rat with loss of balance

Question
QUESTION: my rat lemiwinks has gotten i'll very rapidly over the past few days.  My rat is a female and is about a year old.  almost everyday i will open my rats cage and leave it open so she can freely come out and explore a bit.  I could leave her unattended for a couple hours n she would always stay near or in her cage.  About 4-5 days ago i noticed she was having a hard time climbing out of the cage, kinda stumbling n missing the rungs of the cage, sometimes falling off.  I also noticed she was walking with her head tilted slightly.  she also had red stuff on her forearms, which i thought usually came from the eyes... perhaps she rubbed her eyes or something.. over the next couple days her climbing got worse very quickly to the point where she cannot climb without falling.  yesterday when i brought her veggies she stood up on her back feet to grab the food and falls over.  made me very sad to see her in this condition and i had to move her cage out of my bedroom and into another room so i wasnt watching it suffer..  when i came home from work today to check on her i tapped on her cage which usually makes her come out of her house but she wouldnt come out.. so i banged on her house and picked up the house and shook it and she didnt move i thought she was dead n left the room... then came back a few minutes later and she was out walking around very unbalanced stumbling around everywhere like she is drunk.

i have read some of your other answeres to questions on here and it seems she either has a petuitary tumor or an ear infection.  she does not have stiffening of her legs yet from what i can tell.  i am really in a bad financial spot n cant really aford the vet visit (i kno i read ur avatar.. no vet no pet...) so i was thinking just buying the antibiotics and steroids and skipping the vet exam.  so im wondering which drugs you would suggest.  i read u suggest baytril or something in another post but just wanted to confirm and tell u my situation.  if the antibiotics dont work i'll know its a tumor and proceed with euthenation as soon as possible.  seeing her suffer is worse to me than loosing her.

thnx for your time!
-Dave

ANSWER: I should take the avatar down...with these hard times, only the seriously wealthy can afford the vet I think!

If the vet will let you just get meds for her, you will need baytril and steroids or metacam.  I prefer steroids though.  This is a MUST to get the inflammation down to get the pressure off of the 8th cranial nerve, which is causing loss of balance. It will improve but it takes time so I would not rush to putting her to sleep any time soon unless she stops using front paws, cannot chew or swallow etc...which is indicative of a Pituitary tumor.  She is kind of young for it though, and seems her symptoms point more toward an inner ear infection.

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

QUESTION: ok so if it is actually an ear infection and not a tumour, is there a chance i might have left it too long and allowed permanent damage to occur?  I hope not..  what is the name of the steroid you suggest?  how long before an ear infection causes permanent damage?

and whats with the red dried up residue on her forearms? do you think they are dried up tears like you see on naked rats alot, or should i check her for an open wound?

thnx again
Dave

Answer
The dried up residue is porphyrin from her eyes or nose or both.  When grooming, it gets on the paws and they smear it, and if she is light colored it shows up more.

Read about it here on my site:

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


The steroid is prednisone and no,dont worry about permanent damage.  Just getting the meds to her now is important.  Sometimes a head tilt stays if the ear infection isnt treated right away, but rats can live fine with a head tilt.