rat with injured finger (from fight)

Question
I have two rats, unfortunately I've had to remove them from their adjacent cages due to biting each others fingers through the wire. My hairless rat now has a swollen finger. What do you recommend I do to treat the injury ?
Thank you,
SB

Answer
 For swelling you can give your rat Ibuprofen in the form of Children's Motrin (or similar product) at a dose of 0.03mg of medication per gram of the rat's weight.  Look for a product intended for babies, as that will have the highest concentration of active ingredient so you won't have to give the rat a lot of medication (I use Equate Infant's Ibuprofen, from Wal-Mart, I just bought some for my rat who lost a toe).  You can give this every 4 hours until the swelling comes down, but if the swelling doesn't reduce within 48 hours I would take him to the vet.  I would also continue to keep the rats separated at least a few inches so they don't hurt each other again.

 Hope that helps, good luck!