Roger's tail - update on 4/10 - healing well

[KristyR]

I was cleaning the boys' cages and letting them run around the room as usual tonight. I stepped out of the room for something, and when I stepped back in, Roger ran out. I scooped him up, and stepped back in the room, and shut the door behind me and I closed the tip of his tail in the door.

It's not bleeding, just very red, and the top layer of tail skin was hanging off. He immediately started grooming it, and pulled off the loose skin. He's eating with the other boys right now, and is acting normal.

I, on the other hand, am a mess. I'm not freaking out about the injury itself... just that I caused it. I closed my baby's tail in the door. My stomach feels exactly how it felt when my nephew was a baby and I accidentally pinched his leg between the kitchen table and chair while I was holding him and made him cry.

 

[starfoot]

Oh god i know how you feel!! It's awful feeling tlike that! But hundred of these things happen to everyone, and I'm sure his tails fine now... he doesn't blame you, neither do we and you shouldn't either.

Not so long ago I was making Jiggy tightrope walk along a thick rope, near to the ground, anyway, she fell off and treid to climb up the spice rack, she tipped a bag of chilli powder over and it got in her eye!!! I instantly put it under the tap and she just lay there letting the water run in and in an all over her, and then sat grooming it madly rubbing it against her little arm... the water got it all out, and she was normal again within a minute, but if I hadn't have been doing stupid tricks with her on the floor she'd ahve never climbed the spice rack in the first place.

We can't help these things, they're no one's fault, they just happen, but at least it was only a tiny one this time and only the tip of his tail

 

[jennifervb]

Oh God! Don't you hate it when those things happen??? I can fully relate to how you both feel!!!

Ben was following me around the living room a few weeks back and I didn't realize that he was too close. My foot caught him under his belly and sent him reeling.

I was absolutely panic stricken when I gently pulled him out of his hiding place under the desk! :shock: :tearful:

He wasn't hurt; he was just terrified.

It is a horrible feeling when you accidentally hurt or frighten your babies.

A degloved tail hurts but it will dry up and heal pretty quickly. I'm not sure if he might need some pain killers. Maybe one of our resident experts has some advice. (hint hint hint)

 

[lilspaz68]

I wouldn't say that was so much of a degloving injury as a skin scrape. Still awful for you but he'll forget about it in no time. I wouldn't give him pain meds since he's not acting in pain at all. I wait until the injury I know is severe or if they are doing the Hunker down, puff fur up, half close eyes, "gonna endure this". Then I give them a small dose. Or for swelling, but this is not a pain med thing.

Yeah sadly we all have done things like this, and the cold shock running through your body is just awful. They are so tiny, they move really fast and not always in the directions you expect. Thank god they are so forgiving, and they will forgive us unlike us forgiving ourselves.

 

[KristyR]

I did a search for degloving injuries after it happened, and it doesn't look like any of the pics I saw. I'll take a pic of it when I get a chance to, but right now, he's snuggled up in the hammock, and I'm not going to disturb him just now.

He squeaked pretty good when it happened, and he did a bunch of little (heartbreaking for me) squeaks when he was grooming it afterwards, but he hasn't acted like he was in pain at all since then.

It took me a second to realize what even happened. I scooped him up and kind of had him under my arm, because I was carrying towels into the room, and pushed the door closed behind me, he squeaked, and I all but dropped him because it startled me. I looked at him to see if I could figure out why he squeaked, and it took me several seconds to see the skin hanging off the end of his tail. I'm sure it looked funny... me on my knees scooping up the little rat, saying "Oh no, Roger, your tail, oh god, I'm sorry. Oh baby, mama's so sorry!"

Thank god there are people like you who understand!

 

[Moon]

Oh man, I don't blame you for feeling terrible. At least he's not feeling terrible too!

 

[KristyR]

Well, this evening he's acting a bit more in pain. Keeping to himself, and squeaking when the other boys get too rough around him. So I put him in the travel cage for tonight so he can get some rest. Here are a couple of pics of his tail. It actually looks a lot better than it did this morning when it happened. Anything else I should be doing for him??

 

[lilspaz68]

Polysporin or neosporin if you want. Scrapes hurt a lot.

 

[Godmother]

It's so hard when things like that happen! But he seems to be doing OK. Some kisses and a bit of banana mash will help distract him. Hope he feels much better tomorrow.

 

[lindsayfawn]

Aww poor boy and you. They move so fast it's hard to keep tabs on them until they're right under your feet or in this case a door. Hope he heals up fast! lots of hugs and kisses to him

 

[KristyR]

This morning when I got home from work, first thing I did after letting the dogs out was to check on Roger. He was very anxious to come out of the travel/hospital cage - much more active than he was when I put him in last evening. He let me love on him for awhile, and then stretched toward his regular cage, so I put him in with his cagemates. They all ran to him and sniffed him and pawed at him a little bit, and no squeaks or flinches at all. YAY!!!! Tail looks about the same as it did last night, but clearly not bothering him as much.

 

[jorats]

I bet he's happy to be back with his buddies. Just keep an eye for infection, other than that, it should heal quite fast.

 

[mamarat2]

If he is in pain you can always give him some metacam or ibuprofen. Always hurts when I close my finger in a door (example not trying to make you feel bad), and if you know his weights its easy to work out a dosage.

 

[jennifervb]

YOWZA!!!! That looks like it would hurt!!! What an awful situation for the both of you!!!! You poor thing! I can just imagine how you must feel!

:heart: Kristy :heart: Things like that happen! I've had similar things happen that have just left me heartsick. It happens to the best of us and our babies always manage to come out shining! :love6:

It was wise to put him in the quarantine cage. They don't like the separation but somehow they always manage to use the alone time to their advantage.

Give the little man kisses and scritches from me and :hugs: to you! I'm so happy that he is feeling better! :love4:

 

[KristyR]

10 days after I shut his tail in the door. Seems to be healing nicely. No sign of infection, no indication that it bothers him in the least. He did not want tail pictures. He wanted to play. Hmm... he needs a good tail cleaning too.

 

[lindsayfawn]

poor little tail, good to see it's healing up good!

 

[jorats]

Looking good!!

 

[mamarat]

Glad Roger is healing, poor sweetie.

 

[Moon]

He did not want tail pictures. He wanted to play.

He should know that updating us on his wellbeing is more important than playing!

 

[donshini]

You got lucky, one of my girls got her tail stuck onder a chair last sunday, and the last bit of het tail was snapped, the bone stuck out, and the flesh was lying loose on the floor, I almost got a heart attack!

I rushed her to my rattie vet, and her tail had to be amputated (3cm or so)