Possible Broken Leg??

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LoLo

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I have three rats and I keep them in a bedroom with the door closed when I am not home as I have two indoor dogs as well. I was in a rush to get out of the house today and I’m ashamed to say that I forgot to close the door. Needless to say, when I returned home, I found that one of my dogs had ransacked the cage to the point of it coming open. Luckily, I found all three of my babies. Two are absolutely petrified but otherwise unharmed. My third, and favorite, wasn’t so lucky. I’m not sure if my dog actually got a hold of him or if he was just injured trying to escape the big oaf. He is not using his right front leg. He will let me touch it and as I palpated it, I believe it feels that it could be broken. I am absolutely heartbroken that my carelessness led to my poor angels going through this ordeal. My question is, has anyone had any experience with broken legs? If so, is it something I can help? Would it be pertinent to take him to the vet and is there even anything they could do?
 
First off, I would recommend seeking out a vet with rat experience. We don't want to mistreat the poor baby.
Be warned, if there is is swelling, swelling in rats can cause limbs to become necrotic due to lowered amounts of blood able to flow through.
 
I already have a trusted vet of many years. They were already closed yesterday which I why I posted here for advice. It doesn’t appear to be swollen and I went ahead and gave him some ibuprofen for pain.
 
Poor babies! Sometimes bad things have to happen to remind us to stay on our toes. It really sucks that your babies had to be scared and hurt during the ordeal. Don't beat yourself up over it. Just remember to double check cage doors, and the bedroom door next time, which I'm sure you will. He may have just sprained it. I'm glad you gave him ibuprofen, since I'm sure it helped a lot. If it were me, I'd keep an eye on it, and if it swells back up, or he hasn't started using it by tomorrow, I'd call the vet. Not sure if that's the right thing, but that's just me. Unless it's terribly broken, or the bone is poking through, I'm not sure the vet will do much more than give him pain meds and say try to keep him on a single level for a little while, and make his hammocks lower and stuff to keep him from climbing, and give it a chance to heal.....
 
My apologies, LoLo. I hope everyone else is okay and that the leg ends up being alright though.

Don't beat yourself up over it too much. Everyone is human and everyone makes mistakes. No one is dead and everyone seems otherwise okay. We've all made those mistakes with animals and what makes us good pet owners is that we learn and don't make the same mistake. I've made unsavory mistakes. I've left cage doors open before. More than once, I've woken up to my bird sitting on me like "you forgot to close my cage door, human."
 
He’s doing much better today. He isn’t using it 100% but he’s been climbing and running around his cage like normal. I’m going to give him ibuprofen tonight before bedtime and I’ll continue to keep and eye on it. Thank y’all :)
 
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