young rat started acting strage

Question
QUESTION: I bought 2 rats at the same time - one hooded and one albineo. (not sure if same litter, but they were caged together. They were babies (recently weaned. After about 2 weeks the albino seemed to be "out of it" and was walking around in circles and acting very clumsy. I thought ear infection - have read about it a bit - but no head-tilting going on. I brought this rat home (these were my classroom pets)to hopefully nurse back to health or let die in peace. after 2 weeks he is still alive and seems better - but his actions are still really strange - like frantically running around in circles, hiding in the little boxes (in cage) and laying in the food dish and also burying it - pushing all his aspen up onto the sides of the cages - he still falls over sometimes,lays on his side especially when held (very cuddly and jsut wants to curl up and be held)and also walks backward! I've named him Norman (psycho - get it?!) but I just love this little trooper and am still trying to figure him out. Oh - he does and has always had a little sneeze - but he sounds like he is breathing fine. We have owned 3 rats over about 21/2 yrs, so we are familiar with them in general.  Could he have had a stroke so young? Is he blind? (although I know albinos are pretty blind anyway) - any ideas? Thank you!

ANSWER: Hi Jennifer

Little Norman could still very well have an ear infection. Head tilt is just a symptom of it but they don't always develop it. The classic walking in circles and being clumsy is typical of Otitis Media. It wouldn't hurt a round of baytril/doxycycline along with metacam for inflammation. If after 3 days he is the same, I would ditch the metacam (its just really a fancy NSAID like motrin but still has anti-inflam properties) I would go for the gusto and put him on prednisone for at least 5 to 7 days...see how that helps.
The classic baytril/doxy to treat a mycoplasmosis organism is used mainly because myco is the culprit of otitis media in rats as well as attacking the respiratory tract, urinary tract and female reproductive tract. Myco= EVIL ! :-(

If this fails, it can very well be neurological in nature brought on by a stroke, but I doubt it...and I would say pituitary adenoma but that is more common in females rather than males since it is estrogen fueled naturally, but they are indeed found in males as well (Two case studies come to mind, both intact males: Casper: 2005 and Skittles, 2002 as per necropsy)

All of the other things you describe such as burying his food, pushing the aspen in one corner, laying in the food bowl etc?    That is totally normal rat behavior. My rats are litter trained yet they go down to the bottom level, carry up big huge wads of aspen in their mouth and put it in the corners over top of their treats. They sleep in the soiled litter box when they have a perfectly clean hammock or hidey house to sleep in. They walk backwards, hop and jump when running about...jerk and flip around like total mad men!!  LOL!  As for his vision, you hit the nail on the head about having lousy vision.  Not just the pink eyed or red eyed rats, but all rats would be legally blind if human. Dark eyed rats see a tad better than red eyed rats, but not much. I have a rat right now that lost his eye due to infection nearly 8 weeks ago and you would never know he is blind on the left side. He has dark eyes (errrr....eye!! )
He is probably the most active out of my 6 male colony, always the one to climb the 5 food fence that keeps them safely in their play area. IN FACT, I found the fool teetering on the top of the fence ready to take a flying leap onto the fan (the type of fan that is high up on a stand) I keep in the rat room to circulate the air despite the fact the room in air conditioned.  I never leave them alone during play time but I turned around just long enough to put fresh food in the dish and there was my "one eyed wonder boy" ready to leap and the fan was ON!  EEP!


Anyhow, back to your rat and his health:
I still would not rule out ear infection. These rats are tricky. A trip to the vet is advised to get on the medication and see how he fares. My gut tells me this may very well be what the problem is, but of course I am not a professional which doesn't say much since most certified vets cant tell you anything more than that as it is without an examination and sadly, even after that, if the vet isn't up to par with rats, you still may not get very far which is why I usually suggest a vet that is skilled with rats such as an exotics vet. If not, a general vet that is willing to take outside advice rather than playing the guessing game is my next suggestion. You probably have your own vet anyhow so this is just me blabbing. ;-)

Hope I helped a bit...he sounds FUN if you ask me by his silly antics!!


Forgot to add this:

PS

Forgot to add about his sneezes.  I dont put much stock in sneezing unless they stop eating, are lethargic and of course have audible congestion in lungs or nasal passages.

Actually, sometimes even with the congested (ok,lets say it: SNOTTY!!) nasal passages, a few more sneezes, even laced with porphyrin (the reddish brown secretions that ooze from eyes and nose when stressed or after a nice lazy nocturnal slumber!!) is pretty normal. Some rats have allergies to anything in the air from dust to another rats dander. I rescued two big bucks from the dog pound several months back. I swear I was terrified to take them out of quarantine because the black dumbo (who was named Dumbo,which I quickly changed to simply "Bo" just to not call the poor think something so UN original!) kept sneezing and sneezing and SNEEZING and the white paper towels they shred to use to sleep on in their hidey house was just covered in reddish polka dots from spatters of porphyrin going every which way from his sneezing. FINALLY I brought both of them in to my exotic vet who gave them a clean bill of health despite Bo's constant sneezing.  I even put him on baytril for 21 days just to feel like at least I tried, and he still remains sneezy. Just today he woke up, spent about 3 minutes sneezing and grooming and getting porph all over his paws and made his white chest like he had on a pink bib! This happens most when he wakes up after sleeping all day.
Totally normal. However, its not always normal so we always advise people (especially the novice rat owner) to bring the rodent in for an exam. Ah-choo

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

QUESTION: Thanks for all that - one more question...
Is there any sort of OTC medication to try for ear infections? As much as I love the little guy, a vet visit for a rat (at the only vet I could find who would even see one)is $60 here, plus whatever medication costs... ugh. We humans can get over an ear infection without antibiotics (we just like to use thme a lot! haha) so is that the same case with rats? I'm really tempted to jsut see how he is - as I said he already seems better (not so much clumsy falling over to one side, etc). thanks

Answer
I wish it were that simple but unfortunately, there is nothing OTC to use other than perhaps trying childrens motrin for inflammation.
What can happen if he indeed has an ear infection is this:
The culprit is almost always mycoplasmosis. It wont go away on its own. Head tilt can set it and it may or may not be irreversible depending on how severe it is. Head tilt can keep the rat from being able to eat or drink and sometimes the animal needs put down because he cannot get around.

I guess since I work as a rodent consultant in the clinical setting I have to say that sooner or later your rat WILL need to see the vet because of serious illness so its best to establish a relationship with one now. I can almost promise you that once you establish a relationship with the vet and he realizes that you will always be around one with or another with your pet rat or whatever, they will learn to trust you are going to be coming back again and again and will allow you to charge your rats treatments but it is getting to that point that can be costly.  It cost me about $1000 before my vet allowed me to charge for expensive surgeries etc...
If you do not have a vet that you can trust with your rat allow me to help you locate one. I can possibly shop around and see if anyone allows you to make payments too. I know once I was in Florida visiting family and I brought some of my older rats with me. I had one that had heart trouble that I could not leave at home with my husband so I brought him. He woke up on a Saturday morning and he was ready to die, I could tell.  My dad offered to take me to his vet (luckily he was a vet with a general practice but he did do pocket pets and he offered to put him down for me. After a brief exam he agreed he was dying and put him down for me exactly how I asked him to do it which was to have him put totally under a general anesthesia gas as if he were to have surgery and to use the heart stick method once he was basically in an anesthesia induced "coma"   When I was checking out (and crying of course) the receptionist whispered that they would send me a bill and for the brief exam, and euthanasia it would be $50. I refused to be billed reminding them I lived in NC and not Florida but she said thats ok, they still send an invoice.  
We buried my boy under a palm tree in my dads back yard.
That was a rarity that this vet billed ESPECIALLY out of state clients who they would probably never see again.  

Anyhow.....let me know if I can help with anything else!

Sandy