1 year old Aramis

Question
Hi,

A while back I wrote to you about one of my rats Aramis.
He was rolling along with having a head tilt.
He had trouble using his front paws and was also seems to have problems to chew.
When we first took him to the vet, he was prescribed antibiotics along with metacam. That barely helped his condition. The second visit the vet noticed He broke a tooth and had swollen cheeks.
I don't know what the correlation could be between lets say pituitary tumor and the broken tooth ?
We we're on the verge of having him euthanized as he was in a very bad condition.
Then as his last chance we asked for Dexamethasone along with antibiotics.
And it worked miracle; as he healed in a very short time.
For a month he was perfectly healthy.  Absolutely no sign of having been sick.
About one week ago we noticed he changed overnight, he was a bit more lethargic than usual and having trouble using his paws and chewing.
So we kept with the same successful formula combining antibiotics with Dexamethasone.
And again after just a couple of day he acts perfectly normal.
My question is:
Are there other possibilities that could cause him to roll and having problem using his front limbs and also impair him when eating?
what about his swollen cheeks? I have read a bit about zymbal glands, squamous Cell Carcinomaor, or could it only be an otitis

If this is probably a pituitary tumor; what would the the long term Dexamethasone dosage along with antibitics?

Sorry for the long read

Thank you,

Dany

Answer
Hi Dany

I am so sorry about your rat being so ill.  The truth is, your rat indeed can have both a pituitary tumor AND zymbals gland tumor which could cause the broken tooth if the jaw is misaligned and would also of course cause the swollen cheeks, too.  Pituitary tumors can also cause the rat to lose the ability to chew and even swallow.  It sounds pretty grim and I am sorry:(  

As for the steroid treatments, they will only go so far treating a pituitary tumor as the tumor will eventually get larger, causing more pressure on the nerves and of course symptoms just get worse.  Its only a very temporary measure to prolong life and give back a bit of quality to what is left of their life, but it is not a life saving measure.  

The only way to know if its a tumor or inner ear infection would be heavy duty antibiotic treatment along with the steroids and if there is no improvement and only progression to the disease, this pretty much indicates its a tumor.  This is only guessing as the real way to know the truth would to have a necropsy done after the rat passes away.  I suggest doing this to many people not only for peace of mind to know what took their rats life but as a teaching aide to both the Vet and the rat owner.  We need to know as much as we can about rat health problems. I look at it as rats helping their fellow rats by their owner having this done after death. You can get your rat back afterwards either for burial or have it cremated. This is not a message solely for you, but for all rat owners reading this for future consideration.


How long has your rat being sick?