my rats ear smells funny

Question
ive noticed that my rat zoey's left ear smells gross. and the other ear smells fine. does that mean she has an ear infection? she doesn't act weird at all or even have the symptoms of an ear infection but her ear smells really bad. i have two other rats and their ears dont smell like anything. So it has me worried. I think im going to clean it tonight but i doubt that will get rid of the smell. She is younger and she is only 6 months old.
thanks,
laura

Answer
Hi Laura

Ya know this is ironic because just last week I was lovin on one of my rats and whoa! His right ear was enough to knock your socks off. I put him on baytril and within 5 days the odor was gone. Being that it is usually mycoplasmosis being the culprit, baytril is the drug of choice and the duration should be no less than 21 days.

You are looking for the typical dreaded head tilt and circling and spinning when the rats walk that results from an infection that inflames the inner ear or the vestibulo-cochlear nerve (the eighth cranial nerve), which connects the inner ear to the brain. Vertigo, dizziness, and difficulties with balance, and of course, head tilt, may result. This is inner ear infection.
There is a difference in the way the ear can be infected.
It can be inner ear, middle ear or outer ear, which would be more like swimmers ear (infection in the ear canal)

What your rat may have is middle ear infection, like my rat had.
Middle ear infection is not to be confused with inner ear infection and these infections usually do not cause head tilt etc..but instead, the rat may itch and pull the ear, you may notice discharge from the ear and also notice the foul odor that you notice.

Treatment is as stated above, which of course means Vet time.

ALot of rat sites that are written by the average rat owner often leave infection of the middle ear out when talking about ear infections so we often overlook it unless we see them walking funny and leaning to one side.

Hope this has helped.