Re: My Pet Rat

Question
Prior to receiving your response to my question regarding my rat, I did another exam on her to see if she was improving...it appears she is in fact getting worse.  On examination, I found that she cant get to her bowl to feed on the grains that are in there, nor has she chewed on the treats that i put in her cage.  I had filled up her water bottle yesterday, and she hasnt been been touching it.  

I did then receive your reply regarding the ear infection and the pituitary tumor...in response, i dont think she has much use of her from paws right now...as she hasnt been able to stand on them longer than a second.  all she wants to do is sleep....please see below for the complete list of symptoms...

- thin
- loss of appetite
- falling over
- cant stand on all 4s
- when held, is very lethargic
suspect dehydration as she isnt drinking  much in the past couple of days
- is not holding anything.

I dread that it is what I think it is, as i love this little girl..


Answer
I do not like the fact she has lost the use of her forelimbs at all, either.  This concerns me.
Its worth a try to treat it as an inner ear infection and see if she improves with steroids or even metacam.  I am not wild about metacam but it can be like pulling teeth to get some vets to prescribe steroids. They have this crazy misconception that the steroids will cause the rat to develop some super infection that is fatal since LONG TERM steroid use can weaken the immune system.  This is true when your talking months and months of steroid use in high doses, but for a 10 day period and if it helps a terminal rat who cares if it weakens the immune system? The benefits outweigh the risks.  A really good vet that is educated on rat care will not hesitate to give prenisone to a rat that truly will benefit from it and in her case, she may show a nice improvement on it.

Please let me know how things go. I am hoping for the best.