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.

 

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

 

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?

 

Sounds more like bumblefoot to me.

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

 

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

 

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

 

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.

 

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...

 

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:

it got a little better:

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

 

It looks like bumble to me as well.

 

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... =/

 

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!)

 

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.

 

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

 

RIP

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

 

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.