Rat falling to the side/off balance

[luf100]

So today when I woke up, I opened the rat cage like always to give them their food and some treats and noticed that Dexter was having a hard time standing up straight.

His head is tilted to the left and that seems to also be the side he's falling on. He's still eating a lot though (he loves his treats) but when he takes the food he's only holding it with one paw. He seems to be using the other paw (his left) to hold himself up so he doesn't fall while he's eating.

I've called the emergency vets around here and none of them treat small animals for something like this, and of course it's Saturday so the regular vet I go to isn't open now and won't be open at all tomorrow, so I'd have to wait until Monday.

I know that it could be PT or it could be an ear infection, but I feel helpless because I don't know what to do to help him aside from make sure he keeps eating and drinking. I've moved him to the bottom of the cage and took away the ramp so he can't get to the top in case he falls.

I'm not sure how old he is but only slightly over a year. He's still moving around a lot but he's having a hard time because he's so off balance. I didn't notice anything off about him at all before I went to bed last night.

Any advice at all on what I can do to help him? Will he be okay until Monday morning if it's an ear infection?

 

[dspch911]

Sounds more like inner ear infection than PT. He needs antibiotics and his hed tilt might be permanent. Perhaps children's advil for pain

 

[SQ]

If it is an inner ear infection, he will probably be ok until Monday but it depends on how fast the infection is growing

The longer it takes to start meds, the more danger of permanent damage
If he starts rolling, putting a low box etc in the cage for him to go into may help
If he becomes unable to eat or drink you will need to syringe feed him

He will need to be on an antibiotic such as clavamox asap
and an anti -inflammatory such as metacam (pain med with some anti-inflammatory properties) or a steroid such as prednisone or dex, to reduce inflammation and prevent permanent damage
If on prednisone for very long, he will need to be gradually taken off it slowly over time

Inner ear infection usually need to be treated for at least 4 to 6 weeks and may need to be treated for months
http://ratguide.com/health/auricle_ear/otitis_media_otitis_interna_labyrinthitis.php

good luck

 

[luf100]

Well, even though I took away the ramp, he still had enough strength to someone climb his way to the top of the cage. So I put the ramp back in because if he's going to climb up there anyway, better for him to have an easier way to do it.

I JUST noticed the symptoms today, so I hope he'll be okay until Monday morning, but I'm keeping my eye on him to make sure he's eating and drinking still.

I know that my grandmother has Metacam that she gives to her dog for pain. If I got some of that from her to give him (after weighing him and having someone here help me with the dosage) would that be alright to give him before seeing a vet?

 

[SQ]

Is he circling or is he weak on one side?

If he is circling it is likely an inner ear infection
If he is weak on one side it could be a stroke

 

[luf100]

He's not circling, he just seems to keep falling onto his left side. Like I said in my first post he's still using his left paw to hold himself up while he eats, holding his food in his right paw. At least that's what it looks like to me. But when he walks, he just keeps tipping over towards the left.

 

[lilspaz68]

Give us an approximate weight and we will give you a dose of metacam. I shall assume its the 1.5 mg/ml concentration?

It might help his tilt and will definitely make him feel less discomfort until Monday when you can get antibiotics to treat his inner ear infection.

 

[dspch911]

You might not see circling yet. You can hang hammocks in places that would catch him should he fall off a shelf and/or ladder.

 

[luf100]

Sorry to leave everyone hanging like that. Dexter is still okay. I took him to the vet on Tuesday (tried to get him in on Monday but the vet I was going to apparently changed his hours and is only in the office on Wednesday, so I found another vet that couldn't take him until Tuesday), and she couldn't find anything wrong with him.

It's very weird, because I'm positive I wasn't just imagining things on Saturday when I started noticing this. He really scared me, but since Saturday he's seemed to have gotten better? I don't even know if that's possible with the symptoms he had (and with him being a rat and prone to all this stuff), but by the time I got him to the vet he didn't have a head tilt anymore, and he was walking and eating fine without falling down or even being wobbly. And he never lost his appetite or anything like that. He's even climbing up the walls of the cage to get to the second level instead of using the ramp. He's still super active and bright eyed.

She checked his ears because she expected an ear infection with the symptoms we described, checked to see if he had a temperature, checked his breathing and all that, but couldn't find anything, and since he didn't have any symptoms anymore she didn't give me any medication or anything. We put him on the floor in the office and let him walk around and he had no problems.

I'm obviously keeping a very close watch on him because I'm scared that it'll just come back, like I said it seems very weird that something like that would just go away, whatever it was.

The only other thing I could even think of, was that it was very hot in my room that day. Simon was fine, nothing wrong with him, but we don't have the air conditioner in yet and my room is technically an attic and it gets super hot during the day if the sun is out and it's above like 20C. Could that have caused him to act that way? The vet also said it could've been a seizure or something like that.

I'm really confused but I'm glad he seems okay for now. I'm watching him very closely though.

 

[Carol Weekes]

It could have been the heat and some possible dehydration to bring about the symptoms of confusion/lethargy. If you encounter that situation again, bring fans up and put frozen water bottles in to the cage for them to lie against. Glad to hear he seems to be fine again.