Choking

Question

Sophie   Hi Irene,

I have an 18 mth old female called Sophie.  I was away over New Year and the friend who I share a house with, was looking after her and her two cage mates.  I came back on 5th January to find Sophie very poorly and I think if I had arrived back 24 hours later, would have lost her.  She was struggling to walk, had lost about 65g in weight and looked almost emaciated, she was unable to use her front paws to eat with, was dirty, struggling to balance when trying to clean and her mouth was bleeding from broken front teeth.   I was extremely angry and upset, as you can imagine, I look after my girls and could not understand how my friend could not see that she was ill and why they had not done something about it.

I'm not sure how exactly she got in this state, but found out that she had fallen from the cage four times (my friend thought this was just a new way she had found of getting out).  This would explain the broken teeth, but I don't know if she broke her teeth and was then unable to eat, so got weak and had the other falls, or if there was something else that caused her to fall, which then broke her teeth, then making her weak as she was struggling to eat.

I immediately started feeding her on baby food and yogurt every two and a half to three hours, including during the night.  She thankfully, started picking up after about 24 hours, I also started giving her metacam for pain and inflammation and Baytril as a precaution against infection.  I took her to the vets six days later as I was concerned that her mouth was still bleeding on and off and also she was still unable to hold food in her paws (though she was able to clean herself).  The vet checked urine as well as faeces and they both seemed to be OK.  I queried ear infection or pituitary tumour, but he said he would expect to have seen head tilt or eye bulge respectively and thought the paw problem was down to the malnutrition.  He said to carry on nursing her and continue with antibiotics for a few more days.  She regained full use of her front paws a week later.  I continued to feed, adding softened and mushed up rat blocks to the baby food etc, then reducing the feeds to four hourly once she started to eat on her own again, stopping the feeds after two and a half weeks.

However, her weight started to drop again and on hand feeding her hard or firm food noticed that she would start to choke.  I am now feeding her three times a day with soft food, which is keeping her weight up.  I hoped the choking might resolve itself, but after more than two weeks, it is just about the same.  She is finding balancing more difficult than she was, and tends to fall more than previously when climbing around the cage.  She seems a bit clumsy.  Otherwise, she is happy and lively, eating and drinking and active.

Do you have any idea what may be causing the choking and increased clumsiness?  I did wonder if the clumsiness had been caused by the malnutrition?  I have researched online to see if I can find anything about choking, thinking she could have a lump or tumour in her oesophagus but not being able to find any information on this sort of thing in rats.  I'd also have thought that if it was a lump or such, then it would have got bigger and the symptoms got worse, which they don't seem to have?

I've not taken her back to the vets as the vet who I have always seen and completely trust has moved to another surgery.  I could hopefully, find someone else to see her, but am not sure that they could see what was going on without putting her to sleep, and I would rather they did not do this, especially as she is otherwise happy and coping.  And if they did find a lump or tumour, I'm thinking there would be nothing they could do anyway?

Both she and one of her cage mates, Bree, had Pododermatitis as well when I got back.  I have been keeping it under control with antiseptic creams 3 x daily, and surgical spirit 2 x daily.  Just over 24 hours ago decided to use surgical spirit 5 x daily to see if that will resolve it.  There has been some improvement, so hoping that will do the trick.  Any suggestions or comments would also be appreciated regarding that.

Finally, yesterday started Sophie  on a high end dose of Baytril as I think she now has an upper respiratory infection, I'm guessing because she has been run down.

Sorry this is so long, but thought it better that you know the history.  I would be very grateful for any comments or suggestions you might have, particularly regarding the choking.

Many thanks.

Linda

Answer
I'm appalled at how negligent and irresponsible your roommate was!  That is just horrible what your girls have been put through.

Despite what your vet told you, (and please note that I am not a vet nor do I have medical experience) the symptoms you describe in Sophie do sound like either an inner ear infection or a PT.  The following are signs of a pituitary tumor, and also ear infection -- and not all of the signs need to be present:
- weakness of limbs (usually forelimbs first) with trouble grasping and holding food
- inbility to chew and swallow (this may be what you perceive as "choking")
- weight loss
- loss of balance, seems clumsy
- falls off of things such as shelves, toys etc.
- circling and spinning when walking
- head tilt
- protrusion of one or both eyes

You've described all but the last 3 symptoms above.  I strongly recommend you take Sophie to a different vet for a second opinion.  Hopefully, it is an ear infection which can be treated with antibiotics.  If it in indeed a PT, then the vet can prescribe Prednisone (a steroid) to help alleviate the symptoms and make Sophie more comfortable by helping the swelling.  

Of course, there is always the chance that if she does have a URI, there could be mucous that can be causing her to "choke".  You didn't say if the Baytril was prescribed to you specifically for Sophie (dosage based on her weight), so I want to make you aware of that and that it is critical that you give the Baytril for a minimum of 21 days in a row.  If you stop the Baytril sooner, it likely wasn't enough time to kill the infection entirely and Sophie may be faced with a relapse.

I hope this has been helpful and I wish Sophie the best...hopefully it is something simple that antibiotics can take care of.  Please let me know in a little while how she is doing.

PS - Thanks for sending the photo of Sophie.  She is beautiful...I love her colors and markings.