Strange illness young rat

[Nyn]

Hi all,

Me and my boyfriend just got two baby rats of 10 weeks old (both females) from a good breeder. We have had then for 2 weeks now and one of them suddenly fell ill. This afternoon she started being very unstable, falling over, and looking disoriented in general. We've immediately taken her to a vet but they are not sure what is wrong as her ears are clean and it is not an ear infection. She is so young that the vet doesn't think it's a tumor. She thinks it's a neurological disease but has no clue what is wrong. Have you guys ever seen something like it? She is eating normally and sleeping as well.. thank you!

 

[Dena]

I would still say inner ear infection. My rat, baby, never had gunk in her ears, no foul smell. Baytril and prednisone should clear it up. Can you just call your vet, and ask them to prescribe 4-6 weeks worth of baytril, and a week of prednisone? Lilspaz can give you the dosages if you give her the weight. She may also have a better idea of what it could be. Check out www.ratguide.com in the meantime. There's good info on ear infection in there.

 

[Nyn]

Thank you for your reply. Well the problem is, she isn't leaning one side at all. She is just falling over and acting very strange. This vet is very experienced with rats, she said that she will give antibiotics if the situation hasn't improved in a week. But I do not know if I should ask for it sooner? I tried adding a video to this thread but it keeps saying it doesn't allow the extension.. if tried MP4, mov and Avi..

 

[Kye]

To add a video you need to post it to YouTube and link it here.. I'm sorry you're going through this- I hope your rattie makes it out okay

 

[Nyn]

Thank you!

This is the link, hopefully it works. And thanks for the sweet words. It's really tough seeing her like this :-(

 

[SQ]

Looks like an inner ear infection to me ..... she is circling ..... which is a symptom of an inner ear infection
the treatment is antibiotics + an anti-inflammatory (metacam, or pred or dex)

I will message lilspaz68 as she is a medical contributor

Make sure she is well hydrated .... she may have trouble with the water bottle (and rats need at least 2 sources of water in their cage.)
A house such as a low box may help so that she can feel the floor and the ceiling so she can tell what is up and what is down.
You may also want to feed her soft food such as her blocks soaked in cool water to make mush, and nonGMO or organic soy infant formula thickened with a bit of baby cereal (in dish, off your finger or syringe feed a drop at a time into the side of her mouth so it does not go into her lungs) ......... and supplement these with other soft foods such as greens, cooked vegs, cooked whole grains, baby food etc

Why is she alone and in such a tiny cage?
http://ratguide.com/health/auricle_ear/otitis_media_otitis_interna_labyrinthitis.php

 

[Nyn]

So she is eating normally, also her normal pellet and drinking as well normally from the bottle. We have been weighing her food to see if she's taking in enough and the same with the water. We've been giving her extra veggies (as we usually do as well) which she has been normally eating.

Our vet (who I swear is specialised in rats) said that it might be better to have a quietly isolated for a couple of days. We have her on two medication right now, one for epilepsy and one for pressure in the brain because our vet is convinced it's not an ear infection but it is neurological. When I noticed she was behaving strangely (which I'm 100% sure I noticed very quickly as I have been with them every day due to Corona and quarantine), I saw that her sister tried to play with her and then the sick rat screamed to indicate her being scared. They normally play very much which is no issue. As the vet thinks it's neurological, she said stimulus to the brain might make it worse and that's why she is isolated at the moment. Normally she is living with her sister in a cage that can hold 6 rats (which 3 floors and plenty of hammocks and tunnels and other things to lie and hide in/play with). On top of that we take them out in the evening and put them in a free range area with a whole card board box castle to climb up and play in.

I've been to two rat vets here in the Netherlands but both didn't think of an ear infection. And I think she was warry of giving antibiotics to such a young rat (but I'm not sure about this). I've called her and she will call me back today to ask if we can start antibiotics still though and if it will have any damage to her health if we do.

Our breeder things she might have fallen during play time in the night that we wouldn't have noticed and she might have fluids in her brain. She asked and showed many of her friends who are breeders this movie and that's what they thought, so I'll call the vet about this as well. But if it is giving no additional health damage, I'll ask her to start the antibiotics just to be sure.

 

[Nyn]

This is the normal cage, just so you know we are not mistreating our rats.

 

[lilangel]

it will stress them more if you isolate them and even worse when you put her back you may need to do intros again because they will forget who their partner was even if they were sisters.

It looks to me also like ear infection, i think you can not see that by just looking in the ears.

here is one video of a older rat with head tilt.

He is not so hyper as a female baby but gives a slight idea. Also when i pick him up he starts trying to flip in my hands due to balance.

Here is another video of a girl rat with it also(my long time girlie <3 )


It can look slightly different with every rat.

 

[lilangel]

Also Baytril should not be used for rats under 3 months of age from what i read so it may need something else, maybe Doxycycline instead. i am hoping lilspaz68 will comment more.

And if it is indeed head tilt the sooner you treat you may get rid of the tilting and spinning but sometimes that just stays with them for the rest of their lives(all rats i had the tilt never left)

 

[Nyn]

We've gotten some Synulox from the vets now which we will give in conjunction with the other medication. Also, I am worried if I put her back in her normal cage and she starts to try to climb she might fall and hurt herself. Do you have any tips for this? I wanted to try and put her back tomorrow under close supervision first to see how it goes.

 

[Nyn]

Thank you again for all the tips. We are first time rat owners but we really care about them and I have grown attached to the little girls already in these two weeks. I honestly haven't slept in two days because of th worry

 

[lilangel]

We've gotten some Synulox from the vets now which we will give in conjunction with the other medication. Also, I am worried if I put her back in her normal cage and she starts to try to climb she might fall and hurt herself. Do you have any tips for this? I wanted to try and put her back tomorrow under close supervision first to see how it goes.

Oh that should help <3 I think she will get use to the cage if she has to live with that the rest of her life she will get accustom to her environment. But if you do see her falling way too much then maybe try finding another cage with slightly less levels and i guess put her with at least her sister so she has a buddy to live with.

 

[lilangel]

or at least isolate her with her sister so at least shes with her. You just may have to do intros with them again in time with your other rats.

 

[Nyn]

Yeah I'll put some extra hammocks in just to be sure so that if she slips and falls she doesn't need to rely on grabbing onto things but she will have even more of a safety net. I hate having her in this tiny cage but the vet said it would be good for her rest for 2/3 days so I am trying to hold myself not pulling her out. She is such an active little one (her name is Ciske btw). I'll keep you posted on if she'll do any better with the antibiotics

 

[lilangel]

most vets say to do that not thinking it can mess up once you try and re intro them back to the clan. But one good thing is females are usually easier to intro back then males.

I wish healing vibes your way

 

[lilspaz68]

your little lovey has inner ear infection for sure, but she has manic symptoms rather than the classic tilt and circling. It wsan't that common in rats but seems to be more now. You need to treat aggressively with antibiotics (you have synulox and something else?). The active infection will be cured but the manic symptoms will likely remain and you will be the owner of what I call a Manic Tilty. They are lovely rats and adapt to their new situation well even if in head waving high speeds LOL. I have a video of an old lady i took in that was a manic. I treated her for inner ear infection as I wasn't sure she ever had been even though she developed these symptoms as a baby and arrived to me at 2 years of age. She was an amazing little girl my Abbie was.

 

[Rocket99]

Hi all,

Me and my boyfriend just got two baby rats of 10 weeks old (both females) from a good breeder. We have had then for 2 weeks now and one of them suddenly fell ill. This afternoon she started being very unstable, falling over, and looking disoriented in general. We've immediately taken her to a vet but they are not sure what is wrong as her ears are clean and it is not an ear infection. She is so young that the vet doesn't think it's a tumor. She thinks it's a neurological disease but has no clue what is wrong. Have you guys ever seen something like it? She is eating normally and sleeping as well.. thank you!

I got ear drops for my rat with an ear infection. One week of dosing and he was fine

 

[lilangel]

I got ear drops for my rat with an ear infection. One week of dosing and he was fine

I do not think i ever herd of drops only for inner ear infection for rats.

your little lovey has inner ear infection for sure, but she has manic symptoms rather than the classic tilt and circling. It wsan't that common in rats but seems to be more now. You need to treat aggressively with antibiotics (you have synulox and something else?). The active infection will be cured but the manic symptoms will likely remain and you will be the owner of what I call a Manic Tilty. They are lovely rats and adapt to their new situation well even if in head waving high speeds LOL. I have a video of an old lady i took in that was a manic. I treated her for inner ear infection as I wasn't sure she ever had been even though she developed these symptoms as a baby and arrived to me at 2 years of age. She was an amazing little girl my Abbie was.

Oh this is the first i hear of this ill keep a look out when adopting new guys.

 

[Nyn]

So

your little lovey has inner ear infection for sure, but she has manic symptoms rather than the classic tilt and circling. It wsan't that common in rats but seems to be more now. You need to treat aggressively with antibiotics (you have synulox and something else?). The active infection will be cured but the manic symptoms will likely remain and you will be the owner of what I call a Manic Tilty. They are lovely rats and adapt to their new situation well even if in head waving high speeds LOL. I have a video of an old lady i took in that was a manic. I treated her for inner ear infection as I wasn't sure she ever had been even though she developed these symptoms as a baby and arrived to me at 2 years of age. She was an amazing little girl my Abbie was.

So we only got the Sylonux as she is only 10 weeks old. We have also been given Prednoral to treat her with and hempone. Thank you for your medical advice! I'm sure my vet has never seen this before. Would you suggest giving her more antibiotics?