Severe head tilt and rolling

Question
I have a 2 and a half year old female rat, Smokey, who has severe a right head tilt problem and keeps rolling. She had pneumonia about a month and a half ago and the vet prescribed Baytril and Vertavet Paste. She also started bleeding vaginally around the same time but the vet has no idea what it could be since everything feels right down there and her urine test was clear. The vet recently told me to stop giving the antibiotics to her everyday and only give them to her for 2 consecutive days a week. I stopped giving them to her on Wednesday. Late on Thursday I noticed her head tilting. I got in to see the vet on Saturday morning and he said to keep on going with the antibiotics that I already had and he also gave Smokey a shot of Dexadresson.
He thinks its a ear infection but cant be certain. He also said that Smokey had too many multiple problems such as she's not keeping in her liquids and is therefore dehydrated, that her breathing is still raspy and she is still bleeding vaginally (not alot but not mixed with urine either).
I've been feeding her by holding her head up a little and moving around the food bowl. When I do this, she manages to eat a bit actually but if left next to her she's more likely to roll in it than eat it. And this applies to her drinking also.
Its been 36 hours since the vet visit and Smokey looks much worse. More lethargic than ever, large bulging left eye, hasn't drunk anything today even though I tried numerous times and liquids, head tilting to the point of being upside down and constant rolling over in circles. Not much bleeding or pooing (but her poo is very dry). Peed a little. It looks like shes finding it difficult to hold a tiny bit of biscuit too. And in the last 4 hours or so I've noticed that she looks and sounds like shes grinding her teeth.
In your opinion what do you think is wrong and do you think she has a chance of a full recovery? If not a recovery then how much longer does she have and should I bite the bullet...so to speak?


Answer
Poor Smokey.  I am sorry she is having so many problems.

For starters, the vaginal bleeding could be related to a serious uterine infection and it also sounds like she is mycoplasmosis that is causing a respiratory infection.  Am I to understand that the vet is having you dose this rat just two days per week?

If she had pneumonia and is still having problems, she should be on the medication twice a day.  One of the problems with vets that are not really up to par on rat care is that they are clueless when it comes to medicating them, always fearing they will over dose them, which is pretty hard because of their super fast metabolic rate, which helps things accelerate right through their body.  Sadly though, a fast metabolism also speeds up the aging process which is why our rats have a short life pan.  Having vets that are not properly educated in treating rats doesnt help, either, unfortunately.

Your girl should be on baytril, cefadroxil, steroids for the head tilt and inflammation on the rats vestibular cochlear nerve which is the nerve that controls equilibrium and perhaps something to help her breathing like albuterol, which will help open her airways to help her breathe.  
As for her stools being dry, that is due to lack of fluids, which can cause her to be very very lethargic too.  Try feeding her baby foods, add a bit of water to it to give her more liquids. Watermelon chopped up is a good source of liquids too.

The fact she is not using her front paws to grasp and hold food is bothering me. I am a bit worried she may have pituitary tumor rather than an ear infection.

Hopefully though, this is related to ear infection and she will clear up within a few days. The key to all of this is to be consistent with medications and be sure they are dispensed properly.

Here is more info on mycoplasmosis which I believe she has that caused pneumonia and she probably has chronic lung disease which is pretty common after pneumonia.  Please let me know how she is doing. Also, is there any odor or discharge other than blood from her female parts?