Baby hand injury?

[alawr]

I recently introduced a 5 week old Loki to my two 5 week old brothers Hanzo and Ruxtan, and everything thus far has been great. Today when I got home from work, however, Loki's left hand was bleeding/had been bleeding recently, there was blood in their hut on tissues, and he was holding it oddly. Ruxtan was sleeping with him and Hanzo was just curled up on the fleece outside. Since I looked at it, nothing seems to be broken, and I could only find one cut. I gave him a Cheerio and he did hold it with both hands. Is it common for babies to do this? Or was it just an accident during play? You guys have any opinions? There isn't anything really it could have gotten caught on. anic: ugh I was so worried when I first saw the blood!

 

[lilspaz68]

Rats can get injured in what you think is the safest place in the world :doh:

I wouldn't worry too much, babies heal fast, and just watch for swelling.

 

[alawr]

Little cut looked like it was healing, but now the whole digit is swelling up.. now what?

 

[smilez_n_hugs]

Is it just swelling now, 7 days after the original injury? Does he squeak when you touch it?

 

[alawr]

Yes, he squeaks, and yea, it was healing fine, i dunno what happened... he still walks and holds things normally.

 

[Ollie]

:sad3: Poor guy.

 

[MomRat]

Watch for color changes such as red streaking to indicate infection, in which case you would need to get antibiotics. Otherwise, you can give infant ibuprofen to reduce swelling, although someone else would need to weigh in on whether it is safe to give to that young of a rat. I've never had a rat that young. =/

 

[Joanne]

Swelling and bruising 2 days after surgery is a normal response to injury. It swells up, and then it subsides.
Swelling days later is most likely infection.

 

[Rattus]

When I had my boy constantine, he fell in his cage and we though he sprained his ankle. DAYS and DAYS went by, swelling only got worse. We put him on a painkiller and just made sure the swelling didnt get bigger.. it never did and the redness went away but the ankle stayed HUGE. We took him to the vet and the vet found out that Constantine had actually completely broken his ankle! and it didnt heal completely straight so calcium built up around the bone and healed it the way it was. So it actually made his ankle twice as thick.