# Rat's Foot is Purple w/ White Puss looking Pocket?? HELP!>!>!



## stilettoxkiller (Apr 5, 2010)

[size=10pt]This is my first time on this forum, and I'm coming to you, pleading for help!

My rat, FB, has been sick with an upper-respiratory infection the past few weeks. Since becoming sick, I have been handling her multiple times of day, trying to hydrate her, comfort her, etc...
So this evening while doing my usual evaluation, I noticed her back foot (i believe the right one) is purple on the bottom with this enormous white circle that looks like it's filled with white puss or some sort of similar liquid....
Needless to say, I'm freaking out. I am recalling seeing her continuously lift the same foot up and down a day or so ago. I saw numerous different things online, about "bumblefoot" and abscesses. however I don't believe it to be an abscess since it appears to be soft underneath the white skin center. The foot is tender and a bit swollen in both the purple area and the white center circle. I would describe the white part to be approx the size of a dime. 

I've been having a hard enough time trying to find a vet around me that will take a rat, and now that she has this weird issue with her foot, I'm starting to panic...FB is approx 18mos old, and I'm starting to believe she may be older than the pet store told me due to the amount of gray hair and the current condition she is in.

Can someone give me any advice on what to do to help ease the pain or something I can do until I can get a vets appointment or if anybody knows what this might be???

Thanks in advance,
Ash & FB[/size]


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## xxchelle (Aug 1, 2009)

Did her foot have something caught around it, cutting off circulation? We had a baby boy rat here that needed an amputation, due to a loose string getting wrapped around his foot.

This is what it looked like that night:









The next day:









The top of his foot began to leak clear fluid due to the skin splitting.

He needed a leg amputation, the swelling never went down.


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## rattiesalem24 (Feb 21, 2010)

xxchelle, those pictures are really scary, I never knew something like that could even happen!


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## xxchelle (Aug 1, 2009)

It was very scary, but little Clodhopper made a FULL recovery post-amputation.

10 days post-op (fur grew back FAST!):









Now:








(You can see he eats by propping himself up with one hand, since he doesn't have the greatest balance.)

You can read his full story here: http://critterhaven.weebly.com/1/post/2009/12/clodhoppers-amputation.html

Sorry to overtake this thread! Haha. Now, let's get back to what's wrong with stilettoxkiller's rattie. A photo will help a lot, can you get one?


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## LisaLQ (Oct 14, 2007)

Sounds more like bumblefoot to me.

http://www.shunamiterats.co.uk/bumble.shtml


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## smilez_n_hugs (Apr 5, 2010)

The size of a dime?!? That's huge for a rat foot. A pic would definately help.


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## stilettoxkiller (Apr 5, 2010)

also, the circumference around the white is swollen up too...


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## xxchelle (Aug 1, 2009)

It does sound like bumblefoot from your descriptions, but you've said you don't think it is. When you mentioned purple with white raised "pockets" I immediately thought of Clod's foot, but I doubt it's that as you would have noticed something cutting off circulation, I'm sure.

As I said before, a picture would really help.


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## stilettoxkiller (Apr 5, 2010)

sorry for the poor quality, she kept moving every time i'd lift her up to take it.

tonight i tried putting Epsom salt on it to see if anything would come out, and nothing did...
after feeling it, it doesn't feel like a bubbly or anything...i can feel something hard by the bone, which makes me think that maybe she fell wrong or something and broke a bone...

hope this helps...


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## lilangel (Mar 26, 2009)

it looks like bumblefoot from your picture. bumblefoot can look a little different from each rat. here is some picture's of rats with bumblefoot

posted here on jorats: http://www.ratshackforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=13480

also Biscotte's bumblefoot:

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it got a little better:

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and then got more better but i have no picture's(she passed away rep infection and old age)

Bumblefoot comes more from wired levels/cage bottoms,dirty living condition's or Obesity. 

more info here http://ratguide.com/health/integumentary_skin/ulcerative_pododermatitis.php


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## smilez_n_hugs (Apr 5, 2010)

It looks like bumble to me as well.


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## stilettoxkiller (Apr 5, 2010)

After soaking FB's foot last night, I can't tell if it's improved or gotten worse. The white part is now more yellowish and a little red (like blood pocketed inside). She's eating more and drinking more, so I'm thinking the epsom salt has helped take some of the soreness out, even if it hasn't ruptured yet...

I believe it probably is Bumblefoot.

Thanks again for the help, I'll keep you updated on her progress... =/


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## xxchelle (Aug 1, 2009)

She should get on oral antibiotics, if she's not already. (Sorry, I know you said she was sick, but I wasn't sure if she's still on antibiotics from the respiratory infection or not!)


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## lilangel (Mar 26, 2009)

If bumblefoot it will not go away in a day or so it will take a bit to go away but doing the soaks and meds will help heal better.


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## stilettoxkiller (Apr 5, 2010)

So this update is a little late, (and a bit sad):

After soaking daily and continuing to handle her everyday, FB made an amazing recovery. Her URI seemed to have cleared up, the popping noise had stopped, and the bumble foot had ceased, and her foot was almost back to normal...Her weight was up again and FB was back to being her playful, energetic self...

So then two days ago, I went over to the cage and FB appeared to be sleeping, so i picked her up and talked to her and she crawled up on my shoulder and I began getting ready to clean her cage, as per usual...i noticed she wasn't staying on my shoulder as she normally did, and I didn't know whether it was her trying to get down or if she was having problems staying up there. So i propped her back up and started cleaning the cage. She came down off my shoulder again, so I held her in front of my face and was looking at her, and all the sudden out of nowhere, she start convulsing, i held her away from my face, because I thought maybe she just was getting restless, and it was then that I realized she was having a seizure.
I then, placed her in her cage (I had read online that when having a seizure, rats can become disoriented and bite both during/after) and she continued to seize, then she stopped. The seizure must have been too much and she died immediately following.

After talking to my neighbor, who's in the medical field and has had hamsters/gerbils/etc of her own, she brought to my attention some type of syndrome called "Wet bottom" or "Wet 'Ass' " (please excuse the language..her words, not mine). I had never heard of this before, however, the more she described it, I believe that FB had suffered from this, since after I had put her in the smaller cage, she didn't move a lot, and when I picked her up, I noticed her lower regions looked wet and were kinda sticky. At the time, I believed maybe she had just gone to the bathroom on herself. Apparently when a rat/gerbil/hamster experiences this "Wet bottom", they don't live much longer after it...

Has anyone else heard of this?

I wanted to thank everyone for all their help.
Your advice helped so that FB didn't suffer her last few days.

I'm sorry to post such a morbid update, but I was hoping that maybe this could help others who experience the same things...

Thanks again,
-Ashley


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## Stace87 (Jun 24, 2008)

RIP

Wet tail? It's hamsters that can get that... not gerbils or rats.


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

Rats do not get wet tail. It sounds like you saw her have a stroke and she died from it. Some survive and can recover with treatment but others do not.

the wet/sticky part was her not cleaning herself. She may have had a couple of mini-strokes before the major one, or she could have had a bleeding pituitary tumor as well...it takes them fast 

I am sorry.


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