HELP!!! rat fight -- facial injuries

[denial]

I got a little baby rat last night to add to my colony. She's sooo little! Barely old enough to be weaned (shouldn't sell them that young) but anyway I was so excited that I wanted to do a little pre-intro intro. Yes, I realize I'm stupid. Yes, I know better. Yes, I'll never do something so idiotic ever again. Never had an intro go bad. It took only five seconds of sniffing before my adult girl was trying to rip the poor baby's face off. I had to pry her jaws apart to separate them. Baby was screaming bloody murder and had released anything in or close to her bladder. Has a full piercing through her right lip and either a large gash or another full piercing on the left side of her muzzle. Also has a small cut either barely missing her left eye or it actually got her left eye. I cleaned it with water and q-tip last night as well as a little diluted hydrogen peroxide. So pathetic, just trying to sniffle around the blood and crying. She made it through the night, but I've yet to see her eat or drink anything (offered a gruel of warm baby cereal and some jam) although I have seen her poop and pee today so maybe I just missed it.

Um, I know everyone will tell me to take her to the vet, but I'm really not sure if I have enough money for a vet appointment (although I found a decent small animal vet on the internet) and I'm not sure how to go about asking for a payment plan of some kind if I can't or how to notify them up front that I'm tight on cash... Plus I doubt they can do anything for the wounds themselves? She's so little that they're practically microscopic.

Does anyone know how I can make sure she's eating? And do I need to do anything more to the wounds?

 

[jorats]

Poor little baby and poor you! What a thing to have to go through, but you aren't the first. Adults have killed young babies. This why we recommend waiting for intros until babies are 8 weeks old.
But for now keep baby clean, warm and hydrated. Offer all kinds of food to get her to set. But you'll have to keep a close eye for infections. If that occurs the baby will need to see a vet.

 

[SQ]

Get another baby girl for her to be friends with immediately. If possible from where ever you got her ... one of her sisters perhaps.
She desperately needs another rat to play with and to feel safe.
Babies need other babies to play with, etc.
It will likely be about 2 months before she is living with your other rats and she needs someone to cuddle with now.

Feed her baby cereal mixed up with soy infant formula in a saucer.
Many of us suppliment nursing mothers and weaning babies with baby cereal and soy infant formula.
You can also use a dropper and feed her the soy infant formula (available at grocery and drug stores) by putting it on her lips one drop at a time.
She will lick it off her lips and by not having her suck the formula out of something, you will not have to worry about her swallowing air.
You can soak your good quality lab blocks in cool water (no clorine, no flouride in water) to make a mush that will be easier for her to eat.
The baby cereal and soy infant formula, however, is essential imo.

How old is she? I assume that she is old enough to empty her bowels without help?
Babies often are unable to use water bottles although it may look like they are. A dish of water in the cage is a good idea.
As Jorats said, make sure she is warm and well hydrated.

I would recommend that you get her on an antibiotic called clavamox (10 mg/Ib of rat, twice a day).
Clavamox is safe for babies and will prevent infection.
However, you will have to go to the vet in order to get it.

 

I'm sorry :hugs:

One thing with rat's you need to have access to money at all times

 

[Dazzle87]

Find a vet that takes carecredit and apply. It is interest free for a certain amount of time so long as minimum payments are made. Many vets accept it, and will do the application instantly right at the office.

 

[Joanne]

The most important things you need to do are: keep her warm and keep her hydrated. This is to treat shock. Even if the wounds are not life-threatening, shock can still kill her. I would take the baby cereal and put a little on her lips, to see if you can encourage her to lick it off. Eating and drinking are very good indicators of how sick an animal is. If she does not eat or drink for a few days she will die. If she is not eating and drinking, she will need sub-cutaneous fluids to survive. I would take her to the vets. I would be up-front about not having the money, and ask about payment plans/credit. I'm confident that you will be able to find a vet that has some type of credit plan. The vet can check her eye to see if it is damaged, etc. Her life is in your hands...

 

[maria-mar]

Everything seems to be said but i wanted to add that there are ointments that can be safely used next to the eyes and that might help heal the wounds or prevent an eye infection. Not all of them can be used on rats, but i know at least one that can, Lacrybiotic.

 

[denial]

I saw her lap at her water bowl! Way more excited about this than is probably sane. Very very excited.

Um, I'll definitely try your feeding suggestions. Right now she has some mushy lab blocks to suck up if she wants (although she seemed very disinterested in it) as well as some of the loose grain mix I feed my adults on. I can't dribble food/water on her lips as the wounds are focused on her muzzle and she rejects anything that comes close without her control (can't blame her). She's already considerably smaller than she was just last night, especially comparing her to her fat littermate. An odd comparison since hurt baby is skinny with a fat tender face and healthy baby has a fat tummy and a sleek pointed nose.

Old enough to empty her bowels. Young enough to have baby fur and be the size of my adult boy's head.

Right now her favorite thing is to cuddle up with me, probably because I'm warm and she's lonely. Also spends most of her time curled up into a pitiful little ball. I actually bought two girls. The healthy baby is in the cage I'd originally prepped for them. I wasn't sure if I could leave them together? I didn't want the other baby to somehow worsen the wounds or the bedding to irritate her or something...? The hurt baby is in my travel cage with a nest of washcloths and all the special foodies & water dish. Actually put it on top of my laptop to let its heat soak through the bottom. Think it's okay to put them together? Definitely not putting either of them anywhere near Ely until they're much bigger and had a proper introduction. I really wasn't thinking :sad3:

@Dazzle87 -- never heard of that before... Gonna call the vet tomorrow and see about a price estimate for the visit (and potentially schedule a visit) and I'll ask about that too (if it proves too pricey).

For everyone who suggested certain medicine, can you remember how much you payed?

THANK YOU!

 

[lilspaz68]

If her face is swelling up you might want to consider pain meds. Do you have or can you get infant liquid advil from the store? This should help any pain and reduce any swelling. If you get some let us know and we'll sort out a dosage for you.

 

[jennifervb]

YIKES!!! You poor things!!! :shock:

What a dreadful way to learn about potential rat nature! Hang in there and be strong! You made an honest mistake and, trust me, we have ALL been there in one way or another! :hugs:

If your baby girl was on good terms with the other baby, then get her back in there with her! She needs the warmth and friendship of a friend she knows and trusts.

Rats are communal animals and keeping her in solitary can kill any desire she may have to fight.

Lots of hugs and kisses to your little ones. It is also critical that you cuddle with the girl who attacked her. You do not want your resident rat to feel neglected because she may base that neglect on the baby and that could really damage any hope of successful intros later on. Rats are too smart and will remember such things.

Holler if you need anything. Maybe you and I can hook up the next time I'm home in California!!!!

You're gonna be ok! :wink2:

 

[Joanne]

I agree, I would put her back with her litter mate. They are very social and don't like being alone. Try feeding her some baby cereal - it's easy to lick up. She's probably not going to want to chew anything as her lips look like they're painful.

 

[maria-mar]

Any news? How is the little girl now?...

 

[SQ]

She may be willing to lick baby ceral and formula off your finger.
Hope the two babies are back together. They will be much happier and less stressed if they are.

 

[Dahlas]

Hope the little one is doing okay.....

 

[denial]

She's doing decent. Taking her to the vet this afternoon. (very frightened)

Um, finally found something she'll eat without issue: gerber infant cereal and fruit goo. Won't eat it from me, but she ate enough last night in her cage to get a real fat tummy. Wounds look like they're healing decently? Definitely don't look infected or anything. She's been having some navigation issues, not sure if it's her eye or just that her whiskers got all messed up from the attack. Occasionally does this awkward fish out of water thing with her mouth (taped it to show the vet) not always, but sometimes. Might be because of the dried blood covering one of her nostrils? I want to remove it, but I'm worried it's a scab, not just blood and yanking it off will hurt / make it bleed again (if it is a scab). Could be a resp. infection >_<

Tried reintroducing the two babies, but Lumen (hurt baby) just wanted to sleep and be left alone while the healthy one wanted to play and pounce on her and stuff. Normal ratty behavior, nothing aggressive. Separated them again cause Lumen seriously just looks too weak to deal with the healthy one's hyper antics. Pretty sure the healthy baby wouldn't purposefully hurt Lumen, but ....

She's been with me for good chunks of the day/night. Usually just finds a warm, soft nook to curl up in and sleep but occasionally totters around. Way too trusting. She woke up when we were on the couch and made a beeline for my 30lb dog before I'd even realized she was awake again. Had this look like "you look warm and cuddly, wanna snuggle?". Naturally, my dog ran from this threat that's the size of her nose. Lumen looked very put out and almost tried to follow her off the couch.

To the vet though!

 

[Joanne]

Glad to hear she's holding her own. Hopefully the vet can give her a real good going-over and see if there's anything else you need to be doing.

 

[Rattus]

the fish out of water worries me.. like gasping? does she sound sick or breathing fast? the gasping can be a sign of the respiratory infection.. hopefully its not

 

[denial]

@Rattus - she'd squeak occasionally while doing it, but no actual gasping sounds. Quite frankly, everything she did looked rather labored ... she went from being a fat baby to a scrap of torn skin and bones almost overnight. After finally eating last night, she had a giant hard tummy under a poky spine and a chest bone that practically jutted out.

Mkay, so the trip to the vet was rather disappointing.

Gotta admit, first time taking an animal into the vet by myself, so I probably kept quiet when I should have opened my damn mouth to ramble off questions... but the inexperienced shall learn.

Their exotic animals vet also happens to be their main vet and happened to be in surgery for most of the day. The only time they could schedule me was during one of my classes (the mandatory kind, not the open lecture type) so instead I had to drop her off and pick her up after (never getting to speak to the great doctor himself). They gave her subcutaneous fluids (and while looking ragged she did look healthier/plumper after). They also prescribed Vibramycin Suspension? Pink liquid that I have to squirt into her mouth every morning and night with feeder syringe. Half a drop at a time? Not sure how to accomplish that but I figure it's the guestimate of dripping a drop onto her semi-open mouth and watch her try to lick it off onto her paws. I'm assuming this is for the awkward fish-out-of-water thing? According to the magical powers of google it's usually used for bacterial lung stuff? The vet tech I talked to barely gave me the run down of everything and I was so thankful that she was okay and gonna be good (and that the bill was less than $100) that I was having major brain farts. She told me what they did, that her wounds looked good and were healing decent (and Ely didn't catch her eye!!! Lumen can see!) and that she'd be in good shape soon. Told me to call if I had any concerns.

So, things starting to look up?


I do have a question (besides what Vibramycin treats exactly). If it is a resp issue, is she okay in a tank? I generally hate them. Sucky ventilation and all, but it's the only one story escape proof cage I currently have (don't trust her in my two level and my other one level has bars she might be able to fit through in her current skinniness)? Also, I've had her in towel lined cages (in case the bedding irritated her wounds or lungs) think I should leave her with towels or can she handle some shredded newspaper?

Thanks guys. I've had a fair number of rats, but never any sick or injured ones to tend to. :[

 

[jorats]

They treated her with doxy for her gasping, that seems rather a mild treatment for something serious unless she doesn't really have a respiratory infection and it's something else.
I'm also worried about her lack of energy but hopefully that is all part of her healing. If you don't see any improvements within a week, I'd get her in for a recheck, which shouldn't cost as much as an exam.
I'd leave her in the tank for now, it'll keep her warm and safe. Make sure to change the towels every day, she should be fine with the shredded newspaper too.

 

[denial]

please help. someone help!


Got up this morning to Lumen sleeping in her box (yay). Couldn't coax her out so I opened it and she's in bad condition. Really bad.

At first she wouldn't move what so ever. Eyes closed, barely breathing, just laying there. Ice cold feet. So I skipped meds and huddled her under a heated blanket with me, hoping she might come back with a little heat. Except, the only thing she does now is thrash around. Doing gator rolls. Dark orangey yellow pee stains her pee parts. Could I have had overdosed her last night?! Is this part of the resp infection or something different????