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Pet Forum / Mammals / Rats / January 2008Rat ear infection?
Hi guys. So last week, Buster started smelling funny. Yesterday, while we were out of town, our son reported that he had a bump in his ear. Tonight when we got home, what he has in his ear is like a bloody scab. I'm going to try to get a pic of it and I'll post a link to the picture so you can take a look. We're taking Buster to the vet tomorrow morning. Do rats get ear infections? What do you do? What else could it be? Any ideas? Is it something preventable? This is totally new to us. I anticipate Buster will need to be anesthetized so the vet can remove this thing. I gave Buster a dose of enrofloxacin tonight, in case it is an ear infection. We can get started early, it always takes a few days for the antibiotic solution to get to us by mail. Any input is greatly appreciated as always. I hope you and your fuzzies are having wonderful holidays. -Marlo The vet removed a polyp from Buster's ear. He got "most" of it, as close as he could to the ear drum. He is sending it in to see if it's cancer. If it is, then a more aggressive surgery will be required to get it all. Gosh, I hope it's not cancer. Poor Butter Boo. The vet is giving me antibiotic/anti-inflammatory drops to put in Buster's ear for 7 days. -Marlo > Hi guys. So last week, Buster started smelling funny. Yesterday, while > we were out of town, our son reported that he had a bump in his ear. [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > -Marlo the smell is what bothers me. when a rat gets very sick, their smell always changes. how is his behavior? normal? sluggish? > The vet removed a polyp from Buster's ear. He got "most" of it, as close > as he could to the ear drum. He is sending it in to see if it's cancer. [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] >> >> -Marlo > the smell is what bothers me. when a rat gets very sick, their smell > always changes. how is his behavior? normal? sluggish? [quoted text clipped - 25 lines] >>> >>> -Marlo There can be a smell with an ear infection. I had a rat with a brain tumor that had started in his ear, and there was a smell to him. Hi ear was smelling icky until today, now it smells better. We have antibiotic drops we're putting in his ear. His behavior is normal so I believe this is a good sign. We have to put him in a separate cage after ear drops because Chuckles goes after his ear like it's a band aid... gotta clean that out, it's not right! Today as we held Buster for drops, he totally squished his ear down so I had to hold it up to get the drops in. Do not tell me that rats are not smart! He knew what was coming. We noticed Chip's smell change when he got sick. Chewie also. I didn't notice a change when Tonka got sick, though, even though he had a tumor in his abdomen. -Marlo >> the smell is what bothers me. when a rat gets very sick, their smell >> always changes. how is his behavior? normal? sluggish? [quoted text clipped - 28 lines] > There can be a smell with an ear infection. I had a rat with a brain tumor > that had started in his ear, and there was a smell to him. Hi again. So last night I put drops in Buster's ear, then put him back in with Chuckles because I forgot how OCD she is. I left the room then heard him squeal terribly. I went in to find Chuckles on Buster, and I presumed she was going after his ear. So I separated them, figuring that if Buster's ear was hurt, he would be okay in a few minutes. But after 30 minutes, he was very still and groggy looking and unsteady on his feet. I lightly rubbed his ear and he had no reaction. So then I freaked out because I've seen another rat have a heart attack before, very loud squeals and jumping around, followed by lethargy and looking sick. (That was Chip. He had a second fatal heart attack a couple days after that.) So I drove 50 miles to the vet for an emergency appt. She couldn't really see anything wrong with him but opted to keep him overnight for morning tests. Well, they couldn't draw blood on him. But they force-fed him some Nutrical to try to get calories in him. He seemed slightly perkier to them today, but he is definitely NOT the same amount of perky he was the night before last. He's just laying around, kind of wobbly when he walks, sleeping a lot and has a tad of an appetite but not much. Not even close to voracious. I have a yummy treat platter in his cage and I've locked the other rats out so they don't get to his stuff, but he's just crawled inside the jeans pant leg and is sleeping. I don't really know what to do. He went under anesthesia almost 2 weeks ago to get the ear polyp removed (it was not cancer). He has lost about 100 grams of weight since then. But he was realy doing fine until last night. Do you guys have any ideas? The vet sent home Nutrical to force feed him and oral antibiotics bc she thinks he may have an infection. Last night, his urine had a pink tinge and he has the "red tears" a little bit around his nose and eyes. Buster is about 2 and a few months. Boy, is it hard having a bunch of rats about the same age.. they're all getting old at the same time. It's driving me crazy and I feel like a total failure, like I'm doing something wrong that's leading to the death of my rats. A mother's guilt. Thanks for reading and any input you may have. -Marlo > Hi ear was smelling icky until today, now it smells better. We have > antibiotic drops we're putting in his ear. His behavior is normal so I [quoted text clipped - 44 lines] >> There can be a smell with an ear infection. I had a rat with a brain >> tumor that had started in his ear, and there was a smell to him. > Hi again. So last night I put drops in Buster's ear, then put him back in > with Chuckles because I forgot how OCD she is. I left the room then heard [quoted text clipped - 30 lines] > Thanks for reading and any input you may have. > -Marlo Buster may have a urine infection, his immune system would be weak after the op to remove the polyps, or it may be unrelated. Defiantly keep his antibiotics going, mine have always taken them best with yoghurt. Also try different flavours of baby food and if he will drink complan try him with chocolate flavour (mine have always preferred that flavour) Ask your vet to test a urine sample as he may have kidney trouble which would require different meds. I hope the poor wee guy gets better soon. Thank you for your ideas. I'm faxing our vet consultant in Minneapolis. That's 7 hours away, otherwise I'd just drive there. Buster is worse today... more weak and wobbly. At a little bit of banana. I was able to force down some antibiotic. His eyes are glassy and he doesn't respond very much when I talk to him. This is killing me. I hope to get some answers from my vet and the consulting vet soon. My goodness, having rats is very stressful and sad. It doesn't help that all of mine are getting old at the same time. -Marlo >> Hi again. So last night I put drops in Buster's ear, then put him back >> in with Chuckles because I forgot how OCD she is. I left the room [quoted text clipped - 44 lines] > different meds. > I hope the poor wee guy gets better soon. Well, I don't really have any answers. The consultant wonders if he was injured. We are going to try an anti-inflammatory. Maybe it's systemic, like kidneys or liver. Maybe the surgery or the eardrops (which were antibiotic/steroid) caused something vascular, like a blood clot. If Buster were a person, I would wonder if he had a stroke. When I'm holding him to feed him, it's all very instinctual, and then it's like he just spaces out or goes to sleep with his eyes open. Buster is declining. He is hardly moving, when he does he crawls around on his stomach. I put him in a small cage so he doesn't fall down the ramps. He does like to eat a slurry of chicken veggie baby food, Nutrical and water out of a syringe But really, this is not looking good at all. He's had 2 ML of the slurry this afternoon. 4 hours ago he had 6 ML of Pedialyte. I think when he dies, and I think he's going to, I'm going to ask the vet to do an autopsy. I'm still trying but it's not looking good. My husband gets home from a trip at 1 am, we'll see what he thinks. I just wonder what happened to Buster? And I'm having lots of guilt like I did something wrong, or didn't do something I should have. > Thank you for your ideas. I'm faxing our vet consultant in Minneapolis. > That's 7 hours away, otherwise I'd just drive there. Buster is worse [quoted text clipped - 57 lines] >> different meds. >> I hope the poor wee guy gets better soon. > I just wonder what happened to Buster? And I'm having lots of guilt > like I did something wrong, or didn't do something I should have. I understand the feelings, but really, it's clear from all you've said & how you've said it that you're doing all you can. Try not to be so hard on yourself. Good luck with Buster. Thank you Michael. It's good to hear that. >> I just wonder what happened to Buster? And I'm having lots of guilt >> like I did something wrong, or didn't do something I should have. > > I understand the feelings, but really, it's clear from all you've said & > how you've said it that you're doing all you can. Try not to be so hard > on yourself. Good luck with Buster. Buster is gone. He declined all night last night. I was sure he'd die between when I went to bed at 3:30 a.m. and got up at 8 but he was still breathing. So I took him in. When I have results from the autopsy, I'll post. The more information, the better. For the next time, in case there's something that can be done. I was watching "Dog Whisperer" last night, and there's a pet cemetery in Arizona. And the caretaker said the chimes always ring when they bury a pet. He said it was the animal sending a breeze from the Rainbow Bridge to tell everyone that he is okay and happy. -Marlo > Thank you Michael. It's good to hear that. > [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] >> how you've said it that you're doing all you can. Try not to be so hard >> on yourself. Good luck with Buster. > Buster is gone. He declined all night last night. I was sure he'd die > between when I went to bed at 3:30 a.m. and got up at 8 but he was still [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > -Marlo I'm so sorry about Buster :-( You done everything you could, more than a lot of people would have done. | Buster is gone. He declined all night last night. I was sure he'd die | between when I went to bed at 3:30 a.m. and got up at 8 but he was still | breathing. So I took him in. When I have results from the autopsy, | I'll post. The more information, the better. For the next time, in case | there's something that can be done. I'm sorry to read of your loss. | I was watching "Dog Whisperer" last night, and there's a pet cemetery in | Arizona. And the caretaker said the chimes always ring when they bury a | pet. He said it was the animal sending a breeze from the Rainbow Bridge | to tell everyone that he is okay and happy. That's a nice story. I hope it's true :)  SignatureMichael Rozdoba - PGP KeyID F0C827CF > Buster is gone. I'm so sorry for your loss. SignatureRatty Kisses Jackie Ably Hindered by The Buck House Crew "Behavioral psychology is the science of pulling habits out of rats." Dr. Douglas Busch I have been reassured by my vet that this was not preventable. It appears there was too much protein for Buster's kidneys to process. This led to the discharge in his ear. The protein was likely from some kind of inflammation, or cancer, or autoimmune problem. So the ear thing was a symptom of the kidney thing. Poor baby Buster. -Marlo |
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