Scabs? Head Tilt

[Melissa's ZOO]

So I noticed that Ivy has a patch of scabs on her right shoulder. I have not noticed her itching more than usual and no one else has any scabs. So could it be just dry skin or mites?

Dry skin olive oil and baby cereal?

Mites, I have Ivomec Cattle wormer that I give to my dogs, so how much for rats?

I also noticed that her balance seems to be a little more off than usual. She had permanent head tilt from when I got her and she gets around better than the others. But lately seems a little off and not herself.

I have Baytril 10% and Amoxicilian 250 mg. Should I give her one or the other or both? If so how much Baytril she is less than 400 grams I want to say she is maybe 350 or more. I can weigh her once I get home to get exact weight.

 

[user 78]

If she seems a bit off from her usual self, it may just be a Mite Uprising. Mites are naturally occurring on all rats, but their grooming keeps the numbers and symptoms down. When they're feeling less than great, the mites aren't kept in check and symptoms may start to pop up.

You could go ahead and start her on Baytril until you can see your vet. With her balance being more off, I would be concerned about another ear infection, in which case a dose of a steroid may help keep her tilt from getting any worse. If you think that may be what's going on, you need to be a bit aggressive with her treatment for it, especially since she's already got some permanent damage from her previous issues.

For the higher dosage of Baytril [10mg/kg] at 100mg/ml [10%] it would be about .04cc for a rat at 350g or 400g. If you can get an exact weight on her, we can give you a more solid dosage. If she doesn't seem better after a couple of days on that, you may want to talk to your vet about adding the Amoxy in, too, which would be between .03cc and .04cc. If you can get your vet to give you some prednisone or Dexamethasone, that may help with any inner ear pressure and help her stay at her previously tilty state.

 

[Melissa's ZOO]

Okay so on my 3/10 cc syringe would it be the fourth mark? I am horrible at this.

Also is Dexona .5 mg the same thing as Dex? That is what I was giving her when she first came home with the head tilt. What is the dosage for oral Dex?

It has been over a year since I have had to give anyone meds. So I am writing this all down in my Rat Record Book for quick reference

 

[user 78]

Umm... I have absolutely no experience with a syringe less than 1cc, so I'm honestly just guessing here. Please double check with others and/or your vet.

That being said, yes, it should be the 4th mark, if your syringe has a line before it starts measuring. You should be able to count the lines from the .05 mark, which is halfway between the first line and .1. I'll see if I can get a clear picture of my syringe if you need me to.

I Googled Dexona, and it does appear to be Dexamethasone. Is it .5mg/ml? It should have the concentration of the medication somewhere on the bottle, listed as ?mg/?ml. I would need that before I could give you a dosage range. Also, if it's a year old or more, I don't know how viable it still is.

Same goes for the other meds.

 

[Melissa's ZOO]

Yeah the Dexona is a little old but my vet will sell me more. It is .5 mg tablets. This is the lowest dose he has.

A pic of your syringe would help. I probably need to get a different one from the pharmacist.

 

[Melissa's ZOO]

I am however going to start off with the Baytril and give it a few days. I do not want to over do the meds.

Will giving her the Baytril and getting her health back to normal help with the possible mites?

 

[Lise]

You can use the ivomec to treat for mites. You have to give it once a week for 4 weeks.

Need to know the concentration of ivermectin in it, and your rats weight to get a dose.


If you can, I would take Ivy to the vet and have him look at her to see if there is an infection before putting her on all of these meds.

Especially the steroids, which can do more harm than good a lot of the time.

 

[user 78]

Mites wouldn't cause balance issues all on their own, whereas an illness causing her to groom less would. Putting Ivy on Baytril until Melissa could get her in to the vet won't hurt anything, and may help a good deal if it is another inner ear infection.

If Ivy starts to feel better while on the Baytril, she should pick up her grooming again and the mites shouldn't be any more of a problem. If within a couple of days she doesn't start to pick up, I'd go see your vet for everything else we talked about.

And here's a pic of a syringe .02cc is marked, so you can see the line just under it to mark .03cc. If you do go to get more syringes, ask for the 1ml syringes, with a needle able to be removed if you need it.

 

[Lise]

If there is no infection, she doesn't need to be medicated. Hence why I'm saying ideally she should see the vet first. It takes 1 minute for a vet to look in the ears, and yes they can see the ear infection.

I don't believe in just medicating with Baytril on your own everytime you think there could be a problem.

If you think there could be a problem, you should see the vet.

 

[mamarat2]

Just one thing about the ears, ear infections are not always visible with rats. Even when they look in the ears some infections can be very deep and the vet cannot see that far in. Sometimes we've had exotics vets here that put the rat on the meds anyway if its indicative thats its an ear infection and it clears up.

Its not a good idea to always be putting them on medication if they don't need it, thats true, but with rats and some of their ailments its not always easy for the vets to say cut and dry what it is all the time.

 

[user 78]

Rats don't lose balance all of a sudden for no reason. Considering she had already been treated once for an inner ear infection and has a permanent tilt due to that, it isn't such a leap of logic to assume it may be another infection. She's also apparently not grooming as she should be, since she seems has a bad case of mites. All of the facts added together lead to a logical conclusion of possible infection.

I am not a big advocate of medicating in most cases until it's absolutely needed, if at all. Sniffles, sneezes, etc can be due to a thousand different things not even remotely related to a bacteria/virus. But I do know for a fact that if my previously able rat started stumbling and losing balance for no reason, I would put them on Baytril. When my girl suddenly started rolling and circling, and I put her on Baytril that night and got her a steroid the next day from my vet, she recovered within a matter of days and had no permanent damage. Made a complete recovery within a week. My vet also didn't see anything in her ears to indicate an infection, yet it was classic inner ear infection symptoms.

 

[Melissa's ZOO]

Being that Ivy already has permanent tilt, an ear infection is my worst fear. If it was to cause permanent rolling I would be devastated.

I spoke with me vet, he really just goes off of what I tell him is wrong and what I need and we go from there. So I will start Baytril and if it does get worse he will have me bring her in to get her on the dex. He is also going to give me a syringe with the different doses marked.

I agree that medicating for every little sneeze is over board. Most of my girls are over a year and half and I have not had to medicate any of them since I first got them all at 6 to 8 weeks.

I have even had a few with noisy breathing and I just let it take its course with close supervision. After a few days they cleared right up. Except for Rose she went on Amoxi for 7 days, due to labored breathing but she is
great now.


JAVAKITTIE, thanks for the picture that really helps. I definetly need a new syringe as the one I have is super small and now that I look at it I think I am not dosing my dogs with enough Ivomec.

 

[jorats]

I'm really glad that you contacted your vet Melissa.

It's really important that people here do realize that the best course of action is to see their vet.
Self medicating is not appropriate but does help in a pinch.

 

[user 78]

That syringe is a 1ml TB syringe, no needle. So far all of the ones I've gotten have decent sized numbers and marks, not too difficult to measure the meds out.