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Hurt Rat?? Advice please.

4K views 15 replies 3 participants last post by  breyer08 
#1 ·
This morning I woke up to an altercation between the boys. Every once in a while they will have a little fight, but no one is ever hurt--Russell, being a bit of a shrieker, usually makes it sound much worse than it is. This morning was no different--I checked them both over thoroughly, and neither one of them has any cuts, scrapes, scratches, missing fur, you name it.

However, tonight I cleaned their cage, and Russell has been squeaking. Just now, he was in his cage all by himself (Stanley is in the play pen) and he started shrieking for a second or two, then ran down into the bottom level into their castle house, and started licking himself--mostly his tail--pretty furiously. He squeaked a couple more times while doing that.

The thing is, I've checked him everywhere--and just rechecked his tail--and I can't find anything wrong!! Is there anything else I should look for? Any signs I should check in terms of internal injury?
 
#2 ·
Slight update: My boyfriend noticed, while I was typing the first post, that Russell chirped when he turned as he was walking on the carpet. He wonders if it might be something wrong with his foot--maybe a loose toenail? I haven't been able to pick him up to check his feet, but if it is anything like a sprain or a break it would swell, right? At this point I'm just going to leave him alone for a little while...he's napping in the play pen.
 
#4 ·
I don't see any swelling, though he's been napping peacefully for the past hour so I haven't gotten a really close look at his feet yet. I'm hoping he'll come out in a little bit and then I can inspect his feet.
 
#5 ·
Ok--just checked him over. No sign of injury to his feet, and no swelling. He hasn't squeaked anymore since napping, so I'm thinking maybe it was just a temporary injury to his tail? I am going to keep an eye on him for the rest of tonight and inspect him closely again tomorrow, as well.
 
#6 ·
Morning update: Russell did squeak twice after I let him out this morning: once on his own and once while I was holding him. I checked him over AGAIN, and still found nothing... I carefully looked at his feet, pressed his belly, sides, etc. Could it be something serious, or should I just keep an eye on him and leave it alone for a few days?

(Edited to add that he is also acting normal, aside from those squeaks. He's eating and running around the play pen as he always does.)
 
#10 ·
Make sure there isn't a small kink in his tail at all, just run your fingers down it, you might feel something or if he moves it because it hurts it might be broken.
It's only a possibility and I'm only saying because my rat has a minor break at the end of his tail. It started going black so thats how I knew.
Hope your boy is okay! :) xx
 
#11 ·
Thanks for the advice. What happens if the tail is broken? He does seem to have a small kink or just a little space in his tail that fells a bit different, but it's been that way for a while now and there's never been any color difference or swelling.
 
#13 ·
Sorry for never checking back to this thread.
The end of my rats tail went black because it lost blood supply and begane to dye, so the end of his tail came of. If your rats tail has been like that for a while, I don't think anything is wrong with it. It happened quite suddenly and quickly with mine.
Hope that helps
xx
 
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