Inner Ear infection

Question
QUESTION: Hello Sandra, My daughter has a 4 mos. old rat that recently started showing signs of an inner ear infection with the slight head tilt and loss of balance (spinning in circles and rolling).  We took her to the vet immediately and she checked out very well overall and there was no debris that could be found in or around the ear but since the symptoms existed that were of an inner ear infection, the vet chose to treat her: Doxycycline Tabs 100mg...0.05 ml by mouth twice daily for 14 days as it was compounded with a fluid, flavoring, etc.  She seems to have gotten much better and no longer has the head tilt, no more discharge from the eyes/nose and is maintaining a healthy appetite, etc.  My question is how long should it take for her to regain her balance?  We are now at the end of the 5th day of the medication and she is still so off balance I'm scared to let her be on anything off of the floor.  She can sit and clean herself and can walk around but every once in a while still does the circle spins and also looses her balance when walking on a flat surface.  She also seems to be a little neurotic when I try to put her back into her cage...  spinning around crazily, running backwards, etc.  it almost resembles a panic attack.  She was not like this before getting the ear infection.  Could this ear infection have caused neurological damage which might be driving the behavior or is it just she hasn't been on the antibiotic long enough to relieve all of the pressure on the cranial nerve?  Thank you very much in advance for your help!!  I just want to make sure I'm doing everything I can to get her back to her original self :)

ANSWER: Hi Kristin

Sometimes it takes a bit longer for all of the inflammation to go down which is why I always use something for inflammation. In a situation where the rat displays this type of behavior, I would have her on steroids  and a small dose of liquidn valium every eight hours or so to keep her calm.  I would keep her in a single story cage for now to  avoid falls. Is she using her front paws? How is her appetite?  I have a page on my website about ear infection if you want to check it out.

The URL to my site is:
http://www.freewebs.com/crittercity/offbalanceheadtilt.htm     

Also, otits media is caused by the microplasma organism often, and is better to use baytril to fight infection. She is just now old enough to be able to safely take baytril        

I have a little guy here named Smudge who will turn 2 in October. Back in January, he started displaying signs of ear infection as well, only he was rolling really badly and walking backwards. He would fall over when trying to eat. His spirits remained high despite all of his troubles.  Many types of medications later, his head tilt is gone but he still walks backwards and in circles and he is also totally blind in both eyes. We chalked it up to some type of infection in the brain rather than ear infection OR there was some damage to the nerves...we are not sure. If it were a brain tumor he would never have survived this long, nearly 8 months later. He has to live alone in a single story cage and he comes everywhere I go if I am going to be gone over night etc..  His cage is kept in my walk in closet in dim light with a red heating bulb on his cage since it gets cool in there due to the central air conditioning running makes the closet cool. He is well adjusted for what he has to work with, and never seemed depressed leaving a cagemate with  three brothers.  
So basically what I am saying is we usually put our focus on the most common ailments first, treat it accordingly, and go from there. Should any new symptoms develop let the vet know right away, but keep your hopes up.  These little ones adjust to alot of changes and as long as they have a good quality of life, continue to eat, drink and enjoy their favorite things regardless of how pet it is to us, just go with it.

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

QUESTION: Thank you very much for the information and help!  Yes, she can use her front paws very well and she has maintained quite a hearty appetite throughout this whole illness.  She seems to be a little better balance wise and the circle spins have stopped but the "panic attacks" are still occurring, especially if I try to let her visit in her old cage with her sister that we brought home at the same time as we got her.  She has a follow-up appointment at the vet this Friday so hopefully, we'll be able to find a solution.  Maybe they have some sort of rat "valium" that might be able to calm her down but then again, I don't want to give her anything that just makes her a lump in the cage.

Answer
Thats good news the circle walking has stopped and she is improving some.

As for the panic attacks, when else does she have them
As for "rat valium" she can actually take regular diazepam (valium) a low dose in a rat doesnt make them a zombie. Remember, rats have a fast metabolic rate (hence one reason for their short life span) The rats that I have had put on valium for panic attacks simply were more at ease rather than always nervous. A small dose doesnt zone them out like we would think it would do when giving something like that to a small rat.

However, we need to find out why she is having these attacks and if its temp, which it could be. Alot of times, behavior can even be affected from inflammation. Like I said, my rat had an infection slash virus in January and he lost his vision 100%.  

One good thing is at least its not a tumor or she would be getting worse, not improving.