# Rattie finger stuck in cage



## Andyurgay (Jun 10, 2013)

Last night, my little girl Rascal got one of her fingers stuck in the bars of her cage. It's a metal bar cage that hinges on the corners and I thought there were no gaps between them and if they were, they were small enough to not get their toes through it. Well, I went up to let my girls out to give some treats and kisses before bed and when I opened the door, my smallest girl, Valencia ran right to me. Then I noticed Rascal was just standing in the corner looking at me. Sometimes she freezes a bit when I go to pick them up because they can smell my cat on me but once I pet them and pick them up they are fine. So I went to pick her up and she squeaked, which she never does. But she stayed standing so I looked around the corner she was in and one of her little fingers was trapped between the bars. I had to disconnect the cage to get her out. 
They had only been alone for about an hour because I had just put them back in from running around an hour before hand so I hope she was not trapped too long. She has a little scrap on the top of her finger, some bruising and swelling but she uses the paw and holds things with it so it's not broken. I've been putting neosporin on it and letting it soak in before I put her back in the cage but it's still a little swollen. 
She still makes happy little noises at me and scampers all over the place. Actually, I've noticed tonight that she will hop on my lap and brux and just make all kinds of adorable little sounds that i've never heard her make before. I'm hoping they aren't pain noises but she has not bit or even threatened to when I touch her paw and she is usually standing on it when she makes those noises at me.

Is there anything I can do to help her heal better? Keep her in her cage and just hold her until it's healed or is there more I can do?
There are no small animal vets within 30 minutes of me but if it sounds like she really needs to go, I'll take her. 

Also, is there anything I can do to the cage to avoid this in the future? My girls are little, maybe about 2 months old and I'm scared their little toes might get caught again because they climb all over the place. Would zip tying the hinges work? And is it safe? I don't want them chewing on the plastic ties and swallowing any. 
Thanks for any replies =]


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## Andyurgay (Jun 10, 2013)

Those sounds Rascal was making, I finally found a video to show them. I've never heard either of my girls make this noise, is it a bad one?
Rascal only does it for a couple seconds at a time, maybe once or twice so far.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPdqo0HEtmU&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Can anyone tell me if this is a bad sign? Is it related to her injury?


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## Ellavedder (Feb 19, 2013)

my rats have sometimes made this sound when they are having free time. they run around brux and make that sound. it's just them chatting. if they are doing it quite a lot then it's more likely to be a respitory infection. extremely common in rats, you take them to the vet and get medication. I do a check on my girls everyday. I feel for lumps, check there mouth toes eyes and ears and listen to there chest to see if it sounds clear. details on how to do this is on the Internet. so yeah, if my girls do it for around 30 seconds everyday it's pretty much nothing but a chatty rat. if its continuous or many times a day I'd get them checked. I wouldn't worry about the cage, i think she learnt not to get stuck there again. they are quite intelligent. put plastic anything near or in the cage and they will chew em. BUT, they won't swallow them. they know its not food. they are just little destroyers


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## Ninjasinthetrees (May 22, 2013)

When I got my first pair of babies, the now late Belle either had a climbing/wheel mishap or got bit in the foot by one of the adults in the other cage (cages were right next to each other, I don't think close enough for a bite and both cages have 1/2 bar spacing, but Clover has it out for babies and I was in the next room so I'm not sure). It looked pretty nasty, some displaced skin and quite a lot of blood. I stopped the bleeding and put a bit of neosporin on it but she started licking it off right away so I stopped. She seemed fine so I just left it. For a couple of days she didn't do much, walked around a bit but mostly just hung out. Then by day four she was playing again and her foot looked much better, and by the time a week had passed it had healed completely. So I'd say if she's behaving otherwise normally to just give her time to heal and she'll be fine.


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## zurfaces (Jan 16, 2013)

If she seems to be in a lot of pain ibuprofen will help. Listen to her lungs to determine if they are clear or not. I'd honestly think some kind of congestion either allergies or a uri. 

She will be fine as far as the toe goes. My girl got in a toe biting mishap and she lost the top part of her toe but some bone was left behind she just wouldn't stand on it but otherwise she was fine. It eventually healed over the bone. 

Sent from Petguide.com Free App


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## Andyurgay (Jun 10, 2013)

Awesome, thank you all so much. You have put my mind to rest finally. I was starting to have bad dreams about rat toes going missing >_< She seems to be healing fine, just a little swollen still but she's using it like normal. As for the sounds, I've only heard her do it twice for about 5-8 seconds each time so she might just be a chit chatter.
Thank you guys =]


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