pituitary tumor in male rat?

Question
QUESTION: Hi, my name is Jennifer and I own a 7 month old male rat I call Gitigan. I have become very worried about him and fear the worst. He is showing signs of what I believe to be a pituitary tumor. He is lethargic, unco-ordinated, he rests his head on my hands, he has head tilt and has trouble eating on his own. (I have to feed him from my hands/fingers or he can't find the food and rubs the tilted side of his face in it). He falls over when he grooms himself, and has had minor head tilts in the past, but never like this. He was very good with using a designated pee-pad, now he just goes where he lays. He is usually a very active and playful male rat, now he just wants to sleep and lay down in a dark place under my shelf or under my blankets. He was always alert and ready to greet anyone who came into my bedroom, now he just ignors them, even me... Please help.

ANSWER: Hi



Lets start with being positive and saying he may have an inner ear infection.  Treatment consists of antibiotics and steroids. The two mimic each other (Pituitary adenomas and inner ear infection) and here is why:  They both cause pressure on the vestibular cochlear nerve which controls equilibrium. This causes head tilt and of course loss of coordination.  When they are dizzy they obviously cannot stand up straight to eat and they would indeed require help with feeding if he were that dizzy.  Has he been put on medications yet by a vet? If not, be sure he is given steroids.  Some vets like metacam which is simply a glorified ibuprofen and it takes too long to help with inflammation.  Some vets also jump to conclusions and assume the worst, forgetting inner ear infection can act like this and instead, talk the owner into putting the rat to sleep, which is horrifying to me that the rat dies for nothing since inner ear infection can be treated, it just takes time and patience.  The longer the rat was sick with it without treatment the longer recovery takes but he WILL recover if it is inner ear.

I prefer to start there and take it one day at a time, giving him the antibiotics and steroids, feeding him baby food and recording his progress.  

Can he use his front paws to grasp and hold food or hang on to bars etc? This is important to know.


Also, the vet.....is he exotic vet that is board certified or just a general DVM that sees rats?
I will check back throughout today so please let me knoow if you need names of good vets in your area and what your location is if you need me to give you some names.

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


Head Tilt   QUESTION: No he has not seen a vet due to money issues, but I am waiting for a job responce. As for holding onto things, he dosnt bother. All he has been doing is sleep.
I have no idea about vets here. I live in Niagara Falls ON.

Answer
He is beautiful. I love his color!  

I am hoping its inner ear infection so lets hope so since PTs are fatal. The only way we will know for sure of course is treatment and if he responds over time.

Way way to know for sure if its a PT is because he will lose the ability to chew and swallow and the foods will run out his mouth, he wont be able to eat due to difficulty with chewing and also may not be able to swallow. Sometimes loss of the use of their front paws is a key sign of a PT too but can occur with inner ear infection too.



As for the vet, is it easy for you to go to the states to NY ?