Rat ill health

Question
QUESTION: Hello, was wondering if you could help me regarding my rat Nemo.
She is 1 and a half years old, we are not sure of the breed but she's a gray/silver colour.
Until a week ago she was her usual self, full of energy and life. She has hardly any movement, going very small distances when she does and sleeping all the time. She doesn't really have any balance, although when we pick her up her tail still seems to act as a balance, she also has no grip in her hands and feet. She started sitting in strange positions, its hard to explain but she sits with her back legs stretched out in front of her, rather than sitting on them. She eats and drinks very little (a lot less then before) and very little defecation. She was housed with another rat who she has been with all her life, but i noticed her nose was bleeding so moved her into a separate cage because i thought they were fighting. Her nose still has dry blood on it (i try and clean in with cotton wool and water) but more blood seems to trickle out. Now her eyes seem to have a blood like crust in the inner corners.
Our other rat is absolutely fine so was wondering if you could give us any information as to what you think it might be or what i could possibly do?

Thanks,

ANSWER: Hi Victoria

There is for sure a high increase in this lately...you should check out half of my answered questions over the past two weeks...females, all around this age, doing the same thing and unfortunately I have the grim task of telling you the unfortunate news.

First of all though, to set your mind at ease, your girl is not bleeding from her nose. So many people are unaware of what porphyrin is and it sends them fleeing to the vets thinking their rat is bleeding from either the nose or eyes.  
Please go to my site here and compare photos and you will see that your girl is doing the same thing.

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

Porphyrin is a reddish to reddish brown secretion from an excretory gland, the harderian gland. This gland located behind the eyes, is normally there to produce lubrication for the rats nictitating membrane or also known as the third eyelid. When the rat is stressed out from illness or anxiety from a move to a new home, new cagemate, death of a cagemate etc...they produce heavy amounts of it, even sneezing it out, often leaving spatters of it all over the cage. It may even smear onto their front paws during grooming and if the rat is white, it will color their fur pink.  
This is not always a sign of illness since some rats have it alot but if it is something that your rat usually doesnt have and when they do, they have other signs of illness, thats a sure sign the rat is sick.

Your girl is at the prime age that her estrus cycle is stopping, which in turn means she, if not spayed, may start to produce mammary tumors from estrogen levels skyrocketing. Sometimes though, they also produce estrogen fueled pituitary adenomas, which can mock an inner ear infection. Signs of inner ear infection and pituitary tumors are close to the same in many ways, with the exception of the loss of the use of their limbs and they are unable to grasp with their forelimbs (front paws) over time, chewing and swallowing may become difficult.
There is nothing that can be done about a pituitary adenoma since its hard to reach in a rat unlike that in a ferret or even a human. Vets may put the rat on steroids and gain some relief from the inflammation on the base of the brain, but its only temporary. Unfortunately, this is fatal and it usually takes its toll in just a few weeks after onset of symptoms.  Prevention is to spay all female rats between 3 and 5 months of age by a very skilled surgeon that works with exotics.

Is she also leaning her head to the side?  walking in circles?

for now, you will need to offer her comfort and support, feeding her baby food by letting her lick from your fingers if need be and offer her fluids from a dropper.  I may be totally wrong here and as I always say, I hope I am, but this is classic signs of a pituitary tumor and she is at the prime age.  Again, this is so common that I see the same thing on a daily basis and its really so sad to me to see how common this really is with our intact females.

Do you have an exotic vet?  If not, you should secure one just to have for support in case you need to have her put down. I can help you locate one if you need me to since finding them is hard since so many vets say they see exotics yet are not true board certified exotic vets.

Please let me know after you read my site on the bloody eyes and nose.

hang in there and keep close to your little girl. She needs you now more than ever.

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

QUESTION: Thank you so much for the quick reply, i really didn't expect that! After i mailed you i did a bit of research myself and realized that it was in fact not blood but Porphyrin. I noticed in a lot of cases on the net that it mimicked the signs of an ear infection, although she does not tilt her head or walk in circles. I will be taking her to a vet today and hopefully will prescribe some sort of medication, but i hate to think that she may be in pain and discomfort.
Thank you so much for your time and help
xxx

Answer
Lets give her the benefit of the doubt. I have had rats come back from the brink of death, surprising everyone and ended up living to be close to 4 years old.

Remember, it takes time for the meds to work, esp the steroids.

Also, put her back in the cage with the other rat since you know she wasnt getting bloody from fights. Keeping her alone bay be stress her more, making her already frail immune system weaker.  More than likely the cagemate will nurse her and fuss over her, which is good.