is accommodating, you can ask for some anti-seizure medication called Phenobarbital. You will have to show those videos to him to prove that he's having seizures.

this was a rescue Bear I took in because the owner's vet refused to treat the seizures.

 
lilspaz68 said:
I am so sorry. Your boy is having seizures. He may have had a stroke or he has seizures from a type of epilepsy or a brain tumour. IF your vet is accommodating, you can ask for some anti-seizure medication called Phenobarbital. You will have to show those videos to him to prove that he's having seizures.

this was a rescue Bear I took in because the owner's vet refused to treat the seizures.

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may I know the continuation of Bear and how you tkae care of him? right now the vet is not available cause its almost midnight here, and I always feed him water with honey every hour
 
lilspaz68 said:
I am so sorry. Your boy is having seizures. He may have had a stroke or he has seizures from a type of epilepsy or a brain tumour. IF your vet is accommodating, you can ask for some anti-seizure medication called Phenobarbital. You will have to show those videos to him to prove that he's having seizures.

this was a rescue Bear I took in because the owner's vet refused to treat the seizures.

Click to expand...

lilspaz68 said:
I am so sorry. Your boy is having seizures. He may have had a stroke or he has seizures from a type of epilepsy or a brain tumour. IF your vet is accommodating, you can ask for some anti-seizure medication called Phenobarbital. You will have to show those videos to him to prove that he's having seizures.

this was a rescue Bear I took in because the owner's vet refused to treat the seizures.

Click to expand...

I am really grateful that you reply and help me in this thread, Ive been so alone and scared what will happem to my boy. I am sorry for my bad english.
 
We tried phenobarbital with Bear then added in other anti-seizure medications but they never worked for him and he passed 1.5 months later, but we did suspect he had a brain tumour rather than something else. If the rat is in a continuous seizure they may need to inject valium to get him out of them, then you give the oral phenobarbital every 12 hours after that. When they come out of seizure, they become very still and limp as they recover. Then slowly they start coming back to "normal".

I'll add another video of Charlie. He had these violent seizures and I gave him the phenobarbital between them, and they slowed and stopped. After a few days of stabilizing him, I started slowly bringing the dose down to a lower but still effective dose. I kept slowly decreasing. He never had a seizure so I continued until he was completely off of them and stopped. He was fine, off meds and lived another 2.5 months (he was an older rat with a sad history).

 
lilspaz68 said:
We tried phenobarbital with Bear then added in other anti-seizure medications but they never worked for him and he passed 1.5 months later, but we did suspect he had a brain tumour rather than something else. If the rat is in a continuous seizure they may need to inject valium to get him out of them, then you give the oral phenobarbital every 12 hours after that. When they come out of seizure, they become very still and limp as they recover. Then slowly they start coming back to "normal".

I'll add another video of Charlie. He had these violent seizures and I gave him the phenobarbital between them, and they slowed and stopped. After a few days of stabilizing him, I started slowly bringing the dose down to a lower but still effective dose. I kept slowly decreasing. He never had a seizure so I continued until he was completely off of them and stopped. He was fine, off meds and lived another 2.5 months (he was an older rat with a sad history).

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thanks for he information, I really need this information before I go to vet, because like I tell before, I am really traumatize of what happen to my other rat. So, did charlie took another medication that time? like antibiotics or prednisone? And I would like to know what should I do now to help my boy. right now I can only stare at him and if he is panicking I slowly pat him to hav a sleep.
 
charlie only needed the phenobarbitol and only had 1-2 doses and never needed it again. Make sure to show the videos to your vet when you see them. The good thing is the rats are very unaware of the seizures when they have them.
 
lilspaz68 said:
charlie only needed the phenobarbitol and only had 1-2 doses and never needed it again. Make sure to show the videos to your vet when you see them. The good thing is the rats are very unaware of the seizures when they have them.
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okay thanks for the information, I really appreciate it, I will keep updating on how he is doing.
 
lilspaz68 said:
charlie only needed the phenobarbitol and only had 1-2 doses and never needed it again. Make sure to show the videos to your vet when you see them. The good thing is the rats are very unaware of the seizures when they have them.
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wanna update for today, on friday he is doing okay, still eat and drink a lot, but now, he is refusing to eat or drink any, even ensure he likes the most and his favourite baby food, he just strongly using his paw to push away the syringe. but since yesterday, he is being more active. is this the indication that he is giving up?
 
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no he just push my finger away. the good news, just 3 hours ago, I am really sorry but I have to force a bit of baby food and a bit of yogurt, all I dilute a bit. Now, he is eating from syringe without rejecting anymore. I think he had stomach problem? because my vet change the med to baytril+clavamox+prednisone
 
the vet do not have experience with rat. and she assumed that it is similar to rabbit that had a ear infection
lilspaz68 said:
Try offering the food from your fingers, see if he'll lick it.
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so another problem happen, i clean cage every morning, and it is weird that today he only got 1 small poop. is it because of the medication? I read that prednisone might be the culprit here :(
 

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