can you give rats any sort of pain killer?

[julia_silve:)]

today one of my rats from my female group bit the tip of the toe of the one of my male rats. she bit off the whole nail including part of the toe, he was bleeding a lot but i managed to stop it. so my question is:
1: can you give rats any sort of pain killer, if so what type?
2: what can i use to keep the wound clean?
3: will cleaning the wound cause it to open up and bleed more?
4: what can i do to make him more comfortable if i cant give him pain killers?
5: dosage?

 

[lilspaz68]

Its always a good idea to keep infant ibuprofen on hand for just such emergencies. Advil graper-flavoured, dye-free is one ratties usually really like. For dosing I used 10-30 mg/kg depending on what you are dosing for.

Dosage depends on your rats' weight.

I wouldn't try to clean it now...bleeding flushes anything out of hte wound, just keep his environment clean until the wound scabs/heals and if he's in a lot of pain or there's swelling, use the infant ibuprofen.

 

[julia_silve:)]

i don know his weight, but he is a four month old average sized rat, so what would be a safe average amount to give him ? and i dont know how much pain he is in its possible she cut through bone, he seemed lethargic and couldnt put weight on the foot

 

[jorats]

That's a very common injury.

 

[julia_silve:)]

im worried because she bit off a large part of the toe not just a bite but cut it part of it clean off, when it is just a bloody bite i leave it to heal on its own.

thank you lilspaz,

 

[Aida]

Hi Julia,
Are you sure you don't have a kitchen scale somewhere, or maybe if it's still early where you are, a neighbor might? It's really difficult to tell without weight.

You mentioned he's lethargic, and that's not good. Seperate him from the other rats, get that ibuprofen(try looking around old posts- search "ibuprofen"), and keep a close eye on him. When did this happen?
I would change your subject line to something a bit more descriptive of the situation- more members might be able to help out. Try editing it to "Toe injury: Lethargic(unsure of dosage)" or something along those lines.

 

[Aida]

Also, is he eating/drinking? Try getting him to sip up some sugary water, juice, or sports drink- he might have lost a considerable amount of blood and needs to rebuild all that.
If an hour or so after he started getting all lethargic he gets better, then I wouldn't worry too much. Rats hurt their feet/toes all the time. The most important thing is that you stopped the bleeding.

 

[victoria]

Don't separate him from the other rats - you're only going to stress him unnecessarily.

If he's not lethargic or puffy, don't medicate him without knowing his weight. There is a lot of variation for an 'average' 4 month old. As Jorats said, it's a pretty common injury. Tomorrow morning take a look at his toe to make sure it's not too swollen and staying clean. If it's not bleeding, you can dab/spray saline or Bactine on it to help avoid infection.