UPDATE Foot healed,ankle swollen, how long till breaks heal?

[Rattus]

UPDATE***
New Question. His foot seems healed, although he holds his toes together and has a limp..but foot is no longer swollen and foot is not red at all but the ankle is still quite swollen but not very red and its been over 2 weeks..... if it was a break would it take this long? Im worried something isnt healing right? Has anyone ever experienced this with their rat?

 

[ema-leigh]

Yes sprains can get that big... and worse! Even if it is broken, there is nothing a vet could do! I would give him some over the counter liquid child's pain relief for the time being and make everything in his cage easily accessible from one level. A sprain will heal within a week!

 

[Rattus]

What brands of pain relief are safe for rats?

 

[victoria]

Dye free Children's Motrin is the one I know most people use (apparently grape is the favourite) but I'm not sure of the dosage. If you happen to know someone that has Metacam that would really help too.

 

[Argent]

The same thing happened to my Hugo a while back and I was so worried - we took him to the vet who prescribed metacam, but children's pain meds will do the job just as well. It's like when you break your toe...can't really do anything about it but treat the pain!

 

[lilspaz68]

Getting the swelling down is paramount for him, so if you don't have metacam you can pick up that Ibu victoria mentioned, make sure its pediatric or infant as its more concentrated and you won't have to bet as much into your rat as with kids. I have cherry and grape here...the cherry is getting dusty on the shelf. :lol:

It does look like a bad sprain, and I have seen worse but its still a scary sight. The first thing you think is "why is there an alien entity attached to my rat??"

 

[Rattus]

LOL yes, its SO big, its a tiny pic bigger then what the picture makes it appear.. I noticed he was a bit ssore and limping 2 days ago but his foot wasnt big much so I figgured he just stumbled over it, my boy cain had a sprain but hes was not near this size.. I went to go let constantine out to come snuggle with us and he was layin on his side.. I picked him and flipped him over and my mouth dropped and there was this MASSIVE foot, looks like its going to explode, it looks so sore I felt so bad for him that I just hugged him :sad3: I'll go pick up some of that infant meds today.

 

[lilangel]

Buck had the exact same thing we were not sure what happened nether but looked like a bad sprain too so i searched for bruised foot on rats and found out about giving Children's Motrin also so we did and in a couple days of giving it to him the swelling went way down and his foot cam back to normal

But did scare the crap out of us as we thought too at first broken and searched on broken foot on rat and found out not much can bee done.

Good luck and do hop everything heals up fine

 

[rodentmama]

Mr. Bigg had something like this but the vet thought it was cellulitis (infection of the tissues) and he was put on both metacam and an antibiotic. I'd have it checked with the vet. If it is an infection and untreated it can go septic.

 

[Rattus]

I will get it checked if it doesnt seem to improve at all within a day or 2.

I got the Motrin today, hell of a hard time finding it! Hes back to himself again! he was so quiet and he looked sad(from pain) now hes up and about and thinks nothing is wrong the little bugger lol Im so happy he isnt hurting as much.

Here's a vid of him on he Motrin, no more sad face! lol (In the vid you can see his sore foot a few times )

 

[Ria]

This has really reassured me, as my boy Oskar is currently suffering the same back leg swelling. He had hurt his leg before, not his back one. His front one and they seemed to just get better, but this back leg went from looking normal to all puffy like yours in 2 days.

Well, I am rather glad that is could be a sprain, Monday he's off to the vets, just to get it checked out. He is pretty good at looking as if he isn't in any pain; no squeaking, just limping and lack of movemen, he's pretty calm! Being such a big boy and not whining, hehe!

But yes, thank you from stopping me panic over this. I am just glad it's possible not as serious as it looks Best wishes!

 

[jorats]

Leg sprains are so common and I've seen them much bigger than that yet with the swelling. Give it about 4 days for it to come down. And the motrin should help him lots. The blood blisters you see is the skin breaking and release fluid due to the over swelling, don't panic, that happens a lot. But if you don't see an improvement within 4 days of the first sign of swelling, then it's time to see a vet a it could be cellulitis.

 

[Rattus]

Im happy to say that his foot is bad to normal! .. but the ankle is still just a bit swollen. and he slighly limps on it still... its not red , ankle is just a bit pinker..and he holds his toes together still :? ..so im not sure whats going on.. unless it was just real bad and is taking a while?