Rat Tail Injury

Question
Hi Sandra,
I wrote to you the other day about my pet rat Noel, he had an injury to his belly which had to be stitched up.  It was all healing fine but now he has been injured again- his tail was caught in a door.  I just can't believe it!!  I've had my rats for a year and no harm has ever come to them, now within a week poor Noel has had 2 nasty injuries.  I totally went through my whole flat last week and made sure there were no obvious hazards and now this has happened. I feel absolutely terrible about this, I'm going to think seriously about where I let the rats out in the flat from now on.
Anyway, his tail was bleeding in 2 places (where the edges of the door frame were) and he was screeching, it was awful.  I rushed him down to the vet who injected him with painkillers, gave me some more Baytril and wiped the would with some sort of antiseptic. I'm supposed to be going on a trip to Amsterdam tomorrow night and coming back on Wednesday night, I now don't know whether I can go.  I'd already arranged for my sister to come round and feed/ replace bedding/ give antibiotics for the 2 nights we'll be away.  However, with this new injury and the fact that the antibiotics is supposed to be given every 12 hours rather than every 24 hours I'm really worried.  The vet suggested my sister give him 1.5 measure of Baytril rather than 1 but I'm worried maybe this will not be enough.  Also, the vet didn't give me any topical treatment and from what I've read on the internet this seems to be necessary.  
Also, if the tail degloves I presume he will need to go to the vet immediatedly?  I'm just so worried- any advice you could give me would be really appreciated..
Thanks,
Suzy

Answer

The  baytril should take care of the infection (prevent it actually) you can dab antibiotic ointment on it but I would not do much else.  I am going to assume he did not deglove and the skin is intact totally?  Also, you said you need to find a safer place for the rats to play, why not try my idea and construct a play area using 4 foot tall cardboard to create a wall?  You can fold it when your done with it!  All you need to do is tape together cardboard sheets. I usually find them at grocery stores (super markets etc...) getting a huge box and cutting it to make flat sheets. Tape them together and arrange it in a huge circle to use for play time, supervised only of course.  In fact, check out my website on  how to make a play area that is safe for rats!  Mine are nice and safe *supervised play of course*  

Here is the URL

http://www.freewebs.com/crittercity/gettingstarted.htm