When a mouse is spinning..

[cheerfulgreek]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

I did a search and found several sites saying it is probably an ear infection.

Now I'm curious to see if that's correct Paging CG!

Yep. More likely than not, it's probably otitis. In rodents that I've seen with symptoms like that, it's usually seen with bacterial infections. The most common one that I've seen is usually bordetella bronchiseptica, and sometimes streptococcus pneumoniae. It's usually subclinical, and it sometimes involves bacterial infections causing pneumonia, too. There's a thin membrane that separates the external ear from the middle ear, which becomes thickened, and in severe cases deafness may occur. It's when the infection migrates to the inner ear that additional neurologic signs can develop. It's not only circling, but I've had patients with head tilt, ataxia, and sometimes rolling. It's usually head tilt, though. It's just that with mice and other lab animals (rodents) it's difficult for me to navigate their tiny ear canals with an otoscope, so we rely on radiography. The sad part about it is most cases that I've seen of otitis are generally unresponsive.