My best friend shocktart

Question
First of all, I would really like to thank you for putting
your information online like this. I'm relatively new to
owning pet rats, but I've done a lot of research. One of my
five rats, Shocktart, started leaning her head to the left
side recently. I thought nothing of it because it was so
slight, but it has progressively gotten worse. I was
wondering if you had any advice. I'm not sure if this is
important, but she is a feeder rat, not a dumbo.

Thank you so much,
Shannon

Answer
Hi Shannon

I am not real sure what you mean by the fact she is a feeder rat and not a dumbo?  It would not matter either way, feeder rat, dumbo, standard eared, bred by a hobby breeder for personal use or from a large breeder mill for the pet trade...tilting to one side is not normal no matter where the rat comes from.

Your little girl may be coming down with an ear infection. She might start to walk in circles, sometimes going the direction the way they are tilting. She may also start to walk backwards or even spin around and around like she is confused.   I do think its a good idea to start her on antibiotic therapy as soon as possible so you can really stop it before it gets worse.  The longer the rat has head tilt the harder it is to get rid of.  Your vet needs to give your rat antibiotics, usually baytril, and a steroid injection along with metacam or daily steroids, which comes in liquid form.  Do you have a good exotic vet or just a vet that sees exotics but is not a board certified exotic vet?  If not, please let me help you find one for her.


Here is my website and the page about head tilt.

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