Rat fell

Question
I was headed outside with my rat when I went to close the sliding door she fell form my shoulders, about a 5' 6 in drop.  She tried to scurry away, and I noticed her feet were bleeding.  I know the bleeding is from her bumble foot scab being broken open from the drop.  But I noticed in the cage she seemed to be dragging her feet behind her.  Now she is resting, and I don't know what to do.......Our vet is closed now, and there are no emergency clinics for small animals near us. I am trying to google answers and all that I can find is people saying that a sprain, or broken foot will heal by itself, and to just move the rat to a small cage why it heals.  What do you recommend?  We just had to put our other rat down 2 days ago, and I hate thinking that my other baby girl is hurt and not knowing what to do.

Answer
You can treat her with motrin if she seems to be in pain. You are correct that if it is broken or sprained, that it will heal on its own. I know how hard it is to just sit back and feel like you are doing nothing, but this is how rodents are designed. Because their bones can be broken so easily, Mother Nature designed the rat to be able to heal pretty well on its own, because the rat originally was a wild animal, most wild animals do not have access to medical care, so if they did not have a way to heal and recover without medical care, then they would not survive in the wild. This is also why some females tend to stash things. They are the caretakers of the group and would be the ones to care for injured rats, like yours, in the wild.

You can get some good information on how to care for your rat and general first aid information for later use here: http://ratfanclub.org/firstaid.html

Tami
Social Rats Adoption and Rescue - Chicago, IL