Poor man with a sore leg

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brooklyn

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 13, 2012
Messages
118
Location
Guelph, ON
So I came home last night from work and opened the cage for the boys. Kiedis came bounding out happy as can be and poor Memphis slowly limped out and crawled into my lap. I noticed a decent sized lesion on his left side, and another small one on his testicles, I also noticed he was trying really hard not to use his front left paw and hobbling around on three legs. I laid him on a heating pad and petted him for a while and cleaned off the cuts on his side and bum but since I didnt have anything handy to help him, Im about to go out and get him some children's Motrin/Advil but will need help with the dosage once I get it and know the concentration. Hes had scratches and stuff before so Im not too worried about those, just have to keep them clean and let them heal, but the sore paw is slightly swollen and its so sad watching the little guy hobble around. Although neither rat has ever gotten injured like this before, Im almost certain his brother and him got into a bad fight over some food because now every time Kiedis tries to play with Memphis, Memphis squeaks angrily at him and runs away. When I touch his paw he doesnt squeak, but if I lift it too far he pulls it away and holds it close to him with his little fingers in a fist, the leg is still straight so Im thinking it might be a sprain. If its not any better by my day off on Wednesday I will take him to the vet. Other than childrens ibuprofen is there anything else I can do to help him out?
 
Definitely will help you out with the dosages when you get it. There is little else you can do right now than watch the healing process and make sure it's going in the right direction. Watch for infection, make sure he doesn't have a break, and that his pain is controlled with the ibuprofen. Poor man. :(
 
brooklyn said:
So I came home last night from work and opened the cage for the boys. Kiedis came bounding out happy as can be and poor Memphis slowly limped out and crawled into my lap. I noticed a decent sized lesion on his left side, and another small one on his testicles, I also noticed he was trying really hard not to use his front left paw and hobbling around on three legs. I laid him on a heating pad and petted him for a while and cleaned off the cuts on his side and bum but since I didnt have anything handy to help him, Im about to go out and get him some children's Motrin/Advil but will need help with the dosage once I get it and know the concentration. Hes had scratches and stuff before so Im not too worried about those, just have to keep them clean and let them heal, but the sore paw is slightly swollen and its so sad watching the little guy hobble around. Although neither rat has ever gotten injured like this before, Im almost certain his brother and him got into a bad fight over some food because now every time Kiedis tries to play with Memphis, Memphis squeaks angrily at him and runs away. When I touch his paw he doesnt squeak, but if I lift it too far he pulls it away and holds it close to him with his little fingers in a fist, the leg is still straight so Im thinking it might be a sprain. If its not any better by my day off on Wednesday I will take him to the vet. Other than childrens ibuprofen is there anything else I can do to help him out?
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When you say lesion, do you mean scrape or bite wound? Can you get pics for us?

How old are your boys? Could it be the start of hormonal aggression?

Did you check the foot for any wounds or do you think he fell trying to get away from his brother/friend?

Wounds on the testicles generally means another male is very serious about hurting the other, as they are trying to seriously maim.

Get your ibu, I'll help you with a dosage.
 
I would post pictures if I knew how to lol... it doesnt look like a bite to me, but more like a deep scratch, both boys have long nails because they refuse to use anything I give them to secretly try to dull their nails and when I asked the vet how much it would cost for nail trimming she said 70$ for one rat. And both boys turned 2 on the 26th of September so they are well past the hormonal stage and they've lived together for their entire lives. I did check the paw for any cuts and such and didnt find any. He is still somewhat using the paw, he uses it to eat, to groom just not to walk.
 
brooklyn said:
I would post pictures if I knew how to lol... it doesnt look like a bite to me, but more like a deep scratch, both boys have long nails because they refuse to use anything I give them to secretly try to dull their nails and when I asked the vet how much it would cost for nail trimming she said 70$ for one rat. And both boys turned 2 on the 26th of September so they are well past the hormonal stage and they've lived together for their entire lives. I did check the paw for any cuts and such and didnt find any. He is still somewhat using the paw, he uses it to eat, to groom just not to walk.
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Ohhh good!!! Sounds like he wobbled off a shelf and fell then. Time to start stringing "catch falling rat" hammocks under shelves and near ramps.
 
I will definitely be doing that. Thankfully theres a fabric store right beside the drug store so I'll be making some little rat catchers today!
 
Well he spent the morning in my bed with me, still limpy but the swelling had reduced by bedtime last night and it looked the same this morning as it did last night around midnight. Still a little swollen but definitely less so than before. He's not having any of his brothers crap though lol, and very loudly and angrily squeaks at him whenever Kiedis bounds towards him for a wrestle. :p Last night Kiedis actually tried to pin him down on his back and so Memphis grabbed Kiedis' s face with his teeth and just held him there and stared him down. There was no blood or any cuts or anything on Kiedis' face or anything so Im pretty certain it was just Memphis' way of saying stay out of my bubble and not him actually trying to hurt Kiedis. It was quite funny to see the big brute Kiedis is to be grabbed by his chunky injured brother and essentially told to scram.
 
Woohoo! :hello: After two days of kids ibu and a lot of rest Memphis seems to be getting back to his regular self. He came right out of the cage today when I opened it, the swelling in his paw is gone and hes putting a lot more weight on it then he even was yesterday night. Hes still not running or jumping much but I think that will come with a couple more days of healing. :)
 

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