A months ago I had a fiasco at the vet and my rat Basil lost 3 of his toenails due to improper handling by the veterinarian, and was put on some Baytril to prevent infection. The nails all grew back normally.
Yesterday morning I notice one of the nails he had previously broken was gone, and his toe was looking red around where the nail would be. Not too puffy or any oozing though. There was also no blood in the cage, which is odd because I know rats bleed a lot from their toes. I put a very thin layer of antibiotic cream on the area and gave the cage a good cleaning. Today his toe is still red around the bed of the nail and maybe a little puffy at the base, but doesn't look too different from his healthy toes.
Anyway, I'm wondering if I should continue trying to clean it? He licks off the cream pretty soon after, but I was wondering if hydrogen peroxide might work better because he won't lick it off? Or is it better to just leave it alone and change the fleece liners every day until it heals?
He is acting normally and is putting weight on his foot, but sort of pulls his foot away when I try to put the cream on (it might be stinging him).
Yesterday morning I notice one of the nails he had previously broken was gone, and his toe was looking red around where the nail would be. Not too puffy or any oozing though. There was also no blood in the cage, which is odd because I know rats bleed a lot from their toes. I put a very thin layer of antibiotic cream on the area and gave the cage a good cleaning. Today his toe is still red around the bed of the nail and maybe a little puffy at the base, but doesn't look too different from his healthy toes.
Anyway, I'm wondering if I should continue trying to clean it? He licks off the cream pretty soon after, but I was wondering if hydrogen peroxide might work better because he won't lick it off? Or is it better to just leave it alone and change the fleece liners every day until it heals?
He is acting normally and is putting weight on his foot, but sort of pulls his foot away when I try to put the cream on (it might be stinging him).