strokes

Question
hi there, i have a one year old female rat and i think she recently had a minor stroke,her head is tilted and i can see that she is numb on her right side, she can still walk, but is out of balance. she is young and i feed her a well-balanced diet which consists of fruit,vegetables,whole wheat breads and cereals..i have been giving her massages on the right side maybe thinking it would help. please what can i do, i love her so much and dont want her to have another stroke..please help

Answer
I doubt it was a stroke, more likely an ear infection.

There are three possible causes of head tilt and/or loss of balance in rats but it should be stated clearly that the single most common reason for a head tilt in a young or young adult rat is ear infection: -

Ear infection - unfortunately rats have no way of telling us they have a little bit of ear-ache until it gets to a stage of causing either balance or head tilt problems. By this stage the ear infection is quite advanced and rapid treatment is essential. The rat may appear to be rolling from lack of balance and completely unable to stand, but if it is an ear infection, getting the rat injected with steroid and on a course of antibiotics will improve the condition very rapidly. If the ear infection was quite advanced the rat may be left with a slight head tilt after treatment, but it is not unusual for them to make a complete recovery with no sign they ever had the ear infection.

Stroke - strokes will have the same symptoms as ear infection, but the treatment will not have the same effect as it would for an ear infection. As there is no way to differentiate the symptoms, a steroid injection plus antibiotics is the initial treatment. The steroid injection should help a bit and the rat may well stabilise enough to continue quality life, particularly with repeated steroid treatment. Quite often they will show signs of weakness of a limb or continued slight balance problems, but they may well live on for quite a while after the first stroke. It is unusual for a rat to have a second stroke and be able to maintain quality of life after.

Pituitary Tumour - again the symptoms are the same as for an ear infection, again treat as for an ear infection. The steroid will help stabilise the condition for a short period of time and repeated steroid treatment can help for a short time, but with a pituitary tumour there is one extra symptom to look out for in that the rat has an inability to hold food properly with their front paws - they will wedge the food against things to eat. This gets worse until the rat stops eating completely and the quality of life goes. Unfortunately by the time a pituitary tumour has displayed the symptoms, there is not much time left.

I hope she has a cagemate, rats need company big time, and if deprived dont develop happily mental wise.