Weak/Circling/Loss of some motor coordination

Question
Dear Debbie,

I have a two and a half year old male Fancy rat that is having some strange symptoms. And neither I nor the vet is really sure what the cause is. I'll give you a bit of his "medical history." A few months ago, he experienced a head tilt which I determined was probably caused by an inner ear infection. I took him to a vet in my hometown who agreed with me (though he did not examine him) and give him an injection of Convenia. The problem went away after that. More recently, he began sneezing a lot with a red mucus, and when I researched it, most said it was due to a respiratory infection. So I took him to the same hometown vet who again gave him a shot of Convenia. I thought that he was beginning to get better since he was not sneezing nearly as often. Then, this past Friday (10/9/15) when I came home from school, he had a severe head tilt and had began circling and seemed to have lost a lot of balance/motor coordination. It was an all-of-a-sudden change since he was completely normal on Thursday. I know that the head tilt and circling could be due to an inner ear infection, but I am not sure about the motor coordination. I took him to a vet in the town I'm in (different from my hometown; I am away at school) and he looked in his ears and mouth, looked at his pupils, and listened to his breath sounds. He could not find any abnormalities, which led him to say that it could be a tumor or abscess. He said though that we would treat it like an inner ear infection and gave me oral Baytril at 0.2 mL twice a day for 10 days.

I have been searching and searching the Internet and can't seem to figure out what might be happening to him. He no longer really has a head tilt, but he is still circling. He cannot really walk in any other way than a circle. He stumbles and staggers and falls over. He seems so weak. He is also sleeping a lot (which I thought may be because of the antibiotic but wasn't sure if it could cause that?). He cannot jump and does not try to stand on his hind legs. One of his hind legs had actually been shaking and he can't seem to get it to work sometimes.  And I've read that this could be something like Degenerative Hind Leg syndrome. He has a desire to eat Cheerios, but I have to soften them with water because it seems that he doesn't have the strength to bite them, and also he can't seem to use his front paws to help hold his food.  (They are not balled into fists though. It just seems like he doesn't have the strength or perhaps the balance to get them up to his mouth.) I tried to get him to eat crushed pellet food, but he was really uninterested. Do you suggest getting soy powder baby formula to ensure that he's getting enough nutrients? I've been trying to give him water, but he is not interested most of the time. I can get him to drink some PediaLyte though.

I'm sorry this was a lot of information. He just has a very weird combination of symptoms that I can't seem to figure out what it could be. There are so many options: inner ear infection, stroke, brain tumor...and his symptoms do not seem to fit one category. Do you think that perhaps a tumor could be causing all of his symptoms? Or is it some type of infection that can be cured with medications? I understand that he may die, but I just want to know if he has a chance to live.

Thank you so much in advance.

Answer
Hi Amanda,
Unfortunately, poor coordination in an older rat is almost always a pituitary tumor. You'll find more info including treatment on my website at www.ratfanclub.org in the section about pituitary tumors in the Tumors article. I have found that amoxicillin will often temporarily shrink a PT and perhaps the Convenia does as well.

Also, for future reference for both you and your vet, when treating rats with antibiotics, the treatment usually needs to continue for at least 2 weeks for bacteria other than mycoplasma, and for at least 6 weeks for myco. Otherwise you risk a relapse.

Good luck.
Deb