rat head tilt

Question
QUESTION: Hi I have just noticed my rats head tilt yesturday is there anything i can do until i can get to the vet monday morning please help thanks

ANSWER: Hi Tim

Sounds like an inner ear infection. All you can do is keep him from falling by keeping him in a single level cage without ramps etc...and push the fluids. If he isnt eating you can offer him baby food. He needs antibiotics and steroids, not metacam, like so many traditional vets do.


Is your vet a  exotic companion mammal vet or exotic vet?

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QUESTION: i managed to get to the vet and he gave ma "Baytril 2.5% ORAL per/ml * 2.8 Give 2 times a day for 7 days" is that the right treatment?

ANSWER: Hi again


He needs something for inflammation and no, the baytril is not long enough. He should get it for at least 21 days.  


With ear infections, there is pressure on the 8th cranial nerve. This nerve controls the equilibrium and when there is pressure on it, the rat is dizzy and their head tilts to one side. The baytril may kill the organism causing the infection, but it will take some time for it to work on inflammation if there isnt something used to treat it.

I would ask the vet about this. He should be on steroids.  Is this vet an Exotic Companion Mammal vet?  Something tells me no or he would have given something for inflammation At least.  Sometimes sadly in cases like this, the rat takes long to recover and the tilt remains and the next thing the inexperienced vet tells the unsuspecting rat owner is that the rat has a brain tumor and needs put to sleep if he didnt get better from the baytril.  This is sad but true is many cases. Not long ago a girl had a beloved rat that was 2 years old and had head tilt and was walking in circles.They gave her antibiotics for 10 days and nothing else and the rat kept doing the same thing. The vet had talked them into putting the rat to sleep saying she had a pituitary tumor on the brain and so they listened. They brought the rat home to bury her but it was raining outside so they put the rat in the refrigerator to keep it preserved.  Meanwhile they looked up pituitary tumors and found info I had written so they wrote me and I told them to take the rats body to an exotic vet and ask for a necropsy since the rat was still preserved.
A week later results were in saying the rat had an inner ear infection, no brain tumor, no stroke....they were so angry and as it stands they are attempting to sue the vet, which I hope they win, but its doubtful mainly because it was a rodent. Thats sad. If it were a family dog or cat they may have more luck.

So anyhow, please keep me posted and whatever you do, do not listen if the vet says its a bran tumor or stroke if it doesnt respond to the meds and the head tilt doesnt subside in a few days. Without proper treatment it may take months to go away.

If you ask the vet about steroids chances are they will give you some mumbo jumbo about steroids causing the immune system to weaken and can cause some super infection etc...which is not true with short term use PLUS the fact the rat has a fast metabolic rate...their body will eat it up long before this occurs.  Again, education is key and to be an exotic vet you must have training that continues beyond vet school graduation. there are less than 300 certified exotic vets in the world with the US having the most. My state only has 14 (I am in NC) and CA has 47 with Texas having just 22.

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

QUESTION: Hi thanks for your advice i have been back to the vet and after some heated conversations thay have given me 21 days worth of Baytril and some Metacam Oral for exotics 2ml * 1 3 drops a day for 5 days so hopefuly ill see some results in that time period.

Answer
Oh no.....heated conversation is a polite way to say ARGUMENT or worse....all out brawl. Yikes!

I can only imagine what took place: the vet probably said (if you told him where you got the advice from, that is) that I am not a vet and the rat doesnt need steroids and probably added how dangerous they can be blah blah blah. Well its true, I am not a vet, but half of the stuff I have been taught about rat care is NOT taught in ordinary vet school but instead, it is part of what is taught in the exotic companion mammal veterinary course. I didnt pull it out of my....errr.....thin air ::winks::

In fact if you were told that the vets first course of treatment is normal protocol, I can give you a few links from other sites that share the same treatment as I do.

Anyhow keep me posted. Metacam is better than nothing for inflammation at all.  He should start to make some progress in a few days but again dont expect the head tilt to ease up for a bit longer.