Neutered rat with fits/seizures

Question
QUESTION: Dear Debbie,
I would like to ask for your expert advice, please. I have been reading the info available on the RatFanClub with great interest and found it very useful, especially the bit on tumours. I would still like to ask regarding the specific case of my rat Anna, though, if you can maybe advise what you think her symptoms might indicate?

Anna is one year old, and her and her sister have been spayed at the age of 6months. I only have these two rats. 8 days ago, during play time, we found Anna like dead and with eyes wide open in between a pile of bedding sheets. She wasn't stiff, just floppy and didn't move. Breathing was normal. She had fluff in her eyes which showed that she was very unwell, as she hadn't cleaned it out. I lifted her up and she immediately crawled into the depth of my sleeve and didn't move again. I walked around and we held food and her favourite drink in front of her nose, nothing. We raced to the emergency vet who checked her digestion, heart, lungs etc. and found her to be healthy. Over the next days she slept a lot, moved very little and was easily stressed. Ate normally, seemed somewhat constipated. But after 48 hours, she was back to normal. As if nothing had happened.
Then, two days ago, Anna was in my jumper during play time, and I was in the kitchen with her. She was doing her normal thing, sniffing, moving around. Suddenly she raced through my jumper at a million miles an hour, running from one sleeve to the other around my waste, in absolute, life threatening paning. When I got hold of her, she had gone stiff, and I thought she was dead. But we stroked her, and she came round. Eyes wide open again, very stressed. We raced to the vet again, and he found nothing unusual again.
Since then, Anna has again slept nearly 23 hours a day, and during playtime, only hides away somewhere to sleep or avoid exposure. She eats and drinks normally. I've seen her poo, too. She does look stressed, though, her fur seems slightly thin around her face, and her sister doesn't leave her side (which is not normal for her sister).

The vet's assumptions are either a brain tumour or epilepsy. But I'm a bit surprised regarding the tumour as Anna is spayed. Her coordination is good, too, no problems of balance either. She feels warm.
I am ready to start the process of diagnostics with the vet, but am indecisive if to do it right now, whether to wait to see if it happens again, and which route to pursue (x-ray? Blood?). It'll be stressful for her, so I want it to make sense.
Thank you ever so much for your advice, you don't know how much it means to me to be able to turn to an expert like yourself.
Karin

ANSWER: Hi Karin,
I'm so sorry Anna is having this problem. Do be assured that seizures are not painful for them, and just tend to cause some confusion. Have you read the article about Seizures on my website?

A brain tumor is completely different from a pituitary tumor, which is what spaying helps to prevent. I don't think there are any blood tests that can diagnose the cause of her seizures. To detect a brain tumor you would need to do an MRI or CAT scan. The best thing is just to try different treatments and see her response.

A brain tumor can often be controlled for a while with prednisone at 1 mg/lb twice a day. See the article on seizures for other ideas.
Deb

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks a lot for your quick reply! This is very clear. I guess the article on your webpage left me wondering if Anna had actually a seizure, which is why I decided to write to you. I have never seen one, but she didn't spasm as such, but instead raced through my jumper, with actual direction and full muscle control, from one corner of my jumper to the other. She was then a little stiff, but only for a second, and possibly due to shock.
So I guess my follow up question, if you don't mind me tapping into your brain once more, would be:
-are there other reasons for this panick ridden behaviour? (Sorry, noticed the word 'panic' was autocorrected in my question, maybe that made it confusing)
- she is clearly affected for days after the event, and I'm wondering if that would help to understand if it is more likely to be a tumour or epilepsy, or a third diagnosis?
- is the CAT scan or MRI likely to show something? You mention to start treatment without imaging, but I'm wondering whether that's because of the massive cost implications of imaging (sigh), or maybe because of its lack of chance for success?

Sorry to bother you again, and thanks so much for your help!
Karin

Answer
Sorry not to be more clear. Yes, I think these were seizures. They can take all forms. I'm basing this on the after affects, and not just the panicky behavior. But I have heard of seizures taking this form before. I think maybe the long lasting effects is more likely to indicate epilepsy. If there is a brain tumor, a scan would show it, but yes, it is very expensive. So, if it is a brain tumor, prednisone is likely to help, while pred would not be likely to help epilepsy, I don't think.
Deb