Rat with ear infection - back to the vet, polyp!

[rhapsody]

Ever since Missy's ear infection set in, she's been scratching vigorously in the affected ear. Now that I've been giving her ear drops (day one so far), she's drawing some major blood from that ear.

Uh, how can I get her to stop? She's really prone to abscesses from other rats' nips, so her mutilating herself can't be that good ... I'm a bit at a loss here.

 

[hopefloats]

could it be something other than an ear infection? I know some get some sort of ear polyp?

I know people on here have made e-collar for their rats...maybe you could cone her for a few day?

 

[lilspaz68]

Did your vet look down her ear? It sounds like she needs metacam but she, as Peggy says, may also have a polyp...that can definitely cause this type of bleeding and infected smell

 

[jorats]

Poor little one.

 

[SQ]

Poor girl ....
like the others said, vet needs to recheck her ear.
Oral meds (likely clavamox + baytril + anti inflamatory) would likely be better than ear drops, and it sounds like she can't tolerate the ear drops.
Metacam will help with both her pain and some inflamation

 

[mamarat]

Poor baby.

 

[KatTheHippie]

Oral meds (likely clavamox + baytril + anti inflamatory) would likely be better than ear drops, and it sounds like she can't tolerate the ear drops.

I was thinking the same thing. Maybe the ear drops are really bothering her, perhaps she's allergic to them? I wasn't expecting that picture, man, was that a shock. The poor baby :/

 

[rhapsody]

Missy's on metacam, so we're good there. The vet spent a good while peering down her ear with a little flashlight. Would a polyp be that visible?

Emailed the vet last night at 12:30am and received a reply at 1:20am ( :shock: ) - he said to give just a small drop to minimize irritation which I totally didn't do. Silly me, I tried to speed up the healing by give a huge drop instead.

Regardless of whether I continue with the ear drops, I really need to find a way to keep Missy from scratching her ear. She has made the affected ear bleed before the vet visit, but just not to the extent of last night.

Is it okay to put medical tape directly on her foot? I tried putting a layer of gauze between her skin and the tape and it kept slipping off.

If that's a no-go, would a "body cast" prevent the hind foot from reaching her ear? If so, how the heck do I make it?

 

[Aida]

Oh god...!!!
That looks SO horrible!!!
Poor baby, that must be ssooo painful!
You should try making a collar for her. As for the medical tape on the foot, I'd say that it's OK- just don't make it too tight(witch is very easy with tape) or you'll stop circulation. But I think we need to brainstorm a bit more- she'll just chew it off(the tape).

 

[jorats]

There's that vet tape, you could try to tape the foot and see how that goes but I can't see Missy leaving it there. But then, if she's busy unwrapping her foot, then she's leaving the ear alone.
What about getting one of those thick hair bands, the ones that are all cute and ruffles and fabric, put it around her neck, making sure it's not too tight, that might stop her from reaching into her ear.

 

[Aida]

How about putting tape ON the ear? Or taping a folded up tissue/gauze on it? The problem is that she'll just pick it off... You'd have to constantly change it, though. So all the pus and crap won't get trapped in there.

 

[Aida]

Oh! You should also try to clip the toenails.

 

[rhapsody]

Alrighty, my rescue emailed me back with instructions on how to make a body cast as well as a cervical collar (same concept as jorats' hair band idea, I think). Will give that a go when I come home tonight.

Oh! You should also try to clip the toenails.

Actually, her toenails are really well maintained on that foot. Wouldn't want to risk clipping off a toe by mistake.

How about putting tape ON the ear? Or taping a folded up tissue/gauze on it?

Oh gosh, I think that'll be my last resort - she'd end up looking like Vincent Van Gogh. :giggle:

 

[smilez_n_hugs]

How much metacam is she getting and how often? If she's not receiving the highest dose then I would recommend giving her the highest dose (which I can't recall off the to of my head). Also as it was already said I think oral abs might be needed to help get this infection under control.

 

[rhapsody]

How much metacam is she getting and how often? If she's not receiving the highest dose then I would recommend giving her the highest dose (which I can't recall off the to of my head). Also as it was already said I think oral abs might be needed to help get this infection under control.

The metacam is .05ml twice a day, but I can't remember the concentration off-hand. I think it was 1.5ml per something ... ? And strangely enough, its the same dosage and concentration as one prescribed for my dwarf hamster.

And yes, she's on oral abs too.

 

[lilspaz68]

What does her ear smell like now?

 

[rhapsody]

Missy's ear still smells a bit funky if you put your nose right over it, but you can no longer detect from across the apartment. Looks like most of the blood from the first photo drained out of her ear and congealed down the side of her face. I patted the outside of her ear down with epsom salt solution to try to clean it up a little.

The concentration of the metacam is 1.5mg/ml. I bumped the dosage up to .1ml from .05 tonight, and she seemed more comfortable. She got weighed at the vet, but it wasn't included on the receipt so I'll have to call in the morning to find out how much she weighs. Then I can better calculate how much more to bump up the dosage.

Anyhoo, I gave the body cast a go tonight. First attempt worked out great and lasted for three hours ... but the adhesive wasn't strong enough to withstand getting snagged when she slipped through a rip in her hammock. A second try with different medical tape lasted less than a minute after I belatedly realized that I had wrapped her up a bit too tight. Third try has lasted for an hour thus far, and I'm crossing my fingers that it'll last through the night at the very least. I also folded some tape over her foot as a makeshift bootie just in case.

Here's my poor girl in her little "corset" -

 

[jorats]

Missy looks like she's in a gown going to the ball. lol This is for her own good.

When my vet prescribed metacam for my small girl she told me anywhere from 0.02 to 0.1 as needed twice a day. So I think you did very good by raising it to 0.1

 

[lilspaz68]

Even if she's a very small girl at 300 grams you could easily give her .2 cc's of metacam daily. Theres new guidelines of .05 - 2 mg/kg...I use 1 mg/kg when the pain is pretty severe, which would give you the .2 cc.

 

[rhapsody]

LOL, it looks like my Missy is on the chunky side - she weighed in at 474 grams (a smidgeon over a pound). The RatFanClub recommends 0.6 to 1.5 ml for a 1lb rat, but seems like an awful lot for one go. Do they mean to break it into two doses of .3ml per day?