Treating Bumblefoot

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jorats

Loving rats since 2002.
Joined
Jul 20, 2007
Messages
45,196
Location
Northeastern Ontario
Bumblefoot is common enough in rats but hard to treat. Here's how one of our member managed the sores.

By Little Devils
Reminds me of a previous foster that I had. I can tell you that BluKote did nothing except make a big mess and I don't bother with it anymore.

When he first came in:
rudy%20018.jpg


After 2 weeks with me:
P6170007.JPG


What I did was keep him on layers of soft fleece changed twice a day. Watched his diet. Clipped his nails once a week (second pic he was done just before his nail clipping) (if the nails are long the weight of their body automatically is held mostly by the heels). Put him on a diet.

Then he was put on antibiotics but the most impact I think were the 3 x epsom compresses a day and 3 x daily wash w. chlorhexidine soaks, esp. the epsom salt compresses. The epsom salt compresses is something that you can start now, it's cheap and easy to do.... 1 table spoon of epsom salt, 1 cup boiling water... mix it until the salt is dissolved and then soak cotton balls in the mix and apply to the bumblefoot (make sure it's warm but not too hot!). Do it for about 5 minutes 3 times a day (keep changing the cotton balls when it gets cool... you'll go through a lot of cotton balls)

It went away completely but he was adopted after 3 weeks and she kept on with the treatment... just no pics to show the end results.

One of our volunteers who also took in a rat with a huge bumblefoot also had HUGE success using a bandage that has charcoal with silver sulfadiazine in it to draw out the infection (the vet just bandaged his whole leg). He was also on Chlorpalm but that was mostly for an abscess that he had in his cheek but it may or may not have played a role as well. After a week the results were dramatic. Something I would discuss with my vet too should there be another case. Of course keeping the leg bandaged on a rat is not easy
 
If I keep my boy's cage clean and they don't have to walk on wire they shouldn't ever get this.......right? That poor rat's foot looks soooooo painful. :sad3:
 
Ouch! That looks like a terrible case of bumblefoot! :shock:

Stella's second story flooring is made up of bars. What I do is put a blanket down so she doesn't get bumblefoot. Also, cleaning the cage at least once a week is a good way to help prevent it too. To be sure, I clean Stella's cage twice a week - Wednesday and Saturday or Sunday, making sure her habitat is always a healthy place to live in. An abundance of bedding can also keep bumblefoot from attatching to your rat, so as to keep the floor soft for their little feet.

The information really helped, Jo. :joy: I found some better ways to prevent Stella from bumblefoot by reading your post.
 
So...would tile pieces in the cage be considered a "hard floor"? The rescue we got our girls from told us to put tile pieces in the cage to cover the wire and provide a cool place to lay. My ratties don't lay on the tile at all.
 
i had successes with foot soaks and bandaging too but you have to be VERY careful with bandaging to not get it too tight or you have a whole other mess on your hands.
ive tried TMS with no luck will have to keep chlorpalm in mind.
 
My question above, is tile considered a good flooring for the rats? was unanswered. Can anyone confirm or deny this?

Also, does anyone have any photos of less severe bumble they can post? I will do a net search on this also. I am thinking one of the rescue girls may have it.
 
hyklyst said:
My question above, is tile considered a good flooring for the rats? was unanswered. Can anyone confirm or deny this?

Also, does anyone have any photos of less severe bumble they can post? I will do a net search on this also. I am thinking one of the rescue girls may have it.


Floor tile is ok for the rats but try adding fleece on top of it or stuffing if you can. People use floor tiling and other stuff too but if you have a cage that has bar flooring its best to cover all floor space.

here is a less severe case of bumble foot:

Sorry for the bad lighting and stuff was kind of hard for me to get the picture :)(thanks to miss Biscotte for trying to stay as still as she can :wink2: )

bf.jpg


also if you look here at this thread you will see Biscotte(use to be named buttercup) how her foot looked when we all first got her.
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=14414
 
Tile or even wires are ok as long as it's cleaned regularly... but padding the cage helps prevent it.
Think of bumblefoot like bed sores. Hard surfaces aggravates it.
 
i covered my rattie cage shelves with strong plastic trays. It's a soft, good quality plastic, must have some rubber in it.
Two, three times a day i clean the pee spots with wipes and dry them with tissues, so it's always clean.
The only place with litter is the cage floor, where they only go to pick the food from their bowl and well, poo.
They spend most time on the shelves and hammocks.

Can that kind of plastic surface carry any problem to bumblefoot?
 
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