sudden change

Question
QUESTION: I have a sweet two year old rescued female hooded that suddenly seems uncoordinated. While grooming her belly she's fallen over twice. One of her eyes is watery but she shows no respiratory distress. She also wants to sleep a lot, drinks little and has had just a few laps of yogurt in the past 24 hours.

ANSWER:
Hi Cyn

Is your girl chubby?  Sometimes simply being a bit on the roly poly side will make a rat tumble over when grooming themselves.  However, I get the feeling there is more to it than that but without seeing her in person its hard to know for sure.   When she walks, does she walk ok or appear wobbly, weak and unstable?  Is she able to use her front paws to grasp an object such as food or a treat?  Is she using her front paws to groom herself etc..?  


Hopefully this is respiratory related and she may have an ear infection in her middle/inner ear that could be causing her equilibrium to be off a bit. When infection causes inflammation on the 8th cranial nerve, this can cause loss of balance but other signs may be seen such as waling in circles, spinning, head tilt. Treatment consists of a broad spectrum antibiotic, namely, one used to treat mycoplasmosis since this organism is often the culprit with both respiratory infection and inner ear infection. Medication for the inflammation is also warranted and although I prefer prednisone and use it for this ailment, many vets that are not real up to par on rat health and dont understand the way their body works (such as the fact they have a super fast metabolic rate and metabolize most meds much much faster than a cat or dog)some vets that treat all the species and dont focus on exotics tend to think "dog or cat" and forget they are dealing with a rat.   They fear steroids will cause them to grow this fast growing lethal bacteria that will conquer the earth and destroy all living things known to man....

Please let me know how its going!

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

QUESTION: Hi Sandra,
Yes, last night she couldn't use her front paws at all. There was no head tilt. When she attempted to move her legs seemed splayed and she was dragging her belly. She was not a chubby rat at all.
 We lost our little rattie this morning. I just can't believe how fast her condition progressed.
 What could this have been?

Answer
I am sorry you lost her.  I do believe she had a pituitary tumor. I had a feeling yesterday but always hope its an inner ear infection before suggesting it was a pituitary tumor. The classic signs of a PT are using the loss of their front paws. She may have passed fast, but thats almost a blessing because had she lived longer, she would need to be hand feed and would get to the point she could not even swallow on her own etc.     You can read more about it on my site here:

http://www.freewebs.com/crittercity/allabouttumors.htm

Scroll down almost to the bottom and you will see info on PTs as well as photos with a discussion about how it affects that rat.

Once again I am so sorry for your loss!