Delilah's Inner Ear Infection - RIP sweetie

[Joanne]

But the little stinker will NOT take her clav. She pushes the syringe away as soon as I push down the plunger.... EVERY TIME! Little bugger!!!

Sometimes I wonder if certain medications make them feel awful (just like us!). Maybe she has a reaction to the penicillin? I'm glad she's feeling well enough to push it away!

 

[Kibble]

If clav is penicillin, then it tastes foul beyond belief. Penicillin is easily the worst thing I have ever had to swallow, and my mother used to chill it, add sugar, and give me a peppermint. Baytrill has a bitter aftertaste, but penicillin is like the devil's used car oil.

 

[Godmother]

So glad that she is doing better on the Dex, poor sweetheart. If she hates the Clav, it might be giving her an upset stomach. Anything is worth it if it makes her infection go away, though, and maybe some between-dose probiotic will help.

Fingers crossed for her continued recovery!

 

[SQ]

if she will not take clavamox, you could try clorpalm

 

[crumbilina]

Someone didn't leave the coziness of her hammock today >.< So when I got home I offered her something different - sweet potato and turkey baby food. She had 6cc's. I guess I will just have to keep changing things up. As always though, she loves her puffs.
Tonight she only had 1cc of baby cereal and ensure. I wonder how I can spice that up and get her to take more...

I got her to take her clav. tonight My trick now is to get it in her mouth and when she stores it in the cheek pockets to lightly blow in her face (lightly!!!). She then chews and swallows. Then I hold her so she can't wipe her chin on the ground. She is forced to groom hehe,
I feel so mean.

SQ: I thought about changing to chlorpalm... I feel like the clav and baytril aren't doing anything for her. I decided to give it a week and see if she improves. If the tilt gets better then I'll continue with what I have. If not, I'll try chlorpalm.

I just have to remember though, this might not be an inner ear infection. Could be something else effecting the inner ear.

 

[crumbilina]

PS: Thanks for all the well wishes everyone. I think they are making her feel better

 

[crumbilina]

GAH!
Rolling again!!

Not as severe as the rolling was before the dex shot on monday, but she is indeed rolling. Gave the vet a quick call and we have upped the dosage of Dex and I was instructed to give an additional dose tonight. I really hope that her stomach is ok.

Poor girl. Not sure what I can do at this point. I'm coming to the conclusion that this isn't an ear infection. She has been on the baytril + clav since wednesday last week. Thats a week ago! And she has shown no improvement. *sigh*

I wish I could make her normal again :-/

 

[lilspaz68]

Ohh poor sweet Delilah

 

[hopefloats]

I am sorry.. I will keep my fingers crossed for your girl ...and extra hugs to you.

 

[mamarat]

Poor baby.

 

[crumbilina]

Just a quick update:

Delilah was rolling a bit when I got home from work. Gave her the dex and she seems to be ok now. I didn't disturb her too much, she is sleeping in her hammock.
She is eating the baby cereal and ensure and puffs, but not much else. I want to encourage her to eat lab blocks... but i think ill have to wait until we have stabilized her on the dex.

Anyway, no improvement really, but also no decline beyond what was dealt with last night when we increased the Dex...

 

[*Rebel_Angel*]

Keep getting better Delilah!

 

[SQ]

Try clorpalm

 

[crumbilina]

Another quick update (been super busy!!!):

Delilah seems to be about the same still. I lowered her dose of dex experimentally to .08cc's 2 times a day. She seems to be ok as of right now (1st day at that dose). I will watch her tomorrow.

She IS eating on her own, mostly junk like nutrios and corn puffs, but i have seen her eat some lab block as well. I just make sure that they are small pieces for her. So thats good. I let Lily come and see her today on my lap... Delilah seemed happy to see her for the first couple minutes, then she started to get stressed out and began rolling and whatnot so I put Lily back and snuggled Delilah.

She was doing this strange thing where I would be petting her and then she would start to nibble at my arm or chew my shirt... weird. Her back half of her body trembles as well, but this could be her trying to gain her balance... or it might not. I'm not really all that sure what it all means. My mind is very tired right now.

I talked to Dr. G. on friday about switching to chlorpalm. He told me to wait. He thinks that it might not be an inner ear infection OR that we are at a point where the inner ear needs time to drain *sigh*. Basically though, if she isn't looking better by monday, he wants me to take her off the dex and just try the antibiotics alone (he is concerned about her immune system being too compromised from the Dex to fight off the infection). Not sure how I feel about that right now, BUT deal with it as it comes right?

bleh. I hate not being able to do a thing.

Ill try and get some pictures of her tomorrow... I haven't posted pics of her pretty face in a while. Maybe I can get a video as well.

 

[mamarat]

I know with PT the rat will nibble on anything that's close to their mouths and if they're in pain they will do this too. My vet won't give Dex for an ear infection either, just Baytril. Sending good thoughts to your sweetie.

 

[crumbilina]

I know with PT the rat will nibble on anything that's close to their mouths and if they're in pain they will do this too. My vet won't give Dex for an ear infection either, just Baytril. Sending good thoughts to your sweetie.

Crud, this was my fear.
I don't think it is a PT because, although she is very tilty, she still passes the cheerio test. But, you know when you have that inkling that something "else" is up? I get that with her. I hate that feeling because it is usually right... I just have no idea what else could be going on.

Her chewing could very well be a result of pain. You can feel the little muscle contractions/vibrations in the back half of her body, maybe her back end is hurting her.... it is usually when I brush/rub her back half. I tried lightly massaging her back legs, and thats when I noticed the nibbling so... ick

I just really wish that I knew what was going on, or even had a small idea of what was going on. All I know is that she developed the tilt when she was on antibiotics, after switching abs there was little to no improvement, dex helps reduce the tilt and... well, thats it.

I too, like my vet, feel that this is not an infection but is something else, just no idea what else.

 

[crumbilina]

I spoke to the vet yesterday. We both agree, this most likely is not an inner ear infection... or an infection at all.

By this time there *should* have been some improvement in her tilt. Even though she is on Dex, there should have been SOME result, even if it was subtle from the antibiotics she is on. Unfortunately she seems to actually be getting worse slowly, and I am currently at the max dose of Dex. So it looks like I'm just keeping her happy and comfortable until its time, which, unfortunately might be rather soon.

Here are a couple pictures:

"Delilah! Want a cheerio???"

(think she wants it? lol)

Relaxing in her hammock

And a video... just to show how she really has no improved at all - Its sad too, I hate watching it.


I was home sick today, dunno what is up with my stomach, and I fell asleep with her on the couch for a few hours. She seemed very happy. She bruxxed and boggled for a good half hour. Adorable!

 

[TheRatQueen]

Such a darling face. It's terrible when they have to go through something like this.

 

[crumbilina]

Such a darling face. It's terrible when they have to go through something like this.

It really is, you can see how frustrated she gets from not being able to do what she wants to do. She flings her body around a lot and seems to get impatient when it doesn't land in the right spot/position.

I really can't believe how fast this progressed.

 

[TheRatQueen]

Poor love bug. Ugh. I hate when you can't figure out what's wrong or help. It kills me.