rat inflicted degloving injury

Question
my rat managed to deglove about 3 inches of his tail, I just lost my job and there is simply NO WAY I can pay vet fees, but I've rinsed it with saline, and water+peroxide. . .  a lot of sites say to put neosporin on the exposed area to try to prevent infection but I'm worried about him licking it all off, so I've not done this yet.   I've moved him to a different cage, I cleaned it out and lined the bottom with a clean towel- he's eating fine even though this happened only 4 hrs ago. I also shaved off about 1-2 mg of an ibuprofen and fed it to him with some peach; now I'm at a loss as to what to do further

Answer
Dear Heather,

He really needs a vet. That is likely to become infected and it can easily lead to blood poisoning and death. Can you use a credit card? I am still paying off vet bills for a rat with cancer from over a year ago... but he needed surgery.

You can use neosporin as long as it is not neosporin plus. It is safe to eat.

To fight pain, get him some liquid children's ibuprofen. GIve the poor rat 3ml per pound. Half of that if you find the infants' dose.

(The dose is 15-60 mg/Lb and I am giving the highest dose).

I wish him the very best.. if you end up absolutely not being able to get to the vet, watch so carefully for redness near the site, swelling, pain when you touch *near* it, or small. That is infect and you must act.

squeaks,

Natasha