# HELP!! ASAP!! Another poorly rat :(



## FletchyC (Nov 19, 2012)

About 4 1/2 hours ago my other pet rat Milly fell from the top of her cage into her litter tray and ever since she is evidently in pain. I have worked out that the pain is coming from her left back leg and she will no longer put weight on it, she is evidently in pain and I feel so guilty leaving her overnight without trying to help her. She appears to not want to eat, doesn't help her having to climb, so moved her food down to the bottom of the cage so she can eat in bed. Has anyone any suggestions of a safe painkiller we may have that could help her? Just until I can get her to the vets. We have ibuprofen, paracetamol, got asprin but don't want to give her that, even I won't take that, and maybe calpol or something? And a dose? 
She is really miserable, she just won't move and the shine in her eyes have gone, her breathing is totally different to how it was earlier today and I'm so worried about her. Do you think she'll be okay until morning? I've never had this happen to me before  


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## FletchyC (Nov 19, 2012)

Also, the image is very poor quality, but she's usually the hyper one, the fact I got this was surprising! This is her normal bright self compared to the other picture, she's not right :/ this image has been altered slightly in the type of image but you get the general point. Please help!! 


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## JBlas (Oct 21, 2012)

I'm no expert on here, but there is a sticky on the forum under rat health that deals with first aid and medicines. For pain, it states infant motrin--1 drop on the tongue. It also mentions sprains, etc. You might want to chek it out since you haven't gotten a response yet. Hope this helps


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## Poodlepalooza (Aug 9, 2012)

The Rat Health Care guide says the dose of ibuprofen is 15-60 mg/pound 2-4 times per day. (lower doses are for for analgesia; higher for inflammation.) Also says it is a more effective pain killer & anti-inflammatory than aspirin or acetaminophen. Maybe you can get a dose or two in her tonight & get her to the vet tomorrow for a full check up. Good luck!


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## Charliesmom (Nov 13, 2012)

*motrin is ibuprofen. the reason you need the infant is cause its a lighter dose. the nice thing about infant motrin, is because the box now comes with a dosing syringe. it will also get inflammation *swelling* down. Animals, especially little animals, have a very strong pain response. They are hard wired to try to hide injury and pain as much as possible, so as not to attract predators. If you see your rat showing signs of pain *moving as little as possible, abstaining from food or water, sleeping more than normal, hiding the injured limb etc.* then the pain is really bad. 

As a vet tech, i have seen a couple rats come into the office with fall injuries, and it may not be her leg at all...both the falls that came into us, were pelvis/hip injuries. Rats have heavy bottoms, and usually when they fall, those big bums hit hard. so when you take your girl into the vet, make sure you get an x-ray. 
*


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

Wow, that's terribly unlucky... my rats are always falling from high places and for the most part they either splat or bounce, but they have never gotten hurt. It really is scarey to think that they may not be indestructible after all.


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## FletchyC (Nov 19, 2012)

I'm very sad to say she unfortunately passed away about an hour ago. She went straight to the vets this morning and he said she'd be fine, she's just in pain, and then this. I have no idea how this happened or why it happened as it only started 12 hours ago. This is very upsetting, but RIP Mil <3 


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

I am so very sorry FleshyC...I think you lost your girl not because of pain or the fall. I think there was a reason she fell, a stroke, a seizure, something along those lines, and then after that she probably had another one that took her away from you ((hugs))

The reason we give infant pain meds is they are MORE concentrated (usually twice as much) so less to get into a rat. You might want to consider keeping infant liquid ibuprofen on hand for things like sprains, or other signs of pain. Just buy it and tuck it in your cupboard for those just in case moments.


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## FletchyC (Nov 19, 2012)

I did think that, I was reading about it, but it didn't seem to add up, I don't know really, well at least she's happier now I guess! I now have a horrible feeling my other rat will follow her soon, she's been ill for ages and it's almost critical, so as much as I don't want to see that happen again, I think it might  thankyou for all your help, yes will definitely get something like that for Saff, just Incase as you said haha. Thanks again for your help!


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

I'm very sorry to hear about your loss. I have been there before and I understand what you're going through. Losing a ratty friend is sometimes more painful than losing a human one. It is after all the loss of unconditional love and beyond that there is no greater suffering.

You have my warmest condolences and deepest sympathy.


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## Poodlepalooza (Aug 9, 2012)

I'm so sorry you lost her. Losing a beloved prt is never easy. Hugs to you & Saff!


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## LightningWolf (Jun 8, 2012)

I'm very sorry 

maybe when she fell she suffered internal damage? I'm not sure, my rats have fallen from 5 ft and always been ok, Charles would even jump head first into my computer tower and be ok, actually he would get on my lap and do it Again (it took him 5 times to finally judge his jump right to jump on top of the tower). 

Maybe she had naturally weaker bones? just like humans there is a condition that causes your bones to be very brittle that even falling a short distance can be deadly. I'm not sure how common it is in rats (it's very rare in humans) so I can't give any information on that.

Once again I'm very sorry


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## Charliesmom (Nov 13, 2012)

*I asked around at work about this case....ya'll are right about the motrin, it is stronger, thought it was the other way around. 
I am soo sorry about your baby hun... these little guys become our closest friends, because long after our dog goes and lays down, long after whomever we live with stops talking to us...we still have our rats, curled up in our laps, around our neck, on on our chest, happily bruxing to let us know we are loved. 

I agree with lilspaz...I think there was more going on, probably a stroke. You did your best for her, and she knows that. My prayers go out to you in this tough time.
*


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## FletchyC (Nov 19, 2012)

Thank you everybody. It's tough, but it's life, she had a good life and she was happy so at least she went happy! 
And yes maybe it was a stroke or something, or perhaps she did damage internally because she bled as well before she passed away. I would love to know what happened because it would put my mind at ease, that hopefully it was an accident and it was nothing I could have prevented. If it was internal damage the vet missed it badly so not much I could have done for her. Just with I'd said bye and comforted her before  but these things happen, it's normal and she's happy now with all the the things she loves! Thanks for your help everybody! X


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## FletchyC (Nov 19, 2012)

And lightningwolf, that made me laugh :') that's the kind of thing milly would have done! And saffy hahaa, they are both silly moos :') 


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## LightningWolf (Jun 8, 2012)

Your welcome.  Charles was one of a kind, I don't remember how many times he would go dumpster diving for soda cans or fall off me. I miss him (He died in August from a Pituatory Tumor)

Sometimes it's easy to over look internal damage, they do it with humans sometimes. Oh well. at your looking at it positively.


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## FletchyC (Nov 19, 2012)

Haha I know, funniest thing I remember is Milly running into the biggest table leg I've ever seen, honestly this thing wasn't hard to see, even with the poor eyesight rats have, it was that big haha! Oh no  sorry to hear that. My other rat has a mammary gland tumor, it is huge  she'd have had it removed about 2 months back, but the vet said she had a respiratory infection at the same time, which I couldn't get rid of. So I think it wasn't just that, I think that has gone now and she's had an injection to clear the damage to her airways. She's now lost her appetite and is so thin it is horrible, but I don't want to give up on her, she seems reasonably happy and she's beginning to eat a bit more, so I'm still trying my very best until it all starts taking it's toll on her herself or if things stop improving, I'm just worried about her  

Yeahh, I mean I don't blame the vet at all and never will, it's a shame it wasn't spotted but the way she was at the vets didn't give anything away, she did make it look like it was her legs/back nothing more, so it's understandable. Not the easiest thing to spot from the outside either I suppose haha! 

Sorry for going on a bit about Saffy!! 


Saff's Mama


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## LightningWolf (Jun 8, 2012)

Soda once did that, he ran into my bed's leg. Charles And Soda once ran head first into water bottles. Oh he also taught them how to drink from human water bottles, pretty interesting and funny to see.

Aw, I'm sorry. hope she gets better


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## FletchyC (Nov 19, 2012)

Haha that sounds funny :') I taught my rat how to kiss, it was cute actually, but didn't really train them anything else!


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