Dusty - he's awake! surgery went well

[mamarat2]

Dusty rat has been fighting an ongoing ear infection for QUITE a while now that we just can't seem to make it go away. Long story short we have been through about every oral antibiotic we could think of along with ear drops and even combination of them. He is on ab's for a while and it comes back, yes while on abs, we think it is just in a bad part in the ear where the ab's do not act on it well. Hence he has recently (last month or so) been on an enzyme ear flush that has kept it tapped down. He has perpetually smelly ears, even when on treatment.

Last night I found that he had blood in one of his ears. Called my awesome vet and she said that I could bring him in last night but really she would not be able to seriously tell what it was because of their tiny ear canals, she tenatively suggested he might have scratched it to cause the ear to bleed. It really didn't look that way, anyway we continued with the ear enzyme stuff last night, she said it should help even with the bleeding. I also put him back on one of his oral antibiotics that I have had for him in case the infection has progressed further and damaged his poor ears.

Also gave him some pred last night in case it is causing bad inflammation too tap that down.

I guess I am wondering if anyone has any thoughts/suggestions/past experiences? If it continues he will be seeing our vet tomorrow.

 

[Melissa's ZOO]

I know dogs get yeast infections in their ears, can rats? My Dazie gets it when she swims in the lake and I have to use ear drops called Tresaderm.

Her ears will smell awful and will be hot and hard. She shakes her head a lot causing her to rupture her ear drum and bleed.

 

[mamarat2]

I know dogs get yeast infections in their ears, can rats? My Dazie gets it when she swims in the lake and I have to use ear drops called Tresaderm.

Her ears will smell awful and will be hot and hard. She shakes her head a lot causing her to rupture her ear drum and bleed.

Ahh we have tried tresaderm also. To date psuedomonas was last grown out of his ear (I work in a BacT lab).

Didn't realize the ear drums could rupture and cause bleeding from lots of shaking, he does that alot when he gets drops.

 

[Melissa's ZOO]

Yeah, it is very possible that he is shaking so hard it has ruptured. Dazie will shake her head so hard she will fall over or stumble.

I would metion it to your vet as a possible cause and see what they think.

 

[jorats]

No clue... weird though.

 

[LA]

The only thing that I can think of is that if he had an infection for a long time maybe it could lead to bleeding. Not sure though.

 

[mamarat2]

I thought I'd just add on to Dustys' thread since its halfway related to his ears. He has a very large tumor on his left front side (armpit) that very much feels like a mammary tumor. I have not yet had it removed due to his ongoing ear infections and I am very worried that if we have the surgery done the "ear" infection will pop up in his incision too. The vet halfway agreed with me that he has so many other issues we don't want to put him through surgery. Dusty still gets around really well. He loves his hammy lounging and can still get in and out and clean himself, he can still even jump when he *wants* too! I guess I just feel so horribly guilty for not removing this tumor, but I don't want the poor man to succomb to some nasty infection from the surgery. Dusty is well beyond 2 yrs, he is about 28 months...and now with his ear issue of the bleeding, more problems. I just hope I am doing the right thing for him by not taking the tumor off.

 

[jorats]

That has to be the hardest decisions. Weighing the pros and cons of surgery.

I'm glad that he's still hanging tough and being a good trooper. :heart:

 

[Ratgirl@RatRitz]

Long story short we have been through about every oral antibiotic we could think of along with ear drops and even combination of them.

Do you mind listing them for me?

 

[mamarat2]

Oral meds:
Baytril
ditrim
baytril/doxy
sulfatrim

Drops:
gentamicin (eyes drops as they are less prone to having allergic response in ear)
tresederm
animax
baytril otic
amykacin & hydrocort drop

ear wash in an attempy to keep them clean without abs
chlorhexiderm
zymox- enzyme "balancer" for dirty ears
zinc otic - enzyme "balancer" for dirty ears
betadine


I'm sure there are a few other kinds of ear drops we have used, I have had to throw some expired stuff out lately. All of these were either used separate or in combination with each other (oral/drops) to date the best we ahve found has been keeping him on oral ditrim, which he is now back on and the blood from the ears is not visible. I work in a bacteriology lab so a few months back we ran an antibiotic sensitivity and the baytril and ditrm were effective.

My vet also recommended keeping him on herbs to boost his immune system which he's been on.

 

[Ratgirl@RatRitz]

There's a combination of antibiotics that I use here which don't seem to be listed, maybe you could try them? Just if you want another option to look at, assuming you haven't already looked at these.

Not sure if the brand names will be the same but over here they are called Synulox (clavulanate-potentiated amoxicillin) and Antirobe (clindamycin). I've used this combination a few times now to treat some nasty infections with very good results.

I also recommened it to a friend of mine when a boy she had was found to have osteomyelitis of an ear bone ... now I think of it, his symptoms were actually very similar to what you're seeing ... happily his infection cleared up nicely with this combo after weeks of lurking.

 

[mamarat2]

Would that be oral meds or drops?

 

[Ratgirl@RatRitz]

Oral meds. Synulox is available as 'palatable drops' or tablets, and Antirobe is capsules which can be split open and divided into doses. Antirobe is impossible to disguise in anything, it tastes foul. If you decide to try it, you'll have to use the mean syringing method to get it into Dusty.

 

[mamarat2]

Oral meds. Synulox is available as 'palatable drops' or tablets, and Antirobe is capsules which can be split open and divided into doses. Antirobe is impossible to disguise in anything, it tastes foul. If you decide to try it, you'll have to use the mean syringing method to get it into Dusty.

I haven't checked rat guide to see yet, but do you have rat sized doses for these? I'll give my vet a call Friday, she is not in until then, the one we reallylike.

 

[Ratgirl@RatRitz]

Sorry, I should have mentioned the doses

RatGuide has the dose for synulox ... under clavamox if I recall. I actually use a higher dose here than is listed in RG. The tablets are 50mg and I usually use 1/4er of a tablet twice a day for an adult male (roughly 400g-600g).

Antirobe rat doses aren't listed anywhere as far as I know. The dose I use for an adult male is 1/3rd of a 25mg capsule twice a day. If the infection is very bad I will sometimes increase that to 1/2 a capsule twice a day. You should be able to work something out with that I think?

Good luck! I think it's worth a shot *crosses fingers*

 

[user 78]

According to alot of the info I've read, it's not uncommon for the tympanic membrane to rupture in severe middle and inner ear infections.

I had a look at Ratguide's info on the meds used for inner/middle ear infections.. Maybe try Zithro or Amoxy orally in addition to the Baytril?

 

[mamarat2]

According to alot of the info I've read, it's not uncommon for the tympanic membrane to rupture in severe middle and inner ear infections.

I had a look at Ratguide's info on the meds used for inner/middle ear infections.. Maybe try Zithro or Amoxy orally in addition to the Baytril?

My vet is in Friday, going to talk to her and see if we can get his meds switched up again. Thanks for the input all around.

 

[mamarat2]

After much consideration, I have scheduled Dusty for a lump removal on Tuesday. I called the vet today to confirm that she is willing to do it. Its at least doubled in size this week, and both my husband and I are concerned about the amount of blood flow to the tumor. We figure we should try to get it taken off before (quite literally) it kills him. For now he is on his oral abs and the ears are under control. Lots of thoughts and prayers needed that he survives the surgery Tuesday.

 

[LA]

Aw Dusty Rat.... my thoughts and prayers are with you. Good Luck Little Guy

 

[mamarat]

Good thoughts to you, little guy. :tumkiss: