rat - holding head sideways

I have 1 rat, she keeps holding her head sideways, and it is only her head not her whole body. I am trying to figure out whats up with her. I put her in her own tub alone for now. Anyone else seen this before?

Got pics or better yet a video?

I can take a video but its going to take like 2 days to upload it with my internet lol. Will a picture suffice?

Pics would be great

has she had any traumatic injuries...a fall or something??

How Old is she??

What kind of enclosure is she in (include bedding, furniture, enrichment items)

Has she been on any medications lately? (I figure you probably just euthanize sick animals in your colony, but wanted to check anyway)

Any previous history of other animals in your colony having weird behaviors: running in circles, wobbly gait, etc??

Sounds like an ear infection or inner ear injury. Animals have difficulty with balance and often hold their heads sideways.

I've had 2 rats do this to me ever. One was fighting with another and had blood pooling out of its ears. I thought she would've pulled through, buy she ended up passing away. And the other, I culled because it was a neurological issue.

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Is the head tilted like this? (Not my photo - found on Google).
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/h...ps20b7868c.jpg

If that's the case, it's more than likely an ear infection.

No other rats have been doing this at all, only her. I have her in a rack system in a tub using pine bedding changed every 4-5 days and no, shes not medicated. I would really like to keep her because a friend gave her to me for breeding purposes. I am starting to think its an ear infection. Also, maybe the male was trying to mount her and she didn't like it this time so he he bit her?? No blood though, although he had a little bite on him that I put some antibiotic ointment on. She was already full size when I got her, so not exactly sure of age, I will ask my friend when she got her!!

Same things I was "leaning" (get it...head tilt...its leaning...never mind) towards. I've seen rats end up like this because of a fall from inside their enclosure (usually its a multi-level enclosure though) or because of an inner ear problem. I had a mouse that would run in circles all day every day, only stoping to eat, drink, poop, and mate. It could not track a straight line, only circles due to inner ear issues.

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Originally Posted by Konotashi

Is the head tilted like this? (Not my photo - found on Google).
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/h...ps20b7868c.jpg

If that's the case, it's more than likely an ear infection.

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Exactly like that!!! Just the opposite direction lol

Yup. Definitely ear infection or inner ear injury then.

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Anything OTC I can get for her, or am I going to have to feed her off?

Medicated ear drops. But that's it. Not sure what else you can do.

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There's also a tumor thing it could be that is sometimes genetic. I've had one rat that had it, and two of her daughters that I held back as breeders also succumbed to the same thing, all three between 8 months and 12 months.

I've also seen rats unrelated with the ear infection. I've never gotten one cured of it before they started the log rolling symptom. So if I see it, I usually cull.

If you pick her up by the tail she should start "spinning" too.
I would cull as well, I get a couple every now and then.

cull??? What does that mean?

Also, she does kind of go around in circles while jerking around when I pick her up by the tail.

EDIT: NVM, I see cull means to remove from the "heard" so to speak :(

Yep cull = kill

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feed, gas, and freeze off

Ear infection...........feed her off.

Jason

Yes, I kill them off. It's not even about the trouble of trying to medicate and hoping it works to cure the ear infection(if it's not the tumor thing), but also about quality of life for the rat, at least to me. I can euthanize the rat and make use of it and move on, without worrying that the rat is in great distress from possible pain and disorientation.

The one I really worked HARD to try to save was a beloved pet and I paid vet visits, meds, etc and she still died in my lap anyway. I decided then that putting them down humanely before they get that bad was just kinder.

I ended up feeding her off to my yellow anaconda...she was a pet to my friend that gave her to me a while back and sort of a pet to myself. But as you say, its better to not let her suffer for a week or 2, 2 minutes of not being able to breath is much better than weeks!! Its done, now I don't have to feed her for 14 days, the plus side of it.

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Not useful to the OP anymore, but I lost a pet rat to a brain tumor which started in the same way. Later on he started having problems with balance when walking, he would sway, finally couldn't eat and I put him down (didn't have reptiles then, but even now that I have, I don't feed off rats that seem to have a problem, unless it's a trauma). It took about 3-4 months since the first symptoms till the end.

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Originally Posted by satomi325

Yup. Definitely ear infection or inner ear injury then.

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x2