Possible bummble foot?

[Victorian_Rat]

So my one male rat Nero may have the makings of bummblefoot but I’m not sure. There is a small cut and a bit of swelling around the cut on his foot. I have been trying to treat it by washing it and using hydrogen peroxide because it doesn’t sting and polysporin, but it doesn’t seem like much has changed in the last three or so days it has shown up. My boy is slightly overweight also his is around a year and 9months old (roughly.) I don’t have a wired cage but aspen bedding. I’m thinking it have happened because he and his cage mate push their bedding away from the area they sleep in and sleep on the hard floor. Is there any other ways I could help clear it up before it becomes bad enough to bring him to the vets? Is there a way I can bandage his foot without him taking it off?

 

[victoria]

Hydrogen peroxide is a really bad choice for a cut or bumblefoot - it kills everything, good and bad, and slows healing.

This is an example of what bumblefoot looks like. Cloud had a mild case but it and it developed quite quickly - she'd had surgery a week earlier in the same area and no one noticed anything. You can kind of see it looks like a sore and not a cut. I got it to improve but it never went away completely.

This thread goes to through how to treat bumblefoot. It has pictures of a more severe case as well. It is difficult to treat and painful. I would suggest you get pain killers and antibiotics in addition to the steps discussed in the first post.

Lastly, if you're using Polysporin, it's a good idea to supplement probiotics. Rats will ingest it through regular grooming and the antibiotics in it are brutal on digestive flora.

 

[Victorian_Rat]

Thoes are some great ideas i have the salts but not the chlorhexidine i know what it is but i dont know where to get it, would a drug store have it?

 

[victoria]

Chlorhexidine is also known as Baxedin. It's an antiseptic that's available at some pharmacies, I'm sure if you ask the pharmacist they'll be able to help you.

 

[Victorian_Rat]

I will have to ask, I just washed his foot with the salts. It was difficult to keep in still for 5 minutes. Also where would i beable to get the probiotics?

 

[SQ]

where would i beable to get the probiotics?

Grocery store in the health food/organic food section or a health food/organic food store.
Or many feed yogurt containing probiotics.

 

[Victorian_Rat]

Will have to do though I have never given my boys yougart but they like anything

 

[jorats]

My vet has always recommended that we pad down the cage when one of ours have bumblefoot.

 

[Victorian_Rat]

I have taken out the aspen bedding and I have sacrificed one of my old fleece bed sheets. I didn’t want the chips to irritate his foot. He still tries to push the fabric out of the way and every few hours I put it back into place. I do need to find a way to make it more ridged so he doesn’t keep sleeping on the hard plastic which is what i believe started the blister.

 

[victoria]

You can buy cheap fleece at the dollar store (Dollarama has flimsy fleece blankets and a little bit better quality but smaller pet blankets) or Ikea (much better quality than the dollar store for not too much more). I find that if their liners are fitted or at least smooth and flat on the surface (I usually use litter boxes and houses to help keep it in place) and I give them some fabric scraps to nest with (or paper towel), they tend to leave liners alone.

 

[Victorian_Rat]

I will have to look at the dollar store for some because the cage I have I only have enough fleece for a few more days at most. I had a home for them once but Nero hurt himself on it by spraining his right leg on it. I’m going tomorrow to try and get the Baxedin in shopper’s drugmart; hopefully the drug store in the plaza has some I can buy it there. My boys are a bit odd when it comes to fabric scraps they don’t really bother with them, most of the time they push them out of the way along with the bedding but i do give them pieces when i change their cages.

 

[Victorian_Rat]

So I went to the pharmacy and asked about the Baxedin the pharmacist looked perplexed and looked in his computer and said the only kind they had was or oral use but it was proscription so I wasn’t allowed to buy it. I was saddened by this, So I’m keeping up with the Epsom salts, the wound seems to be drying but it’s hard to tell at this stage since its only been two days since I started the salts. If it gets worse I will take him into the vets.

 

[victoria]

So I went to the pharmacy and asked about the Baxedin the pharmacist looked perplexed and looked in his computer and said the only kind they had was or oral use but it was proscription so I wasn’t allowed to buy it. I was saddened by this, So I’m keeping up with the Epsom salts, the wound seems to be drying but it’s hard to tell at this stage since its only been two days since I started the salts. If it gets worse I will take him into the vets.

Try another pharmacy. I usually get mine from the vet but I overheard the receptionist telling another client that it is available at some pharmacies. I had to go to so many pharmacies until I could find the stuff I needed to nebulize with... so many people treated me like I was nut, especially when I explained it was for a rat.

 

[Victorian_Rat]

I will have too; only problem is neither my mother Nor I drive so it will be a track. I’m going to see if a friend of mine on Wednesday is available to drive me. I didn’t tell the pharmacist it was for a rat mainly that it was a pet of mine because the looks he was giving me was enough to say ‘lady your nuts’. I still get odd looks from people when I tell them I have pet rats. They still have the misconception that rats are filthy disease carrying vermin with plague. Side note Rats where equally affected by plague as humans were because of the fleas.

 

[victoria]

Maybe you can call around so you know where to find it when you get a ride.

 

[Victorian_Rat]

good idea, i completely forgot about the existence of phones. Honestly i did

 

[victoria]

LOL It'll still be a pain to have people look, but at least you won't drag a friend around and not get what you need. You may also be able to buy it from the vet without an exam.

 

[Victorian_Rat]

Is it possiable to buy it without an exam? We do have a vets not too far away that was an acual exotic pets vet (rats shouldnt be an exotic pet) i could give her a call.

 

[victoria]

I'm not sure if it's possible but it's worth a try. (I know I would be able to pop by my vet to get some but I am literally at the vet at least three times a month.) Any vet would have it too, not just an exotic vet. If you can find it at a drugstore though it would probably be cheaper.

 

[Victorian_Rat]

true it would be cheaper, and that sounds expanesive being at the vets soo much. Im lucky enough my Boys Edgar and Nero arent having too many problems. I just worry about when they past the 2 year mark in the comming months