Julia's head tilt: prob. inner ear, but what a challenge!

[Godmother]

I felt sick when I noticed that Julia (not quite a year old) now has a head tilt. I am so scared that she will be like Heather and not recover. Her balance is bad. I started her on Pred and Chlorpalm (don't have any Clavamox to go with the Baytril), then phoned my vet. He wants me to switch the Chlorpalm to Doxy/Baytril. I guess that Myco is a likely culprit.

Julia had never been sick before, so this is a shock.

 

[jorats]

Aww... Godmother, I'm sorry. But with all the head tilts I've seen, the rats recover and do quite well.
Hopefully Julia will be like that too. :hugs:

 

[henry's_mum]

:hugs:
i'm sorry hun...
I hope she recovers.

 

[Dahlas]

I am sorry Godmother......I know how much these little sweeties make us worry. Hopefully Julia will be fine :hugs:

 

[lilspaz68]

Awwww. Deep breath Godmother. Now, how bad is Julia's tilt? How is she acting other than the tilt, is she eating, drinking, etc? Or is she acting ill and moving in circles?

 

[mamarat]

Sending healing vibes to your sweetie. :hugs:

 

[Godmother]

Julia has more than the head tilt. Her balance was off. Yesterday she ate the meds eagerly, but this morning she is not herself. She ate only a little of the meds and she was running around in a disorganized way. Her balance seems better, and she could go up & down the ramp just fine, but I couldn't get all the meds into her. I'll have to use a syringe.

 

[jorats]

How does she react to a treat? Can she grasp it?

 

[lindsayfawn]

I hope she gets better soon :hugs:

 

[Godmother]

Julia grabs a cheerio with her teeth, runs off to stash it, then doesn't eat it. I had a terrible time getting her meds into her this morning. She seemed unable to recognize food, although she would lick some from a spoon if I held it under her mouth.

After a little, she would run up to the spoon and then dash back as if I had offered her a burning coal. She was running up & down the ramp and around, and she would take food into her lair without eating it.

I am so glad that it was porridge day, because that's how I got the meds into her.

I have such a bad feeling about this. Clara was my first experience of an ear infection, and her behaviour was nothing like this. Clara recovered well. Heather's head tilt turned out to signal something much worse than an ear infection, and she died before the age of six months. So I am very spooked.

I'll be trying the meds again in a few minutes, and I will do my utmost to get her to a vet tomorrow.

 

[jorats]

Sometimes it seems like you are describing a PT but then it doesn't. She sounds alert? When she grabs the treats, she knows where she's going with them to stash? Not confused?

 

[Godmother]

I withheld the Pred tonight in the hope that I can get her a Dex injection tomorrow. If not, I'll restart the Pred in the morning.

Porridge again helped to get the abs down her. She was able to grab a chunk of porridge, and later a piece of banana and potato, and I saw her eat them. I think that she is hungry but that something about food detection isn't working well. Maybe the meds smell really bad to her?

I found Cheerios and pieces of pasta stashed in her little house, but she had eaten most of her watermelon last night. She didn't appear to have eaten much of the mushy lab blocks, although she had eaten some baby food.

she certainly is active, though. Very jumpy.

 

[jorats]

Sounds more like a regular head tilt due to an ear infection. Head tilt can cause confusion.

 

[Godmother]

That's good to know. She can't eat hard food, though, which is a mystery to me, and she is clumsy about grabbing the porridge. I think she got all the abs this morning, though, and I have a vet appt for her this afternoon.

She is still active and jumpy.

Fingers crossed for her! I am not ready to lose another one so young.

 

[lilspaz68]

Can or have you checked her teeth?

 

[Godmother]

Never thought to check her teeth, which have always been OK before. Do you think she might have an infected tooth?

 

[lilspaz68]

Its definitely possible...take a whiff of her mouth, look for any swelling, check the alignment of her teeth.

 

[Godmother]

If she is still awake I will check her out and, if not, I will make sure to discuss this possibility with the vet today. It would be so great to know what is going on with her.

 

[Godmother]

Julia is back from her vet visit. She got a thorough checkup. Her teeth are fine, and her symptoms seem like inner ear infection and not anything more insidious. :joy: Her balance is worse for being without Pred for a day, but she is not circling. She doesn't have any eye problems.

And..... she ate like a little horse just before her vet visit! She gobbled some turkey broth, spaghetti, boiled egg. Later she took a little bit of baby cereal mixed with mushy lab blocks. Must be the influence of auntie SQ.

This is a big change for the better. So she's back on Pred, although she was too full to eat more than about half of it.

 

[Joanne]

That's good news!