rat lymphoma

Question
my girl rat age18 months has not been well for the last 3 wks i took her to the vet exotic specialist as she had a head tilt & porfarin in her eyes & unsteady on her feet a bit clumsy also she was eating with her eyes closed the vet gave her antibiotic inj plus anti inflammatory inj as she had a scrap with her mate the week before & had a bald patch behind her  ear with a minute puncture wound that already healed the vet seemed this had caused an infection, i took her back three days later for another injection in which she seemed to pick up three days later another inj to complete the course still seemed fine, then over the weekend she seemed to go downhill again still porfarin in her eyes head tilt gone, back to vet different antibiotics by tablet this time now noticed small lump under right arm & right leg vet thought lymph nodes up cos fighting infection, after a few days not responding to these antibiotics so changed them again over weekend slight improvement back to vet mon morn, says keep her on antibiotics till finished antibiotics if still not better on friday will do xrays to see if lymphomas then will give steroids if it is lymphomas can they b removed & also is it likely & what is the treatment? snowy has not been ill at all since i have had her, from a baby.
any information that you can give me will be greatly appreciated,thank you

Answer
Your rat has chronic respiratory infection and the problem is, your vet is not treating your rat properly for this.  Rule of thumb is when a rat has a respiratory infection they be treated for at least a full 30 days on baytril, not a shot here, a shot there....its not going to work. She will relapse, and it sounds like she has relapsed now.  The next thing will be that she will get worse and this problem will become chronic, with the end result being lung scarring and damage that cannot be reversed.  Too many vets say they have knowledge when it comes to treating rats and they are totally clueless. Please refer to my site, sandyscrittercity.com and refer to the page on rat illnesses. Read about mycoplasmosis so you will know the proper way your rat should be treated. As for the lumps your vet is feeling....they are mammary tumors, In fact, your girl is at the prime age for mammary tumors. Refer to tumors on my site also so you can learn more about them, too.  The prime age for an intact female to start to develop mammary tumors is usually right around 18 months of age, or menopause age. This is when their hormones start to go haywire, triggering the growth of mammary tumors.  You can go private and tell me the name of your vet, even though your in the UK. Something tells me this vet is NOT exotic certified.