My sons rat has an injured leg...

Question
I love rats (I had one as a young person and never had a problem). So my husband and I bought our 7 year old son a baby rat for his birthday and she's now 5 months old. My son loves her dearly, he feeds her and cleans her cage like clock work. Yesterday, my son had his rat out and accidentally leaned on her not realising that she was there. She squealed (obviously) and she's keeping her injured leg (right rear) tucked up and will put no pressure on it. She didn't go into shock and she has been lively since, but it hurts her if I touch the area. I can see that her foot is okay, I can feel that and move the digits fine with no discomfort from her, but she seems to have a "displacement" around the knee joint.
As with one of your previous inquirers, my husband doesn't see the point in taking a $8.00 rat to the vet. But I just want to know wht I can do to make sure that she's okay.
Any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated.

Answer
Hi Helen

If you read my previous responses about hubbys not wanting rats to see the vet you probably already know what instructions I usually suggest to follow to get around that ;0)

All kidding aside, chances that her knees is out of whack are pretty low or you would see a miserable rat not wanting to eat and doing alot of squeaking too.

Is she mobile at all?

What you can do is isolate her in a small cage where she doesnt have room to roam all over, not too small of course, but room enough for her, a hidey house such as an igloo, food dish and water bottle, and keep her very still. OR, if the cage she is in has ramps and levels, just remove the ramps so she cant climb to the next level.
If you have a general idea of how much she weighs I will tell you how much childrens liquid motrin she can take. This helps swelling and discomfort and is safe for them to take short term use.
However, should she really have trouble and not get back to normal after being immobile and on medication for swelling,say, after about a week or so, she will need a vet...you can just lock hubby in the closet for a few hours while your gone. LOL