Mischa has a really swollen foot

[lindsayfawn]

When I got up the morning I went to the cage and found Mischa who was greating me at the door the only thing different was that her right foot is very swollen. She is not using it at all and keeps it very close to her body. She wasn't like that yesterday so maybe she fell or caught it on something?
I gave her some metacam because she is visably in pain and squeaks when you touch the foot. We're wondering if the foot may be broken? How do you tell and what can we do for her here?
I have metacam and baytril here.
We have put her in her own cage with nothing she can really jump on and we put Leia in with her for company where Leia isn't doing that well herself.
Is there anything else we can be doing for her?

We'll try to get some pics, the camera is being stupid and keeps shutting off.

Thanks for the help.

 

[jorats]

A leg sprain is so common in rats. Even if it's broken, there's not much that can be done. It will heal soon enough.
Go easy on the metacam, when rats feel pain, they will be unlikely to use their foot which is what we want.

 

[SQ]

The metacam will help with swelling ... as well as pain, which is a very good thing.
Too much swelling is very dangerous in all species.

 

[lindsayfawn]

thanks for the advice, she's using the foot a little bit today but it's still swollen. How long does it take for swelling to come down? How long should we wait to see if the swelling comes down before we call the vet?

 

[mamarat]

Moose sprained his foot last week, he was ok after 4 days. Good luck with your sweetie.

 

[CardboardCastles]

With my Mishka it was a missing toe tip that did it. She'd torn the claw right off, but her poor little toes were such mini sausages, I didn't know that until she was 3 days into a Baytril and Metacam regime. It took about a week before all the swelling was gone.




edits for spelling :doh:

 

[jorats]

I'd say 3 to 4 days...

 

[lindsayfawn]

Her swelling looked like it's coming down yay! She was using it a bit more yesterday too when we had her and Leia out with the others. Both Mischa and Leia went into the FN on their own so we left them in there. Felt to bad to take them out where they went on their own.
Still keeping a close eye on the foot though and giving her a little meds to help her along. She was still extremely active even with just using 3 legs for the first day lol guess she didn't know she had to slow down.

aww I hope your Mishka is doing better! poor little toes

edit: Just checked on Mischa she's doing the great! The foot barely looks swollen at all! It amazes me how fast rats heal from an injury wow

 

[jorats]

That's great!

 

[mamarat]

:joy: Rats are amazing little healers.

 

[lindsayfawn]

Her foot isn't swollen anymore and she's using it a lot. I find she acts as if it's still a little tender but at least it doesn't look like a balloon!

 

[lindsayfawn]

Mischa was limping today not using her right back foot again. This is the third time in two months. Is there any reason as to why she may be spraining her foot more often now? It's really weird that her foot has started to do this. It's not swollen but she's not using it at all to walk on.
I'm not sure if she's catching it on something or what. Has anyone had rats sprain their feet this often?

 

[jorats]

I wonder if it's actually an infection that keeps recurring? Is there something in the cage that might be what's causing her to catch her foot in something. When I had my martin's cages, my rats were always getting sprained legs because of the ladders.

 

[lindsayfawn]

the ladders would be the only thing I could think of that they would get their feet caught on. Maybe we'll have to try and cover them and see how long she goes with out a sprain. It's weird how it just started to happen lately though.

 

[joolzratbag]

Mischa was limping today not using her right back foot again. This is the third time in two months.

It could be arthritis pain after the initial injury rather than that she keeps on spraining it. If you can rule out injury and infection - it may be worth giving chondroitin/glucosamine and vitamin B12 to see if it helps

http://www.rmca.org/Articles/arthritis.htm
http://ratguide.com/meds/herbals_health ... ulfate.php

 

[Fidget]

Ah *****, you're ending & starting the year with rough kids times. I'm so sorry. Hugs.

I can't see a kid spraining their leg that often, always the same leg? I'm sure you can't either....
It's got to be like joolsratbag suggests with arthritis or else some other internal condition going on with that leg like maybe a joint condition (bone spurs, tendonitis?) that would cause it to lock up peroidically as it degenerates?

 

[lindsayfawn]

It hasn't happened yet for a few days so I hope that what ever it was went away.