paralyzed with respirtory infection

Question
QUESTION: My rat Molly (about 1.5 years old) is sick.  She appears to have a respiratory infection but that is not what is worrying me most.  she doesn't seem to be able to stand on her own.  She has been sort of pushing herself around on her side with her paws and rolling over on her back to move around.  The toes on one of her back paws seem to be sticking out oddly.  About a month ago she received treatment for an ear infection.  During the time she was previously sick her cage-mate (Cabbage, also same age) cleaned her and mothered her.  I have no reason to believe that Cabbage injured her.  they live in a medium sized cage with only one level (plastic) that is about 3 inches from the floor of the cage so any falls she would have taken wouldn't be that far.  She is able to drink water from a syringe in small doses but doesn't seem to take any interest in foods that i offer to her.  Currently I have her isolated in a well padded carrier cage so that way I can bring her to work with me to keep an eye on her.  Is there anything I can do to make her more comfortable or possibly get her to eat something?

ANSWER: What kind of antibiotics was she given and for how long during her ear infection?

I am almost afraid to say this but it doesnt sound good...in fact, I am almost sure to say she may have a pituitary adenoma.   Please read my website, sandyscrittercity.com and refer to the page about pituitary tumors.  See if this describes what your seeing with your rat and get back to me right away.  

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QUESTION: she was given baytril twice a day for 14 days.  It seemed to help and she was gaining weight and got her balance back for about two weeks and then I found her in her little house curled up and unable to move.  your page seems to describe exactly what has been happening the last few months.  at one point I noticed she would walk around in circles until she could grab her tail in her mouth and then walk around with it.  I figured that she was just bored and got her some new toys and she stopped doing that for a while but now that I think back she was doing that same thing shortly before i found her in her house.

Answer
Hmmm....I was hoping you wouldnt say that.  

This job gets upsetting...years of reading about sick rats and me trying to help them just can be so over whelming and now I have gotten so good at it, I can diagnose many rats within the first few sentences when people write. I made my Critter city site to help people learn to identify certain ailments and also learn about proper treatments because of the lack of good Veterinary care for our rats. It has been such a good diagnostic tool that when people write in, I send them to my site to compare symptoms and let me know...it works out well since I cannot examine your rat in person.

So it seems your little girl has a pituitary tumor. The fact she was on antibiotics for the proper duration etc....and baytril is the drug of choice for ear infection since most of them are  caused  by mycoplasmosis anyhow and baytril is about the only drug able to properly treat myco. Steroids are also a good choice to use with both inner ear infection and PTs mainly to keep the swelling on the vestibular cochlear nerve.