My rat is sick and I want to know exactly what it is.

Question
I was searching through out the internet to find a cause of my rats sickness and I ran upon this persons' question to you:

"My rat 'Fido' has been spoiled rotten and living happily for the last two years. Starting a few days ago, he started to lose his balance, and act slightly weak, and fatigued. Since yesterday Porphyrin has been coming out of his eyes and nose continuously, and he can't walk, eat or drink by himself. It seems like only overnight he lost ALL of his body weight. He's basically bones right now. The only thing he can, and will eat right now is soggy crackers [which I'm having to hand feed him], and I've been making sure he doesn't get too dehydrated by giving him water through an eye dropper. normally, he runs around the house [not running away] and is very active. Now if you take him out, his back legs lock up and he won't move. He can move slightly, but it's more like a crawl, struggling to even move his feet in the right direction. he's seemed to have lost total sense of direction and balance. Me only being fourteen, i don't have much say if he goes to the vet or not. My parents think it's a waste of money to bring a sick rodent to the vet, and right now, i don't have the money for it.  I wish i could do something, at least to stop his suffering, it's making me feel guilty. Is it too late?

help."

I have the EXACT same problem as this persons' pet rat does and I wanted to know if there was a specific name for this complication in our rats? Are there any home remedies I could use to help my rat struggle out of this problem?  

Answer
If you want to know exactly what it is, you would have to take it to the vet because I cannot see your rat, examine it and determine the exact cause without lab work, x-rays etc...

I cant give you an "exact" answer, but I can give you a pretty good idea.

Your rat has the signs of an inner ear infection. This causes pressure on the  eighth cranial nerve (which is the vestibulocochlear nerve)

The 8th cranial nerve is responsible for the sense of hearing and it is also controls equilibrium.  When infection is in the inner ear, this causes pressure on the nerve which causes the rat to walk funny, often in circles, sometimes arching their back and walking backwards, even doing flips. They may not even want to walk because they are so dizzy.
If they start to lose their hearing, which is very important to rats, they can become disoriented, scaring them, which makes them want to curl into a little ball and be left alone. Being dizzy makes their stomach sick so they dont want to eat.
The infection in the ear is close to the brain. Without treatment the infection can travel to the brain and cause damage, sometimes with vision, other times causing a brain infection that can lead to death.

Your rat needs antibiotics and there are no over the counter antibiotics for rats that will treat this safely.  

You want to know the exact name of what your rat probably has, it would be called Otitis media contributing to vestibular disease.

Your rat does need to see a vet and if you need help finding one for rats please allow me to help you find one in your area!


Sandy