I was pretty sure my young rat had an ear infection when I saw that she had wry neck all of the sudden with no other symptoms. I took her to the vet today who thought that is was odd that her head was tilted w/o any other symptoms. The vet seemed to think that the tilt alone was not enough to determine an ear infection. Now I am worried that she had a stroke or has a pituitary tumor or something else. Is it true that an ear infection would have additional symptoms that she is missing?
: For starters, I am so glad you didnt put your rat to sleep over an ear infection. You need a new vet, by the way. Your rat is displaying symptoms of an inner ear infection OR a pituitary tumor. This has NOTHING to do with heart disease at all. Nothing.
The mere fact this vet ruled out an inner ear infection because she couldnt "see" anything made me laugh. What did she think she was going to see way deep in the rats inner ear unless she had some magical tube she was going to look through? Hilarious. Typical story of yet another clueless vet that needs to keep his or her hands off of rats. Your lucky she didnt give your rat heart medication and kill her. Please read my website, sandyscrittercity.com and first refer to the page on pituitary tumors so we can make sure this is not what she has, and next, read up on rats with head tilt and walking in circles.
Wow, your vet had no idea:)
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com A tilt can determine an ear infection - this happened to my little Wizzy and she was given antibiotics by my local specialist vet.
If you haven't already, you should consider seeing a proper vet, specialising in the treatment of small animals.
Some other symptoms can include:
- A slightly red or irritated looking ear
- Maybe you can see a little gunk in the ear
- Your rat won't be acting normally
Does your rat have pink to ruby eyes? (Pink eyes to dark reddish eyes.) Rats with red eyes are known to shake their heads slowly from side to side in order to help them see better. My pink eyed rats do this, and tilt their head to try and see things better:)
You should definitely go back to another vet though, and get this sorted out. As rats are prone to a number of illnesses, head tilting could mean a number of things .... As I said, best to get a vet to diagnose your rattie!
Good luck!:)
