Sparkles is 1.9 years old or so, and suddenly one morning I noticed that she was moving jerkily and had a very slight head tilt. I got her on baytril/doxy which she hated and would not take, so we switched to clavamox. Dr. Liston was thinking inner ear infection. She didn't hold her food differently or have any signs of PTS. Then a lump quickly formed under her right ear and we were thinking Zymbal Gland Tumor. It never scabbed over, but a polyp appeared in her ear, very quickly too, I didn't notice it one day and suddenly it seemed to be there. Dr. Liston said he could remove it and it's not an invasive surgery, but he's never removed a ratty ear polyp before. He thinks it's relatively easy, but we do know that it could grow back because it's hard to get the whole stem and root out. I worry about a lot of bleeding and if he doesn't have the right cauterizing tool, that's a problem. We sent pics to Dr. Brieger in Montreal and he said he can't say for sure if he can remove it or not, he'd have to see how it's attached. Dr. Liston did see that it's not just a lump of dried blood/pus, but it is attached underneath to skin. Dr. Liston has no surgery spots until Sept 27th, which is so far off. He thinks she'll be fine until then, but if this is a tumor, it won't matter that we waited because it will be the end of her anyway. :sad3: So, we called Dr. Mobarak who has years of experience with rats, and we have an appointment for Sparkles tomorrow (Saturday) for surgery. We don't want him to proceed if it will jeopardize her life. She has a slight URI, and now she's on baytril too (she seems to not mind the banana flavored one mixed in a tiny bit of cat food). She is happy and active and eating fine, but she occasionally tries to scratch at her ear. The lump is the same, hard to say if it has grown much at all. Here are some pics. I'll let you know how tomorrow goes. We're really worried about our sweet Sparkles. 
