Swollen Hind Leg

[moonhippie]

I just noticed tonight that Heff has a completely swollen lower left hind leg. He will let you move his leg at the knee joint but doesn't want you to flex his paw from the ankle joint. He is tucking the leg under himself and the toes are bending over (almost like there is nerve damage) i'm a vet tech so i already spoke with the exotic dr at work so advised a drop of metacam and im going to bring him into work tomorrow. It just the craziest thing, he is eating fine, drinking well, and has been climbing his bars and whatnot as if theres nothing wrong. Has anyone ever experienced something like this before with their ratties? His "brother" Vlad has a seperate 2 cages beside him in the same room so i know it wasnt a fighting injury they cannot reach one another. (and they are both neutered so they don;t really have a tendency to)and both of Heff's cages are plastic bottomed, no wire bottoms and i use newspaper and carefresh bedding so theres no chance of a sliver or anything. Also i can't find any signs of a puncture wound, scratch or sores. (i thought of bumble foot to begin with, but there is no signs of that)

any info or input would be wonderful! thanks! and i'll let you know what the dr says tomorrow.

 

[pshuga03]

My little guy Meiko sprained his leg/ankle one time...wasn't a break and he sprained it just goofing off with his brother, Flick **they regularly have play tousles, not out of anger, but just playing around**

 

[moonhippie]

was it super swollen yet didn't seem to bother him? because thats how Heff is acting. weirdest thing. We've also moved him to his small travel hamster cage so he can't move around or climb much. poor little guy

 

[jorats]

Hi,
Leg sprains are so common in rats and it can sure get very swollen to the point where the skin breaks and becomes wet. But don't worry, they recover quite fast. Metacam will surely help. If the swelling doesn't go down within a few days then it might be cellulitis and he'll need meds like Baytril.

 

[moonhippie]

Joanne, thanks for your input i never would have thought of cellulitis. its the fact he is bending his toes over and is not using them that worries me. i guess we will see.

 

[jorats]

When they hurt their legs/arms, they do the knuckling quite a bit.

 

[moonhippie]

Good news, you were right, the Dr suspects either a bad sprain or a broken ankle, the great news is that the metacam helped immensely with the swelling and pain, he is trying to walk on the foot now and the toes seem to be not knuckling over now i am SO RELIEVED!!!!
thanks again! He is on strict small cage rest for 3-4 weeks and metacam for a couple more days.

 

[jorats]

You'll see, 3 to 4 weeks will be overkill. He'll be fine in a week and should return to his buddies as soon as possible. The less stress the better for the wee guy.