Eek! Ripped off toe! **pics**

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Ktina

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 16, 2007
Messages
420
Location
Oakdale, MN
I went and gave all the rats a piece of fruit tonight and Nodin was as eager as ever to get his. I was watching them all chow down when I watched Nodin stand up to drinik, and that's when I saw him leaning to one side and I noticed that one of his toes was missing. :wallbang: One of his toenails on that foot is missing as well.

I visited with him this morning, but I honestly didn't look at his feet or notice anything. He's been getting old and wobbly. He is grunty (despite various meds) and has lost a bit of weight, plus he has an abcess on his side, but other than that he is very enthusiastic about life.

It would come off as odd to me if one of the other 5 rats he lives with did this, just because they all get along great and there has never been any fighting. Him doing this to himself would also be odd. I do have them in a Martin's, and the wire ramps are not covered, so I guess it could be possible that he got his toe stuck somehow. But I'm not sure.

I don't think he can actually feel the foot, as he doesn't complain when I touch it and he just drags it. This was the best pic I could get because I can't find my USB so it's from my phone. What should I do? It's not bleeding and he's not in pain. Would the vet even have to do anything for him?

UPDATE: he just cleaned the dried blood off and uck. I think I can see bone. I'm not sure what to do at this point. It's clean and doesn't look irrated but still. Also, there is not enough skin for the vet to be able to close it. There's no skin around it. :?

nodin-1.jpg
 
All I can think to do for the moment is maybe some topical antibiotic/antiseptic stuff and keep him in a clean area? Poor guy, at least he's not in pain! I'm wondering if a vet would make some kind of 'cast' or bandage orsomething?
 
I'm not really sure what all a vet may be able to do to it. The picture's blurry and sort of hard to see, but is the entire toe missing or is there a nub left?

Since it is an open wound, I would definitely put neo-/polysporin on it and get him on a course of Baytril to help prevent infection. You say he's got an abscess on his side as well? How did that happen and what have you been doing to treat it? If it was caused by a fight, I would really think someone bit his toe. He really strikes me as a little too old and feeble to try and rip his toe off if it had gotten caught on something, and if anyone was home during the time you would definitely have heard him screaming. But check around the cage and you may find some blood.
 
Toe bites and owies are so common. Not something that warrants a vet in my opinion unless it's quite obvious that it's become infected. Keep it clean and keep an eye on it.
 
how common are toe bites? you got me scared a little. We havent experience this just yet.

We built are own cage so we would'nt have to worry so much about foot injuries, but now i have to worry about bites.

Rats are so dramatic. But I still love em!
 
Even among cagemates, toes poking through floors and the sides of the cage when a rat's climbing it can look mighty tasty. I had one girl who constantly nipped any toes sticking through the ramp grid. She looked sheepish when the bitee squealed and jumped, but she never did stop.
 
No nub left, the whole toe is ripped off pretty far down. :/

He doesn't seem to be in pain today, his toe looks a bit nasty though. He doesn't seem in pain, thankfully. I have him in his own cage, though, since he's having a hard time walking because of his leg.
 
I had a baby a few years ago that had a toe almost completely severed by an older rat during intros.
The bleeding stopped, there was nothing the vet could do, we put the baby on antibiotics (just in case of infection) and his toe healed up fine on its own.
 

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