I need help. *pictures*

[Everexanimate]

I rescued three rats yesterday from a bad situation. The elderly man that owned them died. He had had the three rats and 17 cats.

The rats are extremely overweight because he fed them table scaps because that's all he could afford. These are the BIGGEST rats I have ever seen!

Other than that two of them seem to be in good health but the biggest one is in bad shape. I believe he has bumblefoot. His back feet turned in on themselves and have big sores on them. His fur and skin is also in really bad condition and I think he has fleas. He also squeaks in pain when I pick him up so I think there may be something going on other than just the feet. When I have to pick him up I just try to do it as gently as possible.

They weren't on a wire floor so I guess his feet are like that because he's so overweight. I feel terrible for him and I'm not sure what to do. He looks so bad I'm afraid he may need to be put down because I'm sure he's in pain. I want to do anything I can to save him though.

Please, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
I really want to help this rat!

 

[lilspaz68]

Are the sores infected or just red and lumpy?

Treat the whole crew of them with Revolution or Ivermectin for any parasites...it makes their skin hurt while handled, which can explain the squeaking.

Can you put up pics?

 

[jorats]

I agree, get them treated for buggies... his sores should be looked at, probably put on meds too. Those poor rats.

 

[ryelle]

i think he needs meds, it looks like a severe bumblefoot, and has probably spread to the joints in his legs and feet. definately a vet visit

can he walk on them?

im curious how over weight he is, do you have scales to weigh him?
ugh, i hate to think of the condition of his heart with him being overweight

 

[SQ]

A proper healthy diet, treatment for buggies (revolution), treatment for bumble foot, a soft clean cage floor, and opportunities for exercise will greatly improve his health.

 

[lilspaz68]

Get him on penetrating abs asap, try Blu-kote (some of us on here could possibly send you some) a large animal antiseptic that should help dry up his bumblefoot, even topical ointments might help a little. Make sure he is on soft thick fleece changed often. Poooor little bugger. Its wonderful you want to fight for this poor boy and his friends.

 

[Everexanimate]

Okay. He'll definitely be going to the vet as soon as I can afford it. I'm going to try to get his bumblefoot under control.

He does walk on them though. He seems to get around fairly well. They were in a one story cage so I put them in a bigger three story cage so they can get more exercise while they are in the cage plus the exercise they'll get from their play time. They have food and water on the second level to encourage the others to go up the ramp but I also have food and water on the bottom for poor little bumblefoot

Unfortunately I dont have any way of weighing him but he'll get weighed at the vet.
I've never treated rats for fleas. What type of revolution should I use? As in the weight level. What amount is safe for them?

 

[Moon]

The vet should have access to dosing information for revolution, but someone will be able to tell you that as well. Vets typically will use the purple package for small animals.

You really ought to invest in a small digital kitchen or postal scale. For $20-$40 it will be a huge help to you on future rattie endeavors.

Those are some awful looking feet, but they're with you now and chances are good that meds and good food will make them all feel tip top!

 

[ryelle]

i used to weigh using a postal scale, and then i got a digital scale, and i definately recommend a digital scale. My postal scale was out by 40g sometimes

 

[Christie]

Aw poor boy. He needs to go to the vet ASAP.

 

[Cigar]

Those poor feet look brutal, thank goodness you stepped in to help them. :hugs: Sending healthy vibes to your (big) men.

 

[littledevils]

Nasty bumblefoot... yikes!

Reminds me of a previous foster that I had. I can tell you that BluKote did nothing except make a big mess and I don't bother with it anymore.

When he first came in:

After 2 weeks with me:

What I did was keep him on layers of soft fleece changed twice a day. Watched his diet. Clipped his nails once a week (second pic he was done just before his nail clipping) (if the nails are long the weight of their body automatically is held mostly by the heels). Put him on a diet.

Then he was put on antibiotics but the most impact I think were the 3 x epsom compresses a day and 3 x daily wash w. chlorhexidine soaks, esp. the epsom salt compresses. The epsom salt compresses is something that you can start now, it's cheap and easy to do.... 1 table spoon of epsom salt, 1 cup boiling water... mix it until the salt is dissolved and then soak cotton balls in the mix and apply to the bumblefoot (make sure it's warm but not too hot!). Do it for about 5 minutes 3 times a day (keep changing the cotton balls when it gets cool... you'll go through a lot of cotton balls)

It went away completely but he was adopted after 3 weeks and she kept on with the treatment... just no pics to show the end results.

One of our volunteers who also took in a rat with a huge bumblefoot also had HUGE success using a bandage that has charcoal with silver sulfadiazine in it to draw out the infection (the vet just bandaged his whole leg). He was also on Chlorpalm but that was mostly for an abscess that he had in his cheek but it may or may not have played a role as well. After a week the results were dramatic. Something I would discuss with my vet too should there be another case. Of course keeping the leg bandaged on a rat is not easy.

 

[jorats]

Wow lildevils, that change is just amazing! Can I copy your story onto the reference section... I'd like it so we can find it easily. Really good results!

 

[trillium]

I need epsom salt! I keep hearing how well it works for a variety of ailments. Must go find some today. We never got that sort of improvement with Tony's girls when they had bumblefoot with all the blu kote and vet prescriptions we tried. All we managed to do was keep the condition somewhat stable.

 

[littledevils]

Wow lildevils, that change is just amazing! Can I copy your story onto the reference section... I'd like it so we can find it easily. Really good results!

Sorry I just saw that... yes you can copy it!