Toe nail ripped off!!

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pshuga03

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 8, 2009
Messages
451
Location
Georgia
Percy was just climbing up the side of the CN when i was wrinkling the yogi bag, slipped, and ripped one of his toenails off!!! He didn't make a peep at all but it's bleeding really bad. I have him out with pressure on it right now, and don't have any styptic *sp?*...what can I use to make it stop bleeding?!?
 
Flour or cornstarch is supposed to be good. I have always had trouble making mine sit still for it, though. I hope that he will let you apply a bit of pressure to the wound.

My experience with bleeding toes is that they will ooze for quite a few hours. You might want to make sure that your ratty gets lots to drink.
 
just spent 15 min with his foot in a saucer of corn flour and he was such a good boy...had a naner chip while he sat there. I just brought him back down here to the cage and as soon as he stepped down onto it, it started bleeding again... :doh: WHY DO THINGS HAPPEN ON HOLIDAYS?!? *facepalms*
 
It's so hard the first time it happens to one of your rats, because of the fear of them bleeding to death. But I don't think that actually happens. At least I haven't heard of anyone's rat bleeding to death that way.

The only consolation is that I don't think the vet would necessarily do much anyway. I think that styptic must sting like crazy, so you probably wouldn't be able to get him to hold still long enough. And you will want to wait before thinking of having the toe removed. It might not be as damaged as you fear. But I bet you'll be up with your sweetie dipping his toe into the cornstarch for a while yet. You have all my sympathies!

When Melissa got her toes bitten (she was a young 'un, and she got on top of the Enemy cage) I stayed up all night with her; I was terrified. The toe oozed blood, and so she kept licking it, and it took ages to stop bleeding.... it was about 5am by then. A few weeks later, when she was at the vet's for a URI, he said I could have him amputate the toe (the nail had not been pulled out, but it was badly deformed and might have caught on things). But she didn't seem to have any trouble with it, so I decided to leave things be.

Good luck to your sweetie. May his toe heal well :tumkiss: and may you get some sleep :cuddle:
 
Patrick did this. Me and my boyfriend were covered in blood from the tiny tiny little wound he had. It went everywhere. He had to sit for half an hour with his toe in flour, and then when we put him down he bled again. It was such a nightmare. they bleed so bad!
he was sore for a few days, felt sorry for himself for a while and kept doing ouchie stretches but he was fine :) the toe nail dropped off a few days later and grew back perfect
 
It has a good lil scab on it now and I've been watching for swelling, but it just looks slightly pinker than the other toes. Will the nail grow back wonky you think? He such a big tough squishy guy, takin' it easy today as his widdle footy heals. :heart: :heart:

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**cringes all over** gah that hurts me to look at...Percy and Patrick are just super tough...fact...I would be like :panic: my toe my TOOOEEE!!! :cry3: hahaha
 
LOL i have bruised 5 toenails over the past 3 months and i cut two of my toes on a stupid saw left on the floor and i made more of a ruckus than Patrick did.
He was quiet for a few days and limped around a bit, but when he did it he was running around crazy (like normal) still and made it bleed twice
 
he will be fine...
we have rescued a few ratties from kijiji where several of them were in pretty horrible condition. some of the kids we noticed their nails in super rough condition some worse than others (torn off ect)... all healed well and regrew their nails... so i dont think you need to worry.
my first reaction would have been to panic also!!! lol
 
Thank you so much for this website! This just happened to my rattie, Duke. He has been really ill with a respitory infection and we just spent over 200 dollars on a vet visit and antibiotics.....and now just as he seems to be improving a little bit, his nail got torn open. I'm hoping the cornstarch will help! I'm super worried =[
 
I'm not sure what if any medical basis this has, but when Vin had this toenail ripped out, I didn't have anything on-hand like flour or Quik Stop, so we held his toe in a cold, damp facecloth for about ten minutes, and the bleeding stopped completely. If the flour doesn't work, you might want to try it. If nothing else, it can't hurt.

It looks a lot worse than it is. Vin didn't make a single sound with his toe (and he's a huge wuss who squeaks at every little thing,) so if he felt it at all, it couldn't have been much. His toenail grew back within a couple of weeks as well, but I know a girl whose ferret tore a toenail out and it never grew back, so I guess it depends on the injury and how it heals.
 
I asked my vet once what should we do when we have a bleed on the rat, she said same thing they do at the clinic, apply pressure. I don't bother with flour or quick stop anymore, pressure works equally as well.
 
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