Swelling in Right Hind Leg

[Pingu]

So I've had my pet rat for about 5 days now. Around the second day of owning her, we noticed that she did not use her hind leg when walking and kept the foot curled and close to her body. Out of concern, I picked her up and very gently felt around the ankle and foot. She did not protest and at all and gave no indication that it hurt when I applied pressure. I even flexed the foot and ankle with absolutely no indication of pain from her. We decided that perhaps she just had a lame foot since there was no pain and that we'd watch for anything more in the following days.
Today I took her out of her cage for a bit of personal time and I noticed immediately that her ankle area had become swollen. We played just last night and I did not notice any swelling before. I'm not sure what I should do. I've read that Metacam helps with this sort of situation. Do I go to the vet for a prescription? Where can I get this?

 

[SQ]

You will need to get metacam from a vet. It will help with both pain as well as with swelling.
Swelling can be very dangerous if it becomes bad enough that it interferes with the flow of blood

Lilspaz68 may know of other sources or of other meds you can use.
You can message her, and give her the age, tell her about how long she has been having an issue with her leg, and give her the weight of your girl
(a digital scale with a tare function is an important tool for rat owners because all meds are dosed based on their strength and the weight of the rat)

 

[Pingu]

You will need to get metacam from a vet. It will help with both pain as well as with swelling.
Swelling can be very dangerous if it becomes bad enough that it interferes with the flow of blood

Lilspaz68 may know of other sources or of other meds you can use.
You can message her, and give her the weight of your girl (a digital scale with a tare function is an important tool for rat owners because all meds are dosed based on their strength and the weight of the rat)

Thank you, I'll make sure to buy a scale for her and take her to the vet .

 

[Pingu]

Has she been using her leg for the last 5 weeks?
If not there may be more going on then a sprain, etc

Not sure, I've only had her for less than a week, just around 5 days .

 

[SQ]

I'm an idiot, thought you wrote 5 weeks

 

[lilspaz68]

If your baby girl is in her first large cage with bars then she probably sprained her leg. It's pretty normal in this situation.