foot is extremely swollen

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_ratowner

Active Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2019
Messages
36
Location
Canada
NEED HELP ASAP !!

I went to feed my boy and I saw he was in his igloo with his feet kind of sticking out of the entranceway and I noticed that his foot was extremely swollen and red. I took him out to examine it further and was able to take a few photos.

I looked it up on google and skimmed through a few older posts on the rat shack forum but I thought that it may be beneficial in my situation to create a new thread. I don’t have access to any leftover baytril (I read someone gave that to their rat in this type of situation) and the closest vet is about 3+ hours away. I don’t know how this could have happened. He doesn’t seem to be in any pain. He lets me touch it and he hasn’t squeaked at all.

All help and advice is very much appreciated. Thank you in advance. I will attach a couple photos for reference.
 

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Thank you for your response. Alright. I unfortunately do not have any infant ibuprofen. On July 10th, 2020 at approximately 4:00 PM, he ways around 1 pound 4.2 ounces. I do have some 200 mg ibuprofen tablets. I believe the only sweet syrup I have on hand is maple syrup. I do have some medicating syringes left over from when he had to take baytril.
 
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perfect

you can take a coated tablet, try to wipe off the coating as best as you can with a damp papertowel (chunks will remain in your solution if you leave it), then crush it up between 2 spoons, pour it into a small bottle, add 2 ml of warm water, let it sit about 10 mins to soak up, then add 3 ml of the syrup. let it sit again and let it meld for 30 mins. This gives you the same concentration as infant ibuprofen.

Once you give me a weight, i'll give you a dose.
 
His weight has been provided. Maple syrup is alright for rat consumption? Is tap water alright for the 2 ml of warm water or should I use filtered water? This solution isn’t harmful to rats at all? Like it’s not harmful to give them human medication?

Sorry for all the questions, I just like to be extra sure before I do anything.
 
OK he's a 573 grams, his dose is 0.29 ml every 4-6 hours til the swelling starts to really come down.

Ibuprofen is an NSAID just like Metacam but meloxicam/metacam is prescribed at the vet and given once a day. Its preferable to use but in a pinch Ibuprofen is fine.

http://ratguide.com/meds/nsaids/ibuprofen.php
from that page
Dosage Recommendations
10 mg/kg to 30 mg/kg, PO, q4hrs

I use 20 mg/kg for most issues as its good for pain and swelling. If you can give the first few doses every 4 hours it would be better since getting the swelling down fast is important. I've used it many times myself when I was out of Metacam.
 
I hope I am doing this right. I tried to the best of my abilities to wipe off as much of the coating that I could from the ibuprofen, I wasn’t quite able to get into the tiny corners though. I crushed it up between two spoons and transferred it into a small bottle. I added 2 ml of warm water and I am letting it sit now for 10 minutes.

The only syrup I have is E.D Smith brand syrup, sweetened with sucralose and concentrated white grape juice, I hope that that is alright. [IMPORTANT EDIT:
I checked the expiration date on the syrup and it expired in 2019 :/ I am not sure what I can use now.. ]

How long should I be dosing every 4 hours? Do I have to set a timer for tonight to wake up every 4 hours to give him a dose? Just for the one day or would I have to continue it on for longer like with other medications?
 
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use the syrup, it should be fine still.

Try to get a dose into him now, then in 4 hours, after that get some sleep and see how he is in the morning but be prepared to give him some as soon as you wake up, Use as long as its still swollen,
 
Alright, thank you so much for your help. I really appreciate it !!

I am going to add the 3 ml of syrup to the concoction now, wait the 30 minutes you suggested and I will give him a dose right away. I will continue giving him doses every 4 hours until I fall asleep. I will give him more in the morning just as a safety measure and more if his foot still seems to be swollen.

Does the mixture have to be refrigerated?
 
Dose #2 done

The colour has seemed to tamed

I am distraught to see him like this. He was peeing and pooping himself all over the bed and me. He was “walking” with his back legs dragging behind him. I am worried that my dog may have accidentally jumped on top of him without me realizing (which I don’t see how that could’ve happened). I am so scared. My life is already in the dumps, I can’t bare anything happening to my baby boy.
 
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Awwww. In the morning get me a video? Upload it to youtube and link it here? We"ll try to.determine what's going on. Was he dragging his legs, sucking in his abdomen and possibly twisting? That's a sign of pain or an owwie stretch.
 
Dose #3 done
I did it a bit ago but I was uploading the video so I didn’t update the thread right away. I also unfortunately woke up way later than I would have liked so I wasn’t able to give it to him first thing in the morning.

The colour of his foot seems to be close to normal again. Unfortunately it is still swollen though. I will attach some updated photos.

Here is the link to the video:

It is a short clip and for some reason YouTube made it really blurry even though the video isn’t like that in my phone, but you get the jist of it.
 

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It looks a little less swollen to me. Keep up with the ibu today and see how that goes.
How old is your lad?
He was perfectly fine and then dragging his hind end with a swollen foot?
Is he peeing normally? Any blood in the urine?
 
Alright. I might be going out a little later today so I may not be able to give him the medication every 4 hours on the hour but I will try the hardest I can to hit the goal times.
I am not too sure how old he is honestly. I adopted him September 2018 and they told me he was either 5 months old or 8 months old at the time.
He had been being somewhat “lazy” with his back feet for a little bit where he could definitely still walk and climb but just wasn’t picking his feet up as fast (if that makes any sense) but I just noticed that he was literally dragging his legs yesterday when I found out about his swollen foot.
I’m not too sure if he is using his litter pan to pee at the moment but when I’ve had him out he kind of just lets it all loose, which doesn’t really bother me too much. It’s an easy clean up. My clothing and bedding can get washed if I get pee on them, its not a big deal.
No, there has not been any blood in his urine at all.
 
he may have hind end degeneration especially as he's possibly 27-30 months. They start with being a little weak in the hind end, possibly with a rumba walk, then leaving a hind foot behind as they walk around, then finally starting to drag the hind legs. The injury may have started him dragging his hind end more suddenly than usual. Offer him softer foods he can lick up for now, as he won't be able to sit up and eat harder foods, and keep his water source low and easy for him. Put him in a one level cage, if there;s ramps put them up if you can so he doesn't try and fall.
 
Dose #4 done
Done a little later than I was hoping for but still made alright timing
His foot seems to be almost back down to normal size, it is still a little swollen though.

I did some research before turning to the forum and I was worried that that is what it was going to come out as being. It does sound like he may have it 😞

I have had his water bottle on the bottom level in close range to where he spends most of his time for a few days now. Today, I have moved his food bowl right next to the entrance of his igloo so he has easy access to it. He hasn’t attempted climbing the ramps or accessing any of the other floors of his cage, he just stays in his igloo the whole time.

I have been wiping down his belly and the bottom of his cage where the igloo sits each time I have to take him out to give him the medication as to clean up as much urine as I can so it doesn’t become overwhelming. His cage cleaning day is tomorrow so I will do a much more thorough scrub of it then.
 
Once the swelling is down a bit more then you can stop the ibuprofen and see if the worst of the swelling stays down. Once the foot heals we'll see if he stops dragging both of his feet. He's old/elderly now so you are going to have to help him with some things like scratching his sides, rubbing his itchy ears, and possibly checking for penis plugs :p
 
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