Hi, I'm new here and I must say your forums are awesome!
Basically I have a 8 month old male rat who broke his foot around 3 weeks ago,
I wasn't home when it happened but I believe he'd caught his foot in the bars whilst jumping down from climbing on the cage bars.
My local vet doesn't treat rats and because of my financial circumstances at the moment I cant afford to travel to a vet who can, which is unfortunately quite a long distance. I feel terrible about this but it's out of my control.
He's always been very timid and is afraid of almost everyone, including me (although he's getting there) so I think it would be best not to put him through the trauma of travelling so far anyway and I don't drive.
I looked up online and the best advice I got was to basically let it heal on its own.
So I separated him from his cage mate into a small cage with food and water right next to his bed for two weeks to relax and recover, still giving him out time on my lap with his buddy daily but making sure he was still taking it easy.
When the accident happened his right hind leg was swollen and purple around the top of his tarsals just below the joint of the calcaneus, No broken skin, but his toes seemed to be curled and resting slightly outwards. He didn't seem to be in pain and was happy to simply limp around ignoring it.
its about 4 weeks on and there's no sign of bruising or swelling, he seems perfectly fine, happy and is showing no signs of pain or stress whilst going about his business.
The thing that's worrying me is the foot is still curled up and there seems to be no movement in it at all, it doesn't clench or grab, he doesn't even flinch when I examine it as if he can't feel me touching it. When he's walking or lying down it's just flopping about and I even see him dragging it behind him which is making me increasingly concerned since he's still so young!
Fortunately him and his cage mate are over their fighting days and are the best of friends they don't squabble or anything like that so having them together is not a worry.
I've rearranged the cage so there is easy access to all their essentials and favourite spots so he doesn't need to climb anywhere but I really just don't know what else I can do for him and I'm starting to feel like a terrible owner because of it :/
I'd like to know if anyone has seen this or similar before or has any advice on what to do (bearing in mind I have very little money) like whether he needs more healing time or what?
I greatly appreciate any help or opinions,
Thanks, Ant.
Basically I have a 8 month old male rat who broke his foot around 3 weeks ago,
I wasn't home when it happened but I believe he'd caught his foot in the bars whilst jumping down from climbing on the cage bars.
My local vet doesn't treat rats and because of my financial circumstances at the moment I cant afford to travel to a vet who can, which is unfortunately quite a long distance. I feel terrible about this but it's out of my control.
He's always been very timid and is afraid of almost everyone, including me (although he's getting there) so I think it would be best not to put him through the trauma of travelling so far anyway and I don't drive.
I looked up online and the best advice I got was to basically let it heal on its own.
So I separated him from his cage mate into a small cage with food and water right next to his bed for two weeks to relax and recover, still giving him out time on my lap with his buddy daily but making sure he was still taking it easy.
When the accident happened his right hind leg was swollen and purple around the top of his tarsals just below the joint of the calcaneus, No broken skin, but his toes seemed to be curled and resting slightly outwards. He didn't seem to be in pain and was happy to simply limp around ignoring it.
its about 4 weeks on and there's no sign of bruising or swelling, he seems perfectly fine, happy and is showing no signs of pain or stress whilst going about his business.
The thing that's worrying me is the foot is still curled up and there seems to be no movement in it at all, it doesn't clench or grab, he doesn't even flinch when I examine it as if he can't feel me touching it. When he's walking or lying down it's just flopping about and I even see him dragging it behind him which is making me increasingly concerned since he's still so young!
Fortunately him and his cage mate are over their fighting days and are the best of friends they don't squabble or anything like that so having them together is not a worry.
I've rearranged the cage so there is easy access to all their essentials and favourite spots so he doesn't need to climb anywhere but I really just don't know what else I can do for him and I'm starting to feel like a terrible owner because of it :/
I'd like to know if anyone has seen this or similar before or has any advice on what to do (bearing in mind I have very little money) like whether he needs more healing time or what?
I greatly appreciate any help or opinions,
Thanks, Ant.