Inner Ears, Bulging Eyes, Blindness?

Question
QUESTION: Well hello; yet again. I have a female hooded rat that is just under a year old. When i first got her (Free off craigslist.com) I noticed she had a really bad inner ear infection (Head tilt, no balance, running in circles, ect. On top of all this one of her eyes looked like they were bulging out slightly more then the other). Brought her to the vet was giving Cefadrops for 2 weeks. Next she was given 3 weeks of another antibiotic (It was banana flavored like the banana penicillin i use to get as a kid but was not it) and yet again did nothing, Finally got the amoxcillan and prednisone i needed and treated her. Although the only improvement i saw was a slight un-tiliting of the head while on prednisone.  SOOOOO I took her to the vet; and the vet simply said that she looks healthy and not in pain and since shes eating and drinking theres probably nothing to be overly concerned as many rats 'keep' their head tilt even after treatment.  However now i noticed that she seems to have developed glaucoma or a cataract in the one and is now blind #determined using a flashlight with no dilating or pinning of pupils# I'm worried that maybe throughout all this treatment she never responded properly to meds; or worse a Pituitary tumor. So my question is: would an inner ear infection or pituitary tumor effect the eye as i described or do you think that it was in the bulging eye is just a coincidence. Also what would the treatment options be for a cataract or glaucoma?

ANSWER:
A pituitary tumor would cause the eye to bulge out but should not really cause blindness. Is she still running or spinning in circles?  Can she use her front paws to hold food and grasp objects?
Is she able to chew and swallow ok?

If she has cataracts which can be genetic. There really is no treatment for them and in fact not to worry about vision loss mainly because the rats are born with bad vision as it is, they learn to adjust to total loss of vision if they have to. I have had rats totally blind and they even learned to use their litter box.

If she has glaucoma, it can be treated with eye drops that lower the pressure in the eyes, which is a cause of glaucoma.



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

QUESTION: Yes; She still is running 'laps' as I call it, Regardless of treatment. Is there a way of diagnosing a pituitary tumor other then just through symptoms? Would an x-ray be of any use in this situation? Also is a PT painful for her, She seems to be her happy self even with the bad balance and running in circles. She has a vet appointment in the upcoming days and I would like to know all that can be done to make a correct and final diagnosis. Also what would be the recommended treatment to inquire about for glaucoma #If that is the problem# when i go to the vet? Thank you so much for this and every answer you have given me throughout my time owning rats.

Answer

Santanas eye infecton   An x ray will probably not show a PT as they only show bone and not tissue. A CAT scan would show it, but its pricey to have done.  Since there is no treatment for a PT, its not really worth the money for the CAT scan anyhow.  Steroids are the best bet and the vet should not worry about the steroids causing the immune system to weaken since PTs are fatal. Its stupid to worry about something that the rat wont even be alive to see and at this point the benefits would outweigh the risks.  However, she may not have a PT.  If she is using her front paws to hold food and is still strong in her legs, she may be healing slowly from the ear infection.  Your vet is not using steroids any more, and she should still be on them, so it will take her alot longer to heal from this.   The eye problem may not be anything more than a nasty infection.

Here is a photo of one of my boys nasty eye infection when he had it.  We had to remove the eye because it was painful for him.  A PT is not really painful for the rat but when they get to the point they cannot chew and swallow, this is not good for the rat and it would be time to consider letting her go to sleep to become an angel.