Ear Infection or worse???

Question
QUESTION: Hi Sandra,

Currently one of my 4 boys is sick and the vet didn't really give me a certain diagnosis. Fred is a 20 month old male. I noticed on the 30th of April that he was really out of it when i was calling up from the bottom of his cage. it was almost as if he couldn't hear me. so i opened the top part of the cage and reached down into the bottom and he was startled, which i found strange because 1)he always runs up to the top of the cage when i call him and 2)i made a bunch of noise opening the cage and either didn't hear or didn't care from being so sick. when i took him out he was very disoriented and would walk in circles and fall over. i made a vet appt. for the following morning. upon the vet's exam, she watched him walk around and said that she couldn't be 100% sure it was an ear infection because he wasn't tilting to just one side. he was just generally disoriented and extremely lethargic. he kept scratching at one ear though and would react in pain when i would pet him behind the one ear but not when i pet behind the other. he would also not sit up to eat but would use one hand to brace his food (all he would eat were his treats)whilst laying down. the vet wasn't sure if it was an ear infection or pituitary tumor. she said if he responded to the antibiotics it was an ear infection. today is day 4 of taking antibiotics and his gait has improved greatly, he can eat his treats like normal (standing on his hind legs and holding it in his front paws) but his appetite still isn't that great. he'll eat baby cereal and pureed baby food veggies but not his lab block. he'll occasionally drink some pedialyte but not water. so he's improved but not completely. I was just wondering what you thought it might be and what i should do. also, is an ear infection contagious, he's in quarantine but i'm still concerned. i'm starting to get paranoid and think all my boys r sick. i appreciate your time. thanks.

kayleigh and fred

ANSWER: Please check out my website, sandyscrittercity.com and refer to the page on both pituitary tumors and also ear infections/head tilt.

For starters, is your boy on steroids? If not, this is the KEY to your rats recovery. Whats going on is the rats vestibular cochlear nerve is all inflamed and the steroids will help reduce this inflammation. Antibiotics are important too, but steroids play a very important part in the recovery as well.  

It doesn't sound like a PT to be honest, esp since he is using his front paws. Again, go over my site and the page on pituitary tumors  to compare symptoms etc...

Also, please put your boy with his cagemates. This  is stressful as it is, and to make him live alone will only put added stress on him. Stress compromises the immune system which is something NO rat needs. Ear infection are NOT contagious. And for other readers, please do NOT make your rat live apart when he or she is sick.  Rats are most contagious BEFORE they show signs of illness, so its not even helping if you separate them anyhow.

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

QUESTION: thanks for your response. i have a follow up question though. fred and my other boys all fight each other when i have tried to put them together. they've been separate for awhile. he used to live with bear, the rat i bought with him but after i was told to separate bear because he had a skin condition that turned out to be lice. i only had three at the time but after i treated all of them and tried to put bear and fred back together they would get in really bad fights. i had someone who works with rats tell me that if i tried to put them back together i would have a dead rat on my hands. i obviously love them very much and want what's best for them so i just don't know what to do now. i want them in pairs. i bought wilbur recently to be a buddy to george whom i bought 4 mo. before wilbur and george attacked him when I attempted an introduction. i would love nothing more than to have boys together and to have a friend, how can i facilitate this? it's so hard because they all try attack except wilbur who is still really young. i read that they each need 4 hrs. out of their cages per day if they're single. i try very hard to do this to best of my ability. i am a student and do not work so i do have a lot of time for them. i feel terrible now hearing that i shouldn't have separated fred and bear. i wouldn't have done it if i wasn't told it was the best thing to do. i also really want george and wilbur together, that's why i got wilbur but george so hostile, i don't want the baby to get hurt. i'd really appreciate your help. i feel absolutely horrible now for separating the two i separated. they used to be best friends. :(

Answer
Some males are just naturally aggressive, and thats that. Often it can be attributed to poor breeding, but in some cases, even the most carefully bred rats can show aggression as they hit puberty, usually around 6 months of age and older with the norm being around 8 months.  Example?
My three boys. Bred by a reputable breeder, my boys, who are brothers, loved each other for months. One day, they went at each other as if they were   total strangers. They were standing up, circling each other, screaming, hissing, clawing...it was awful. That was 4 months ago.  Yes they now live apart.  I had them in a big three story cage and now this cage is divided into three smaller cages.  I have a ferret nation that I am going to convert into two cages and I guess they live apart from now on.  They even fight through the cage bars!!!  Neutering is an option, however, but since I moved away from the ONLY VET I EVER TRUSTED, I am not aware of any vets locally that I would want to neuter my three beloved boys.

Do you have a  good vet?