What if a rat doesnt get better?

Question
QUESTION: First of all I want to thank you for your advice.  My family came home, after a six day Thanksgiving vacation, to find one of my 16 year old's beloved rats very sick.  At first I wondered if she had had a stroke, but when I researched her symptoms of being unable to walk straight and constantly falling to one side, I realized she had an inner ear infection.  
I took her immediately to the emergency vet and even though I took the print out of your site it wasn't needed as she was aware of the information already. She confirmed the ear infection and due to red splotches on her paws she thought she also had a upper respiratory infection. She prescribed Baytril along with a steroid.  But on the paper she gave me she put "prognosis very poor" and told me that if she didn't get better within a few days to take her to my vet to have her put to sleep.  
That was Sunday and tonight is Tuesday and I have seen no improvement.  She eats and drinks as long as I feed her by hand and use an eye dropper for fluids and she is very alert, but she cannot walk straight at all and rolls continuously as soon as you put her down.
After reading all the information on these sites I get the impression that even if it is the mycro it can be held in check and that a rat will recover, do some rats not?  
I have an appointment with my vet for tomorrow morning and don't know what to do. On one hand I want to do everything I can to give her a chance at life, but on the other hand it is SO PAINFUL to see her suffer.  Is there still hope?

ANSWER: If it is an inner ear infection she will get better but it takes TIME! The key is patience. It takes a while for the inflammation to come down and this is putting pressure on the 8th cranial nerve which controls equilibrium. I know of a girl that wrote to me not long ago that put her rat down for the same thing and found out her friends rat had it too and recovered all the way.  However, sometimes its not an inner ear infection and instead, it is a pituitary tumor. They act the same, unfortunately, but the rat seems much weaker and they cannot use their forlimbs to grasp and hold food.  I need to ask you, can she use her front paws?  If so, please dont put her to sleep. It may take up to 7 to 10 days for her to really come out of it and start showing signs of improvement.  I am asking you that unless you say she cant grasp with her front paws to reconsider putting her down. The other vet is incorrect and she will heal from an inner ear infection.

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

QUESTION: Thank you for your prompt reply. If I had not gotten it I probably would have put her down.  The vet was in agreement with you because every time she put my rat on its back, she did try to right herself and most of the time succeeded.  Although she warned me that Gizmo, our rat, was on the line of what she constituted, no return.  Although I see improvements in her I also am beginning to see a decrease in her appetite, she wasn't eating a lot to begin with but now she is weaker and eating less.  The vet suggested I buy a specific over the counter motion sickness pill and give that to her on a daily basis.  She stated that if it would help her vertigo, then she would have a better appetite.  So I am trying that.
Thanks again

ANSWER: Please let me know how she is doing.

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

QUESTION: She stopped eating tonight and lies on her side.  I believe she has given up.  I'm going to take her first thing in the morning to have her put to sleep.  I just feel so bad that I prolonged her pain.

Answer
You didnt prolong her pain...you gave her a chance to decide for herself if she was ready to go and if she is, she is making the choice now.
She was fighting to live, just like the vet said, when she would put her on her back she would be determined to flip over again.

Also, did you give her the motion sickness pills?  I didnt want to go against a Vet but I was going to suggest not to use them because the side effects are drowsiness and dizziness, which cant help matters much.

If you think she is really suffering, you can take her to the ER vet and have her put down tonight. I had to let my boy go a few days ago when I found him nearly unconscious and with a faint pulse. It was unexpected although he was 3.5 years old....he had a stroke.

I wanted to share with you something I have learned both as a long time rat owner and also as a rat care specialist: only you and your rat know what is truly best for her when things become critical. There is a spirit in the rats eyes that only the rat owner can see, and a bond that is shared that only the rat owner and rat share. No professional can see that or feel that and no text book in the world can teach it. It is just something that rat owners that love their rats have and that is the ability to see when the spark in the rats eyes have left. When she tells you, you will know, and when that spark is gone, you will know....Its a love we share with them that nobody else can ever understand and it is what makes rats such special little pets.